Mos Def

Brooklyn Beginnings

Mos Def was born Dante Smith on December 11, 1973, in Brooklyn, New York, and was raised there by his mother, Sheron Smith. He is widely identified with Bedford-Stuyvesant; the Brooklyn Paper called him a "Bed-Stuy-bred" artist. He attended Philippa Schuyler Middle School in Bushwick, where he developed his interest in acting. He worked as a child actor in television films and sitcoms before his music career took shape.

From UTD to Rawkus

In 1994 he formed the group Urban Thermo Dynamics (UTD) with his younger brother DCQ and a high-school friend, Ces. By 1996 he was working as a solo artist, appearing with De La Soul and Da Bush Babees, and in 1997 he released his first solo single, "Universal Magnetic." He signed with the New York independent label Rawkus Records and formed Black Star with fellow Brooklyn MC Talib Kweli; the duo's album Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star appeared in 1998.

Solo Records

His solo debut, Black on Both Sides, was released through Rawkus in October 1999 and reached No. 25 on the Billboard 200; its single "Ms. Fat Booty" charted. The album also includes "Umi Says" and "Mathematics." In 2000 he appeared with Pharoahe Monch and Nate Dogg on "Oh No." His second album, The New Danger (2004), reached No. 5 on the Billboard 200. It was followed by True Magic (2006) and The Ecstatic (2009). In 2019 he presented Negus as a gallery installation rather than a conventional digital or physical release.

Acting and Name Change

Alongside music he built a film and television career, including Brown Sugar (2002), The Woodsman (2004), HBO's Something the Lord Made (2004), The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005), 16 Blocks (2006), Be Kind Rewind (2008) and Cadillac Records (2008), in which he played Chuck Berry. He hosted Def Poetry Jam from 2002 to 2007. In 2011 he began using the name Yasiin Bey, explaining that he feared "Mos Def was being treated as a product, not a person." He announced a retirement from music and film in 2016, but he continued performing with Black Star and with Gorillaz from 2017 onward. In 2020 he co-hosted the podcast The Midnight Miracle with Talib Kweli and Dave Chappelle.