Mos Def boasts an impressive CV, not only a rapper, he has performed on Broadway and in film, and he is a writer. He has been nominated for Grammy, Emmy and Golden Globe awards, and he has been the recipient of several awards, among them the Source Award, based on the consensus of his fans and his peers.
Mos Def has collaborated with Talib Kweli, Kanye West, Massive Attack (I Against I) and De La Soul. On the sliver screen, he has played roles opposite Bruce Willis, Alan Rickman, Kevin Bacon and Charlize Theron. He is the intelligent, and angry, conscience of new-generation hip-hop, often mentioned together with Talib Kweli, Common, Outkast and Roots.
Mos Def started his singing and acting career at the age of nine. He initially appeared as a guest artist with the Native Tongue Posse team (Jungle Brothers, De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest) and later started working with team-member Talib Kweli. This collaboration produced one of the best-known hiphop albums of all time: Mos Def & Talib Kweli are Black Star. Equally successful was Mos Def's 1999 solo recording Black On Both Sides, hailed as a return to the real roots of hip-hop.
Though the gangsta rap explosion pushed him out of the limelight, Mos Def managed to remain a "voice of truth" listened to by many when he criticised the US government's slow response to assist the - predominantly black - victims of Hurricane Katrina. Last year, MTV did not allow him to perform his Katrina-clap at the annual Music Video Awards, so he drove to Radio City Music Hall, which hosted the event, and rapped from a platform truck until the police intervened.
Source: Port.hu
