African art is functional, it serves a purpose. It's not a dormant. It's not a means to collect the largest cheering section. It should be healing, a source a joy. Spreading positive vibrations.
Mos Def
Focused. I'm a hustler. And my hustle is trying to figure out the best ways to do what I like without having to do much else.
You're not gonna get through life without being worshipful or devoted to something. You're either devoted to your job, or to your desires. So the best way to spend your life is to try to be devoted to prayer, to Allah.
All the things that are worth doing, take time.
I don't want to waste anyone's time or money. I want to give people some truth and positive heart lift.
When people say, 'I don't see you enough,' well just because you don't see me don't mean I don't exist, or just 'cause you haven't heard me don't mean I haven't been making noise. But if I keep making noise, you'll pick up.
My presence speaks volumes before I say a word.
I don't hate nobody. I hate certain conditions that are inflicted upon the people - and they're helpless with it.
I'm a passionate person. I'm a lot of things, like most people are. Most people are dynamic. The focus is not on me though, I'm a screen. The aim is to always keep myself in the position where the screen is clear.
I'm not shy about heated debate or passionate discourse, but when people get crazy or rude, that's a buzz kill. There's got to be a better code of conduct, some basic etiquette.
Good art provides people with a vocabulary about things they can't articulate.
The ability to have somebody read something and see it, or for somebody to paint an entire landscape of visual imagery with just sheets of words - that's magical. That's what I've been trying to strive for - to draw a clear picture, to open up a new dimension.
You want to know how to rhyme, then learn how to add. It's mathematics.
Everything's got space between it, the planets, trees, your eyes. Your eyes get too close together, it's a whole different world. You can lose perspective.
It wouldn't be fair to cast aspersions on an entire cultural movement based on the actions of a few. To quote my grandfather, 'One bad apple don't spoil the whole bunch.'
I'm an independent thinker. And I'm not the poster child for any movement. I'm trying to support whatever's right no matter where it is.
But even creeps deserve to live someplace halfway decent.
With guys I revere, like Marcus Garvey or Malcolm X, their look is less about style than purpose and the expression of beauty. It wasn't just about being noticed, you know?
Mos Def is a name that I built and cultivated over the years it's a name that the streets taught me a figure of speech that was given to me by the culture and by my environment and I feel I've done quite a bit with that name and it's time to expand and move on.
I've been fortunate with my acting career. A lot of scripts come to me. I don't mind auditioning if something that requires that, but I haven't had to in awhile, which is a nice place to be 'cause I've been on quite a lot of auditions in my life.
And remember don't high post when you're far from home, and high posting when you're all alone.
I never had any ambitions of being a movie star or anything like that, but you know, this is nice.
I'm just an artist and I'm doin' what I like to do.
Bob Marley performed the 'One Love Peace' concert in Jamaica with the two different warring political sides. There's always been that in black music and culture in general. It's no surprise because black music is such a reflection of what's going on in black life. It's not unusual for hip-hop.
I know what it feels like to have the door slammed firmly in my face, so I'm cool with that.
To me, the job of the artist is to provide a useful and intelligent vocabulary for the world to be able to articulate feelings they experience everyday, and otherwise wouldn't have the means to express in a meaningful and useful way.
I don't wanna get into that space where a lot of guys now, their solo album is like eight or 10 songs with other people, you don't get an idea of who this guy is. I just wasn't interested in that.
If you're going to do Chuck Berry, you got to, you know, go all out, and the duck walk is just kind of you know, cursory. That's like standing.
You have to experience life, make observations, and ask questions.
It's possible and available to any artist to be himself or herself on their own terms, to be accepted and embraced by black people. You don't have to be a thug to get love from black people.
Mos Def is a name that I built and cultivated over the years. It's a name that the streets taught me, a figure of speech that was given to me by the culture and by my environment.
There are a lot of people who call themselves teachers or leaders, but they're really just propagandists.
I'm trying to get low. People's personalities can get in the way of their own work.
I'm retiring the Mos Def name after 2011. I'm actually doing it.
That idea of peace and love toward humanity shouldn't be nationalistic or denominational. It should be a chief concern for all mankind.
What I take from writers I like is their economy - the ability to use language to very effective ends. The ability to have somebody read something and see it, or for somebody to paint an entire landscape of visual imagery with just sheets of words - that's magical.
I have no confidence issues with the impact or the quality of the music. No one in hip-hop, before this point and to this point, with all due respect, has done this.
I just don't think it's very dignified to ask people to like you. You can just wind up being somebody's ottoman.
I'm inspired by playwrights, novelists, poets: The value of language has been a lifelong passion of mine. I enjoy it. I'm good at it.
I was taught when there's somethin' you can change around keep quiet, you got nothin' to complain about.
I guess something that you love to do, you gotta ease up off it and give it a little space, come back and be fresh to it.
You have to be an extremist to believe that you're gonna be the president of the United States and your name is Barack Hussein Obama! And he's using extreme methods, but his application is very smooth. Michelle Obama is extreme, her presence is extreme. And it's an extreme good. Extreme is not negative.
If Islam's sole interest is the welfare of mankind, then Islam is the strongest advocate of human rights anywhere on Earth.
Reckless capitalism kills black people.
What I take from writers I like is their economy - the ability to use language to very effective ends.
I got my first exposure to Islam when I was 13.
If 'Life in Marvelous Times' can't get on the radio, then I don't need to be on the radio.
I come from a family of very devout, praying people. That idea of peace and love toward humanity shouldn't be nationalistic or denominational. It should be a chief concern for all mankind.
I didn't want to have to deal with having any moniker or separation between the self that I see and know myself as.
I believe the projects were a social experiment; we were laboratory rats stacked on top of each other, and people just knew, inherently, that there was something wrong. There's not a lot of regard for the property by the residents.
