This video of Mos Def reciting Black Thought’s lyrics (all 75 bars) from start to finish will make you smile. While most rappers would rather stroke their own ego, Mos is one of the few that takes time to study the work of other respected MCs. His sense of appreciation for art is only rivaled by his own capacity to inspire. Mos is a true student of the game.
If you guessed that last night’s BET Hip-Hop Awards was business as usual, you deserve a bag of Cheetos and an autographed copy of the Internet for being right on the money. The same names won the same categories. Most of the performers could have easily been replaced with dry ice. The only bright moment, aside from Ice Cube’s “I Am Hip-Hop” award, was seeing Kid ‘N Play sneak in and steal some dance steps. Despite the show’s pitfalls, there’s a segment that continues to stand out every year – the Cypher. The setting is perfect and they always seem to pick the right combination of MCs. Forget an MTV Top 10, Eminem is seriously making a case for all-time Top 10.
Peep high quality clips of the cypher bits below:
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Mos Def – Soul Kiss (Feat. Lee Wilson)
I have no clue where this came from, but it’s new Mos Def and that’s good enough for me.
[Swiped from DDotOmen]
I had the pleasure of seeing Mighty Mos Def and Jay Electronica rock Houston’s House of Blues on Wednesday night. Jay’s set comprised of mostly a cappellas (probably to underline his lyricism) and freestyles (to accentuate his versatility). Mos performed all but 3 songs from his latest disc, The Ecstatic. Aside from a few crazy moments, the show was drama-free. Here’s my photo recap of the evening’s proceedings.
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Remember Coldplay’s unsuccessful attempt at a “Billie Jean” cover? As I pointed out earlier, “Billie Jean” is one of the most difficult songs to perform live because of how layered it is. It’s pointless to even attempt to emulate MJ’s vocals when performing this live, and that was Coldplay’s undoing. Unless you’re Christina Aguilera, trying to mimic Michael Jackson’s voice is akin to trying to sound like T-Pain without using Auto-Tune. Mos Def must have seen that Coldplay video because he pretty much performed “Billie Jean” as Mos Def rather than try to match the King’s vocals. And no stupid menstrual pain dancing either.
In hip-hop culture it’s the little things that count — little things like the grandeur of smashing Billboard records and the joyous sound of the money machine playfully trilling its mellifluous call. But occasionally rappers also like to be artists.
Mos Def makes this point clear in his recent interview with Filter magazine:
“I’m an artist, man. I put that sh*t on my W2.”
Congratulations, Dante, you’ve just won our Abe Lemons Quote of the Day Award.
Dive in for hi-res scans of the entire Mos Def Filter article.
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Now this is how you freestyle off the top. More importantly, I never thought I’d see Mos Def freestyle to a GZA classic…on BET. Judging by the crowd’s reaction, those 106 & Park teenyboppers weren’t ready for this lyrical showdown.
If you liked this, you’ll love Mos Def’s The Ecstatic (due out Tuesday).
[H/T to Yardie for the footage]
