Quote

Good art provides people with a vocabulary about things they can't articulate.

Mos Def

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Mos Def
Age: 50
Born: 1973
Born: December 11
Actor
Composer
Film Actor
Film Producer
Rapper
Record Producer
Singer
Singer-Songwriter
Songwriter
Television Actor
Brooklyn
New York
Yasiin Bey
Dante Terrell Smith
Dante Beze
Black Dante
Art
Good
Things
People
Articulate
Vocabulary
Provides
Consciousness

More quotes by Mos Def

Image
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.
Mos Def
Image
So rather than really have, like a close relationship to anything that's coming out today, people are just, they've got it on as background music. It's kind of the same way the cabdrivers use music it's very disposable. But, that doesn't mean there aren't a great number of artists who are doing things to change that.
Mos Def
Image
All the things that are worth doing, take time.
Mos Def
Image
I don't rap like nobody, I don't try to sound like nobody.
Mos Def
Image
I never had any ambitions of being a movie star or anything like that, but you know, this is nice.
Mos Def
Image
I don't care about what brand you are, I'm concerned what type of man you are, what your principles and standards are.
Mos Def
Image
Peace before everything, God before anything, Love before anything, real before everything, Home before any place, shoot before anything, Style and state radiate, Love Power slay the hate.
Mos Def
Image
Restlessness is my nemesis. It's hard to just chill and sit still.
Mos Def
Image
I've always loved music and I love the language, which is a huge reason why I'm part of theater.
Mos Def
Image
To me, it's like happiness is about happiness, but happiness is a fight.
Mos Def
Image
Every time you ask yourself where hip-hop's going, ask yourself where you're going how are you doing?
Mos Def
Image
You've got to validate every day. There are those who just put a stamp on it and say, This is gonna be a good day and I'm not gonna let anything else make it a bad day.
Mos Def
Image
I thought everybody got into rock 'n' roll because they didn't want to follow instructions.
Mos Def
Image
But even creeps deserve to live someplace halfway decent.
Mos Def
Image
You want to know how to rhyme, then learn how to add. It's mathematics.
Mos Def
Image
The new moon rode high in the crown of the metropolis. Shinin', like Who on top of this?
Mos Def
Image
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
Image
There's just some dysfunctionalism with artists.
Mos Def
Image
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. [But] it's time to expand and move on.
Mos Def
Image
Fame is like getting across the street. It's like, if there's nothing to be across the street for, it's a pointless destination. It's like, I gotta get across the street, man! I gotta be there! I gotta be there! Then you get across the street and you're like, Yeah I'm here! And then, that's it. Fame doesn't make you particularly happy.
Mos Def