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I just don't think it's very dignified to ask people to like you. You can just wind up being somebody's ottoman.

Mos Def

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Mos Def
Age: 51
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
Ottoman
Like
People
Ottomans
Dignified
Wind
Somebody
Asks
Think
Thinking

More quotes by Mos Def

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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.
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I can't take it y'all I can feel the city breathin Chest heavin, against the flesh of the evening Sigh before we die like the last train leaving
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But even creeps deserve to live someplace halfway decent.
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To me, it's like happiness is about happiness, but happiness is a fight.
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Man, I smashed her like an Idaho Potato
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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.
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There are a lot of people who call themselves teachers or leaders, but they're really just propagandists.
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Live now for the promise of the Infinite
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I've always loved music and I love the language, which is a huge reason why I'm part of theater.
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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.
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I never had any ambitions of being a movie star or anything like that, but you know, this is nice.
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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.
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I think hip-hop is actually one of the most challenging things that's happened in music in a long time. The people who are in charge of what people see or hear are afraid. What you hear on top 40 or what you see on BET or MTV is not a fair representation of what is really going on...
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If it's just fame for the sake of being famous, no one even cares about you - and you don't even care about yourself because you're like, This is so ridiculous.
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I can't control what people think. I'm not trying to manipulate people's thoughts or sentiments. I write all the time. You have to experience life, make observations, and ask questions. It's machine-like how things are run now in hip-hop, and my ambitions are different.
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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.
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I thought everybody got into rock 'n' roll because they didn't want to follow instructions.
Mos Def
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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.
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You can positively affect and change a social circumstance with art, and it’s vital that a change happens now.
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There's just some dysfunctionalism with artists.
Mos Def