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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

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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
Guy
Marcus
Purpose
Malcolm
Less
Noticed
Look
Guys
Looks
Expression
Like
Style
Wasn
Beauty
Revere

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There's just some dysfunctionalism with artists.
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All the things that are worth doing, take time.
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Hip-Hop went from selling crack to smoking it
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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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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.
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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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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.
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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.'
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I don't hate nobody. I hate certain conditions that are inflicted upon the people - and they're helpless with it.
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I don't care about what brand you are, I'm concerned what type of man you are, what your principles and standards are.
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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.
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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.
Mos Def
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Record companies are not necessarily interested in you realizing your artistic dream. The bottom line is that they got to sell records.
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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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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
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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.
Mos Def
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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.
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I'd bet a million dollars on DOOM against Lil' Wayne
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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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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