Mos Def

Unfortunately, sometimes our favorite songs don't become instant hits. They're not thrown in heavy rotation on the radio and the DJ won't play them in the club. Don't fear. We feel your pain. Here are our picks for the best songs of 2009. 10... Read More ...

At the beginning of 2009, many critics and fans had relegated Mos Def's turn-of-the-century successes in Black Star and his first solo record, 'Black on Both Sides' as his hip-hop peak. Wisely, he quickly turned the tables with 'The Ecstatic' -- one of the best, more innovative hip-hop records released this year...

Damon Albarn, frontman of the Gorillaz and Blur, has announced that the Gorillaz's third album will feature yet another random, all-star lineup, including rappers Snoop Dogg and Mos Def. The album, entitled 'Plastic Beach,' is said to reflect a "dsytopian, British melancholia," according to an interview Albarn gave to The Guardian, though he's also referred to it as "the most pop r

2009 has been a solid counterpoint to those that thought Mos Def had become too Hollywood. Def's fourth solo album 'The Ecstatic' was one of the best albums of the year and the ever-mighty Boogie Man has been zigzagging across the country and putting on some of the finest shows in any genre of music...

New Orleans rapper Curren$y has announced that he, fellow New Oreleans rapper Jay Electronica and Brooklyn veteran Mos Def have united to record an album together. The group formed after a chance meeting at Dame Dash's converted NYC art space and studio, DD172, which Mos calls a "24-Hour Karate School...

BET has finally leaked three 'Da Cypher' sessions from their Hip Hop Awards show, which features freestyles by Eminem, Mos Def, Black Thought, Joe Budden, Nikki Minaj, KRS-One, Buckshot, Wale and many others, with beats provided by the legendary DJ Premier...

When Common decides to do some good, he really goes all out. Last Saturday night at the Hollywood Palladium, the Chicago MC threw a giant benefit concert for his Common Ground Foundation -- a nonprofit dedicated to helping the urban youth in America...

Nineties hip-hop duo, The Beatnuts, are bringing a blast from the past to New York City this fall with their plans to star in an off-Broadway play titled 'Deez Nuts,' that tells the story of their musical career. The show, which is written by Sacha Jenkins, the co-founder of Egotrip and VH1's (White) Rapper Show will be set in Corona, Queens, the hometown of the famous hip-hop twosome...

Brooklyn rapper Mos Def and Roc-A-Fella Records founder Damon Dash have announced that they are collaborating on a new film project. The film, a documentary about relatively unknown Detroit punk band Death, whose members were all black (not to be confused with better-known Florida metal band Death, whose members were all white), and played in the late 1970s, has already begun shooting, according

Jay-Z wants to get moves like Coldplay, and he's not above taking Yoga to do it. "Chris hasn't tried to get me to do yoga yet but I am close to doing it. I'm envious of what he can do on stage. Watching him is amazing, he can really move. I want to be able to move like that, get my leg behind my ear, things like that...