MosDef

A$AP Rocky recently discussed "the gay thing" in hip-hop. "It makes me upset that this topic even matters when it comes to hip-hop," he explained. "It makes it seem like everybody in Hip-Hop is small-minded or stupid, and that's not the case...

Yasiin Bey -- otherwise known to the world as Mos Def -- decided that a recent show at The Shrine in Chicago was the opportune time to debut some unreleased work he'd done with Kanye West. Well okay then sir! "The Light Is Not Afraid Of The Dark" was originally recorded for Mos' 2006 LP True Magic, and while it doesn't feature 'Ye vocals, it is his production...

April showers don't just mean May flowers. The spring month also blooms with iambic pentameters and tetrameters, marking National Poetry Month. Since it's birth in the Bronx in the late '70s, hip-hop has often been tied to poetry, with MCs often considering themselves spoken-word poets who rhythmically deliver prose over a beat...

Artists have been known to play number games within their lyrics from time to time. Only some singers are able to carry metaphorical word problems but rappers love to implement math in a bar or two. Some are simple enough to grasp while others make listeners pull out the notepad and calculator...

Over the past seven years, the Rock the Bells music festival has worked its way up from a regional Southern California event to become one of the most anticipated annual concert series in the hip-hop world. Kicking off in 2004, straight out the gate, RTB made hip-hop history for featuring the then re-united Wu-Tang Clan on its stage and for being the last place where member Ol' Dirty Bastard perfo

Mos Def has been going hard at the box office, but he's ready to take another swing at the music game. The Brooklyn emcee recently dropped his newest joint, 'World Premiere,' on Fuel TV's 'The Daily Habit.' Produced by Madlib, the performance finds Mos going back to the basics, with an old school mic and a jazz infused beat...

It's been three-plus years since Lupe Fiasco's sophomore album 'The Cool,' which featured the hit single 'Superstar,' and since then, the rap star has seemingly avoided being a hip-hop superstar by threatening to retire and eventually changing his mind and announcing 'We Are Lasers,' now simply 'Lasers...

Following last year's successful event, the upcoming Paid Dues Independent Hip Hop Festival is slated to be a doozy. The lineup for this year's concert has been announced, with Black Star, E-40, Murs, Slaughterhouse, Immortal Technique, Bun B, Nipsey Hussle, Lil B and more slated to perform during the fest...

Comedians Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly are quickly becoming some of the more gifted musical satirists of this era. Joining together for the film 'Step Brothers,' the movie found the duo starting a record label with the fancy title Prestige Worldwide and releasing a single called 'Boats N Hoes...

Mos Def will join four other prominent public figures to participate in a new storytelling series from New York City-based non-profit organization, The Moth. The Brooklyn emcee will make an appearance at five showcases called A More Perfection Union: Stories of Prejudice and Power, where participants will present audiences with a personal, ten-minute story of an experience where they have faced di