Yasiin Bey

Dante Terrell Smith, known professionally as Mos Def (now Yasiin Bey), is a rapper, actor, and activist from Brooklyn, New York. One of hip-hop's most celebrated lyricists and cultural intellectuals, Mos Def helped define the aesthetic and moral vocabulary of late 1990s conscious rap through his partnership with Talib Kweli as Black Star and his landmark solo debut "Black on Both Sides" (1999). The album is a canonical work of hip-hop artistry, combining jazz-inflected production, political consciousness, and an extraordinary lyrical facility. His sophomore album "The New Danger" (2004) explored rock and blues influences alongside hip-hop, while "True Magic" (2006) and "The Ecstatic" (2009) continued to push his creative boundaries. Having legally changed his name to Yasiin Bey in 2011 and spending much of the decade abroad, he has remained one of hip-hop's most revered and morally serious figures. His acting career — spanning "Monster's Ball," "The Italian Job," and his recurring role in "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" — equals his musical stature.