yasiin bey: The Ecstatic

Born in Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood, yasiin bey (formerly Mos Def) is a multidisciplinary artist. He has been making hip-hop music since 1994, and first gained national attention in 1998 with the release of Mos Def and Talib Kweli are Black Star, with Talib Kweli, and his subsequent solo album, Black on Both Sides, in 1999. Throughout his career, bey has balanced music with acting, appearing in films such as The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (2005), 16 Blocks (2006), Be Kind Rewind (2008), and Bamboozled (2000), among others.