I got my first exposure to Islam when I was 13. Mos Def More Quotes by Mos Def More Quotes From Mos Def I began to fear that Mos Def was being treated as a product, not a person, so I've been going by Yasiin since '99. At first it was just for friends and family, but now I'm declaring it openly. Mos Def treated family-and-friends firsts I believe the projects were a social experiment; we were laboratory rats stacked on top of each other, and people just knew, inherently, that there was something wrong. There's not a lot of regard for the property by the residents. Mos Def rats believe people At its heart, music is all higher mathematics. Mos Def mathematics beauty art Record companies are not necessarily interested in you realizing your artistic dream. The bottom line is that they got to sell records. Mos Def records lines dream You have to be an extremist to believe that you're gonna be the president of the United States and your name is Barack Hussein Obama! And he's using extreme methods, but his application is very smooth. Michelle Obama is extreme, her presence is extreme. And it's an extreme good. Extreme is not negative. Mos Def president names believe I've always loved rhyming. I love language. Mos Def rhyming language If you're going to do Chuck Berry, you got to, you know, go all out, and the duck walk is just kind of you know, cursory. That's like standing. Mos Def berries ducks kind If 'Life in Marvelous Times' can't get on the radio, then I don't need to be on the radio. Mos Def marvelous radio needs You're not gonna get through life without being worshipful or devoted to something. You're either devoted to your job, or to your desires. So the best way to spend your life is to try to be devoted to prayer, to Allah. Mos Def prayer desire jobs To me, playing an instrument and singing, all of these different things are just as natural to me as rhyming. Mos Def rhyming singing different And remember don't high post when you're far from home, and high posting when you're all alone. Mos Def all-alone home remember Michael Jordan on the court is a completely different guy. If the play requires him to leap out all the way and grab the ball, that's what he'll do. He may be a completely shy, withdrawn sort of person [off the court]. Mos Def guy different play Everything's got space between it, the planets, trees, your eyes. Your eyes get too close together, it's a whole different world. You can lose perspective. Mos Def perspective space eye I thought everybody got into rock 'n' roll because they didn't want to follow instructions. Mos Def rock-n-roll rocks want History has proven that it's impossible to crush the artist. There's always gonna be a need for somebody to write a poem or sing a song about something, about life - that makes it real. There's the word that goes beyond the word. Mos Def crush real song I tell people all the time, I've always loved music and I love the language, which is a huge reason why I'm part of theater. But, I didn't wanna do all of this. I would've been satisfied to do it, like, on the weekends among friends, and to have a regular job. Mos Def weekend jobs people I can't control what people think. I'm not trying to manipulate people's thoughts or sentiments. I write all the time. You have to experience life, make observations, and ask questions. It's machine-like how things are run now in hip-hop, and my ambitions are different. Mos Def ambition writing running But even creeps deserve to live someplace halfway decent. Mos Def halfway creeps decent I feel like being into the beat of your own drum has become too prominent in the culture. Mos Def beats feels culture I've always loved music and I love the language, which is a huge reason why I'm part of theater. Mos Def theater language reason-why
