I never had any ambitions of being a movie star or anything like that, but you know, this is nice.
Speech is my hammer bang the world into shape now let it fall - HUNGH
I thought everybody got into rock 'n' roll because they didn't want to follow instructions.
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.
I'm retiring the Mos Def name after 2011. I'm actually doing it.
I've always loved rhyming. I love language.
I don't rap like nobody, I don't try to sound like nobody.
But even creeps deserve to live someplace halfway decent.
At its heart, music is all higher mathematics.
If 'Life in Marvelous Times' can't get on the radio, then I don't need to be on the radio.
I don't wanna get into that space where a lot of guys now, their solo album is like eight or 10 songs with other people, you don't get an idea of who this guy is. I just wasn't interested in that.
I've been fortunate with my acting career. A lot of scripts come to me. I don't mind auditioning if something that requires that, but I haven't had to in awhile, which is a nice place to be 'cause I've been on quite a lot of auditions in my life.
Hip-hop is rock & roll. What the hell is Wu-Tang but Motorhead?
Mos Def is a name that I built and cultivated over the years, it's a name that the streets taught me, a figure of speech that was given to me by the culture and by my environment, and I feel I've done quite a bit with that name. [But] it's time to expand and move on.
There's just some dysfunctionalism with artists.
If it's just fame for the sake of being famous, no one even cares about you - and you don't even care about yourself because you're like, "This is so ridiculous."
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.
Crack mothers, crack babies and AIDS patients Youngbloods can't spell, but they could rock you in PlayStation.
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.
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].
I've always loved music and I love the language, which is a huge reason why I'm part of theater.
