Mos Def Quotes

Twitter freaks me out. You have followers? It feels so obsessive and proprietary.

The new moon rode high in the crown of the metropolis. Shinin', like "Who on top of this?

Every time you ask yourself where hip-hop's going, ask yourself where you're going; how are you doing?

In the early '90s, when I really started to find my voice, I was reading a lot of books, and I was moved by the writers, like Chinua Achebe, and I wanted to be able to write rhymes that were as potent as what I was reading.

I have no confidence issues with the impact or the quality of the music. No one in hip-hop, before this point and to this point, with all due respect, has done this.

That's what I've been trying to strive for - to draw a clear picture, to open up a new dimension.

Focused. I'm a hustler. And my hustle is trying to figure out the best ways to do what I like without having to do much else.

And remember don't high post when you're far from home, and high posting when you're all alone.

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.

The moment you start thinking it's hopeless, then it is. [But], if you think it's gonna get better, it really does. Life is a test.

Speech is my hammer bang the world into shape now let it fall - HUNGH

I'm just an artist and I'm doin' what I like to do.

There was a time when hip-hop was its own musical principle, aside from sampling. Like the entire Wild Style break is instrumental. Kurtis Blow's earliest stuff was studio musicians playing. Whodini had a real clear sound, things like "five minutes of funk," stuff that you could write really beautiful, lush string and horn arrangements around, stuff that was just music.

I don't have advice for people on how to dress. People should dress based on what they find beautiful. My best advice: Keep your clothes clean.

I don't mind being black. I'm black out loud. It's more than the people that they are, it's the condition that they represent.

Fear not of men because men must die. Mind over matter and soul before flesh.

They say that when a man faces his destiny, the destiny ends and he becomes the man that he really is.

I just don't think it's very dignified to ask people to like you. You can just wind up being somebody's ottoman.

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.

I got my first exposure to Islam when I was 13.

The test in life nowadays is just trying to keep yourself charged up with enough good feeling. It's like, "OK what am I going to do to feel really good today?" Not like, some chick or a drink.

Don't look down, it's an impossible view; Fly like an eagle whatever you do.

At its heart, music is all higher mathematics.

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.

I never had any ambitions of being a movie star or anything like that, but you know, this is nice.

It's difficult to really be an artist nowadays. People are just on another page. You have a society that needs you to say something, but they don't want to give you the environment to be able to be just a functioning, happy, normal person. It's like, the industry is at odds with you, the society is at odds with you. You start to live in this very confined box where it's like, It's "me" and "them."

All the things that are worth doing, take time.

Restlessness is my nemesis. It's hard to just chill and sit still.

I ain't no perfect man I'm tryna do the best that I can with what it is I have.

I think hip-hop is actually one of the most challenging things that's happened in music in a long time. The people who are in charge of what people see or hear are afraid. What you hear on top 40 or what you see on BET or MTV is not a fair representation of what is really going on...

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."

We blasted holes in the night until she bled sunshine

That idea of peace and love toward humanity shouldn't be nationalistic or denominational. It should be a chief concern for all mankind.

I seen her on the ave, spotted her more than once. Ass so fat that you could see it from the front.

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.

I'm growing as an individual, but your always growing. All of my albums are snapshots of where I am artistically.

With guys I revere, like Marcus Garvey or Malcolm X, their look is less about style than purpose and the expression of beauty. It wasn't just about being noticed, you know?

You want to know how to rhyme, then learn how to add. It's mathematics.

What I take from writers I like is their economy - the ability to use language to very effective ends.

I dreamt that I could paint you with words, but there were no colors bright enough, black or white enough, blue or green enough...they didn't mean enough

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.

When people say I don't see you enough, well just because you don't see me don't mean I don't exist or just 'cause you haven't heard me don't mean I haven't been making noise. But if I keep making noise, you'll pick up.

You've got to validate every day. There are those who just put a stamp on it and say, "This is gonna be a good day and I'm not gonna let anything else make it a bad day."

I feel like being into the beat of your own drum has become too prominent in the culture.

Hip-hop is rock & roll. What the hell is Wu-Tang but Motorhead?

I guess something that you love to do, you gotta ease up off it and give it a little space, come back and be fresh to it.

I'm inspired by playwrights, novelists, poets: The value of language has been a lifelong passion of mine. I enjoy it. I'm good at it.

Hip-Hop went from selling crack to smoking it