The Witzard

"Dark bodies, bright crest, the kings grew nervous. A boy drew a gun, and then sold the portrait. And then used the cash to heat the stove at the palace. Soon. Very soon," Yasiin Bey & Ferrari Sheppard (collectively known as Dec. 99th ) wrote within a mysterious statement concerning the recent delay of their self-titled debut album; Dec. 99th —one of three final albums Bey has planned before his 2017 retirement from music and acting—was scheduled for a December 9th release exclusively on TIDAL , however, it never dropped, as expected and was finally unleashed earlier this week nearly two weeks late on December 21st. The Artist Formerly Known As Mos Def and writer turned producer Ferrari Sheppard have slowly been leaking out music as Dec. 99th for the past year or so... but I first remember seeing Sheppard's name attached to Yasiin Bey 's A Country Called Earth -released Electric Wire Hustle remix "Marigolds (Chaser)" back in Summer 2015 when ...

It seemed lie a pretty blatant, clear-cut call to arms to me when Brooklyn rapper-turned-actor-turned-stand-up comic Yasiin Bey aka Mos Def suddenly challenged any brave three-man posse up for the challenge to a battle rap-style cypher between himself, King Los , and Roots emcee Black Thought this past weekend; "me, Black Thought , and King Los vs. anybody e'erybody... battle anybody. [...] I'm tired of these dudes pretendin' like they dope. You alright, but relax. The dope n***as that think they dope — you ain't as dope as you think. You cool, but you ain't that deal. And we don't have to make no back-and-forth corny records about it." Although, for reasons unknown, Bey has since reneged his previously-incited battle rap challenge, which happened to fit right in, in light of Drake & Meek Mill 's recent well-publicized beef. He's more of less accusing YouTube user and apparent affiliate rrvid718 of uploading said call to arms vi...

"A great US Hip-Hop singer pays tribute to Daniel Dumile , better known as MF DOOM , an other[worldly] Hip-Hop artist, from the New York City underground scene. But who's behind the mask?" French Télévision network Culturebox wrote along with a series of seven cryptic YouTube videos quietly uploaded between December-February of last year. The mysterious masked wordsmith is eventually revealed to be Yasiin Bey aka Mos Def , who's likely the only person on planet Earth who can honestly say he's worked alongside Mark Wahlberg , Donald Sutherland, Jack Black , and MF DOOM. Culturebox 's BEYONDOOM EP-length playlist isn't exactly the first time Mos Def has expressed his fanboy-like admiration for DOOM ; a few years ago, he went as far as to "bet a million dollars on DOOM against Lil' Wayne " in a battle rap scenario, supposedly masqueraded as the Metal-Faced Villain after he cancelled a series of appearances initially billed as joint ...

The New Danger (2004), Mos Def 's STELLAR Hip-Hop/Blues Rock album recorded with Funky cats from Bad Brains, Living Colour , and a few other pioneering African-American Rock bands... has to be one of my favourite albums of ALL TIME! Dante Smith has always been a stylish, righteous, socially conscious rapper, ever since forming Black Star with like-minded friend-musician, Talib Kweli in the mid-90's. Mos Def recently pulled a "Cat Stevens," whole-heartedly converting to Islam , and changed his name to Yasiin Bey . "I Don't Like" is the third release that's been slow leaked from Top 40 Underdog , Bey's upcoming G.O.O.D. Music flip of Modern Radio staples. But don't get it twisted, this surely isn't Mos Def 's first rodeo; He managed to effortlessly re-work both Jay-Z/Kanye 's "The Takeover" and Grandmaster Flash 's "The Message" (1982) on The New Danger . Chief Keef, Lil' Wayne , and T...