Mos Def: A Poet, Lyricist, and Actor Essay

“Immediately, The Notorious B.I.G., as he now called himself, got to work, appearing on a 1993 remix of Mary J. Blige's single, "Real Love," and followed it up with a second Blige remix, "What's the 411?" His debut as a solo artist came with the single, "Party and Bullshit," on the soundtrack to the film, who’s the Man? (1993).In 1994, The Notorious B.I.G. released his debut album, “Ready to Die”, which told the story of his life, from drug dealer to rapper. Later on down biggie mad many albums and music with Tupac, Mary .j Blige’s, Michael Jackson, and R-Kelly. Biggie still had some troubles when he was but he kept going”. (http://www.biography.com/people/biggie-smalls-20866735)

Since 2000, he has played a fraction of the film "SeaChange" (Wikipedia.org 2017), and his film and television work has already begun. Later, he participated in a variety of movies and tv, such as solo, double fist, good news week, thank God

Unlike many other mainstream artists, Kendrick Lamar attaches great importance to the lyrics of his songs. Lamar’s song “DNA”, released last April, became a real breakthrough in the world of hip-hop music. In this song, Lamar reflects on various social issues faced by the modern African-American community of the USA. The song’s lyrics, as well as the music video, portrays the most common stereotypes and biases labeled to the African-American community. The central aim of the song is to sarcastically demonstrate the image of African-Americans as they are viewed by biased media. By the use of symbolical sarcasm and double meanings, Lamar underlines the acuteness of the race inequality that remains existing in the modern America.

“Rap is poetry” (xii). To any avid fan of the genre, it is a statement that seems obvious. The words could easily be the musings of a listener first introduced to the art form, not the focal point of an entire work of contemporary criticism. Yet in Book of Rhymes: The Poetics of Hip Hop, Adam Bradley’s primary focus is this very point, the recognition of traditional poetic elements within rap music. With the global cultural and economic phenomenon that hip hop has become, it is easy to forget that the style of music is barely thirty years old, that scholarly criticism of it has existed for only half of that time. When viewed within this relatively new arena of scholarship, the importance of Bradley’s text is

During his early years he dropped out of high school and was a drug dealer for some years. He was good friends with Ice Cube and Dr. Dre. They started making songs for their new album that was called “Boyz-N-The Hood”. In 1987 they made another album that was called “Straight Outta Compton” that album

As previously mentioned, his formal acting career was launched in 2005 in “Sandlot 2.” He followed that up with roles in the films “The Bondage,” “The Deaf Family” and “The Legend of the Mountain Man.” In addition to films, he

‘From the margins to the mainstream: the political power of hip-hop’ by Katina R. Stapleton

Gregory hines grew up in a middle class family in new york. He and his older brother maurice went to a professional children's school. Hines grandmother ora hines,

The decade of hip-hop is what some may call it. Tupac, Naz, Biggie Smalls, as well as other artists, were major contributions. Not only for the people who are trying to find their footing, but Buck as well. Throughout the book various lyrics were embedded in order to create a better understanding for its readers. In addition, this book is based upon a 90s lifestyle within Philadelphia, which included drugs, gang activity, crime, hip-hop, and havoc. Malo was directly in the center of everything, the girls, the fights, the guns. His experiences shed light towards what it’s like to as an African American individual living in or near the hood. Not everyone realizes what people go through while living there, but now it gives some readers an image of what goes on. Though times have changed, not all previous feelings

The controversial context that is often used in Hip-Hop sets the standard of what it means to be ‘masculine’ as an artist of the culture. Artist who does not display contentious lyrical content in their music may not receive as much notoriety in the industry. In today’s Hip-Hop culture, more ‘conscious’, ‘apathetically masculine’ artist like, J. Cole have become more in popular. Cole’s lyrics are a reflection of his adversities that he has endured during his lifetime. Cole’s inspirations behind his music does not stem from a place of violence or from his ability to accumulate wealth, but from his ability to overcome his hardships as a black man and fulfill his purpose in life.

Think of a poet. Who came to mind? Was it Shakespeare, Langston Hughes, Ralph Waldo Emerson? What about Eminem or Jay-Z? They are both poets too, but in a different way. They go by the title “rapper”, basically a synonym for poet, and Hip-Hop is their form of poetry is. Kevin Coval amusingly says that rap “dusted poetry off, took it out the closet, put Js on its feet, and told it to speak to the people, all the people,” and that hip-hop saved poetry from becoming “classical music,” meaning that rap prevented poetry from becoming an old, out-dated art form and renovated it for the next generation (20). Coval’s book, The BreakBeat Poets, says the creation of hip-hop music was by “latchkey kids in the crack era, left to their own devices to experiment wildly and make language and art new and meaningful,” and goes on to say its purpose is to, “move the crowd, relate to the crowd, and save the crowd,” and Kendrick Lamar does these things perfectly (18). Through the use of clever wordplay and rhyming skills mixed with great story telling, Kendrick is bringing rap music back to its “roots” while introducing a “style” of his own, which is why one can argue that Kendrick Lamar is the “savior” of the rap game and its listeners.

Living in California he was a backup dancer for rap group Digital Underground.Touring with the band , he was allowed to appear on one song and doing so,opened up the way to a solo career.He was signed to Interscope records where he released two albums .While on the label he was in a sexual assault trial where he was convicted .While serving time in prison he released his ,his famous album, “Me Against The World.”After the release of his album , he was bailed out of jail by Death Row Records founder Suge Knight.In exchange for being bailed out he had to produce three albums which included, “Me Against The World, All Eyez On Me and The Don Killuminati:7Day

From his catalogue of critically acclaimed albums to his highly lucrative business ventures in the worlds of fashion, entertainment, sports, and technology, Hip Hop artist Jay Z has etched himself into the collective conscience of America as an icon of black success. One of the consequences of this revered status is that his art, whether it be in the form of music, documentary films, or books resonates on a level beyond that of his peers. As comedian Jerrod Carmichael joked in his latest comedy special, "Jay Z means way more than me to Dr. Martin Luther King. " Hunger for individual advancement replaces concern for collective progress and Machiavellian power play invades spaces once animated by moral courage in this contemporary search for

He speaks with such emphasis when delivering these raps, leaving no doubt as to the purpose or meaning of his lyrics. Throughout both verses, Mos Def pulls no punches while speaking about pertinent issues in modern urban society. Things such as drug use, police behavior, and government spending are critiqued with an almost confrontational vocal tone, as if his experiences and opinions have formed and anger about the current direction our society is headed in. Mos Def’s rapping about socioeconomic problems are very controversial, because some people have not been exposed to the things that he raps about and thus may not understand (Perry). However, he raps them so confidently and with such stress that no one can deny how strongly he feels about the subject matter. Similar to the beat of “Mathematics”, Mos Def’s lyrics also bring about a sense of conflict. His flow is certainly not structured perfectly- as the pace speeds up and his words become more serious and pronounced as the song progresses. This was done intentionally to give the piece its harsh tone and send a clear challenge to its listeners- to stop sending society in the wrong

From it's inception, rap indured a lot of hostility from listeners--many, but not all, White--who found the music too harsh, monotonous, and lacking in traditional melodic values. However, millions of others--often, though not always, young African-Americans from underprivileged inner city backgrounds--found and immediate connection with the style. Here was poetry of the