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" 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. "

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" 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. "

Mos Def

You

People

Say

" You have to experience life, make observations, and ask questions. "

" To me, the job of the artist is to provide a useful and intelligent vocabulary for the world to be able to articulate feelings they experience everyday, and otherwise wouldn't have the means to express in a meaningful and useful way. "

Mos Def

Artist

World

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

Mos Def

Open

New

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

Mos Def

Economy

Ability

" 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. "

" I know what it feels like to have the door slammed firmly in my face, so I'm cool with that. "

Mos Def

Door

Cool

" My presence speaks volumes before I say a word. "

" I'm trying to get low. People's personalities can get in the way of their own work. "

" I've always loved rhyming. I love language. "

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

" I feel like I was the only person who was capable of making this type of music in this type of way. I don't rap like nobody, I don't try to sound like nobody. "

" 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. "

" I was taught when there's somethin' you can change around keep quiet, you got nothin' to complain about. "

" 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. "

" It wouldn't be fair to cast aspersions on an entire cultural movement based on the actions of a few. To quote my grandfather, 'One bad apple don't spoil the whole bunch.' "

" 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. "

" Good art provides people with a vocabulary about things they can't articulate. "

" 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. "

" Hip-hop is the last true folk art. "

" I didn't want to have to deal with having any moniker or separation between the self that I see and know myself as. "

" But even creeps deserve to live someplace halfway decent. "

" 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 like to read the 'Financial Times' when I'm traveling. 'Economist.' 'Ad Busters.' "

Mos Def

Read

Traveling

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

" 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. "

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

Mos Def

Feels

Out

" There are a lot of people who call themselves teachers or leaders, but they're really just propagandists. "

" 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. "