Mos Def - Mathematics - One of Greatest conscious knowledge street tracks of all time

[I love Latina women]

Mos had so much personal sh*t going on, with the court battles with his kid's moms, and the child support and taxes nonsense. I think those issues and his chasing after the acting thing while being an acclaimed MC, derailed his whole sh*t.

He literally left the country and denounced his citizenship over child support and taxes, lol. Weird sh*t. So all of that crazy drama took a serious toll on his trajectory. I remember when he dropped "Universal Magnetic" and 'If You Can Huh You Can Hear" independently with Shawn J Period before BOBS, and just thinking to myself back then that he was gonna be the best someday.

I think so too

And all that shyt started back a decade ago, around the time he announced he was “retiring”.

Dude only tours now (he gotta make money some how lol) and lives in Spain

He ain’t dropped a solo album since 2009

I know if the average mainstream artists get jerked around for their publishing and masters, then yasiin probably don’t own none of his shyt. Hence the touring which is where artists money really come from.


Damn. Yeah I remember first hearing those songs on a mixtape my brother in law had back then and being amazed by how great those songs are.

 

[I love Latina women]

@Awesome Wells

And when you think about it, his “prolific” run was short

98’ to bout 00’

Most nikkas won’t feeling The New Danger in 04’

So from 98’ to 00’ was his run

I don’t count 96’ with his De La feature or Manifest Destiny before that

And the last great album that many liked that he dropped was The Ecstatic in 2009


1 universal classic album and 1 great album (The Ecstatic is a classic to me) as far as his solo work goes

It’s actually crazy when you really look at his discography

For an emcee who once had it all

 

[Awesome Wells]

I think so too

And all that shyt started back a decade ago, around the time he announced he was “retiring”.

Dude only tours now (he gotta make money some how lol) and lives in Spain

He ain’t dropped a solo album since 2009

I know if the average mainstream artists get jerked around for their publishing and masters, then yasiin probably don’t own none of his shyt. Hence the touring which is where artists money really come from.


Damn. Yeah I remember first hearing those songs on a mixtape my brother in law had back then and being amazed by how great those songs are.

Facts.

Mos drives me crazy because I've never seen an MC with his level of talent make more bizarre ass decisions, lol.

He was in a mad unique position of being both underground and kinda mainstream. He really could've done whatever he wanted and had the backing to run sh*t with the music. He dropped the ball crazy. I'm sure he knows that though.

 

[Awesome Wells]

@Awesome Wells

And when you think about it, his “prolific” run was short

98’ to bout 00’

Most nikkas won’t feeling The New Danger in 04’

So from 98’ to 00’ was his run

I don’t count 96’ with his De La feature or Manifest Destiny before that

And the last great album that many liked that he dropped was The Ecstatic in 2009


1 universal classic album and 1 great album (The Ecstatic is a classic to me) as far as his solo work goes

It’s actually crazy when you really look at his discography

For an emcee who once had it all

I definitely think The Ecstatic is a classic too.

He had me thinking he was about to go on another run again, after that album. LOL!!

 

[I love Latina women]

Post 2004 he was sort of wandering

True Magic came out in 06’ which was just a half ass project thrown together ( a few joints on there i like tho!)


Remember he was hanging with Dame Dash and worked on his whole Black ROC project?

 

[I love Latina women]

Facts.

Mos drives me crazy because I've never seen an MC with his level of talent make more bizarre ass decisions, lol.

He was in a mad unique position of being both underground and kinda mainstream. He really could've done whatever he wanted and had the backing to run sh*t with the music. He dropped the ball crazy. I'm sure he knows that though.

Exactly

He had a classic album like BOBS and then a classic movie like Something The Lord Made


Remember when he was hosting Def Poetry too?

He was in this rare space that many don’t achieve and somehow be managed to just let that shyt just fall out of his hands


He a smart brother, I know he knows

 

[I love Latina women]

I definitely think The Ecstatic is a classic too.

He had me thinking he was about to go on another run again, after that album. LOL!!

Yeah that album was a return to form

I did too lol

And you can tell DOOM influenced that album greatly, so much so, yasiin hasn’t really left that stream of conscious flow/style of rhyming alone since 2009

I sorta miss the way he use to spit now (pre 2009)

 

[The Jewnited States]

I still contend that mos def circa 1998-2000 was a top 3 mc on the entire planet

 

[Awesome Wells]

Exactly

He had a classic album like BOBS and then a classic movie like Something The Lord Made


Remember when he was hosting Def Poetry too?

He was in this rare space that many don’t achieve and somehow be managed to just let that shyt just fall out of his hands


He a smart brother, I know he knows

Sh*t is heartbreaking. HAHA!

He popped up in Brown Sugar too, and had a big role in that. He was kinda everywhere, but just didn't seem to be locked in with maintaining the music. He was a good actor, and a great MC, and had support and love from all kinds of spaces. I don’t get it.

 

[I love Latina women]

I still contend that mos def circa 1998-2000 was a top 3 mc on the entire planet

I agree

When I really think about it

It ain’t that many great emcees that really have a long run

There’s this short window of time that they shine and then it’s over in the blink of an eye

 

[I love Latina women]

Sh*t is heartbreaking. HAHA!

He popped up in Brown Sugar too, and had a big role in that. He was kinda everywhere, but just didn't seem to be locked in with maintaining the music. He was a good actor, and a great MC, and had support and love from all kinds of spaces. I don’t get it.

It really is lol

Yup, I remember that. He was in the damn movie and on the soundtrack

Facts

The man’s song Umi Says was even used in Jordan’s commercial for the Air Jordan XVI back in 01’

 

[ADP]

Sh*t is heartbreaking. HAHA!

He popped up in Brown Sugar too, and had a big role in that. He was kinda everywhere, but just didn't seem to be locked in with maintaining the music. He was a good actor, and a great MC, and had support and love from all kinds of spaces. I don’t get it.

think its the artistry/ boehmia in him

Chappelle, who is/was besties with Mos, did something similar when he disapperead at the height of his game

and in mos's case i suspect hes one of the goat absentee fathers the way he is moving...

we dont understand certain things like that because we have "normal" minds, its just how some artists function...








but i still need him to drop another dope project...

 

[The Jewnited States]

I agree

When I really think about it

It ain’t that many great emcees that really have a long run

There’s this short window of time that they shine and then it’s over in the blink of an eye

I think it's hard as fukk to be a legit TOP TIER mc with a long run for a few reasons:

It's simply hard to have the whole package to begin with. Innate talent for words, voice, presence, flow, creativity, something to say, unique style that hasn't been heard before etc. all the things that people consider necessary to be one of the goats

On top of that, a lot of artists have a lifetime of experience to channel into their first project or two or three. After that they have been in the grind of show biz and it doesn't hit the same if they talk about the same things

Listener fatigue. After some point the fans will say "so and so didnt "grow", they still stuck in the same mold as when they came on the scene", add that to the yes men or maybe doubters that will be in the ears of the rapper and it's easy to see how that can affect their future output.

The next big thing comes a long and steals some shine and that rappers run is over

It is exceedingly difficult to put together any run at the top let alone sustain it

 

[I love Latina women]

I think it's hard as fukk to be a legit TOP TIER mc with a long run for a few reasons:

It's simply hard to have the whole package to begin with. Innate talent for words, voice, presence, flow, creativity, something to say, unique style that hasn't been heard before etc. all the things that people consider necessary to be one of the goats

On top of that, a lot of artists have a lifetime of experience to channel into their first project or two or three. After that they have been in the grind of show biz and it doesn't hit the same if they talk about the same things

Listener fatigue. After some point the fans will say "so and so didnt "grow", they still stuck in the same mold as when they came on the scene", add that to the yes men or maybe doubters that will be in the ears of the rapper and it's easy to see how that can affect their future output.

The next big thing comes a long and steals some shine and that rappers run is over

It is exceedingly difficult to put together any run at the top let alone sustain it

Your absolutely right

This is one of the best written posts I’ve ever read on here, you broke that shyt down eloquently

Very well written post, bruh


Just curious, who else do you think is a top 3 emcee?

 

[I love Latina women]

think its the artistry/ boehmia in him

Chappelle, who is/was besties with Mos, did something similar when he disapperead at the height of his game

and in mos's case i suspect hes one of the goat absentee fathers the way he is moving...

we dont understand certain things like that because we have "normal" minds, its just how some artists function...








but i still need him to drop another dope project...

It’s something bout them Bohemian artists lol

I get not wanting to compromise and loving your art and standing up for your artistic merit but when it comes to their music, it always seems like it’s like pulling teeth to get things moving lol

Look at Badu, look at D’Angelo and yasiin

They stay moving at a snails pace when it comes to not only making the music but releasing it

I thought when Badu linked up with Alchemist the album would be here a lot sooner but nope lol

Same with yasiiin


D’Angelo will take a decade off smh

Again, I know it’s a lot that goes into the music and business but when you look at their heroes like Prince, Marvin, De La Soul etc; those artists were working and keeping it moving. I know they aren’t them, I just wish they had their work ethic and I guess better business acumen