Mos Def was engaging, animated and personable in his conversation last night with Rolling Stone‘s Anthony DeCurtis. The evening began with the premiere of a previously unreleased video for “Beef” (look for it online soon), and included comment on everything from Barack Obama’s ability to appear “above the fray” in politics to the enviable vitality and urgency of some of the hip-hop music being produced outside the United States today.
The Y audience was treated to an impromptu listening party for one of Mos Def’s new tracks to be released later this year on an album called The Ecstatic, after a novel by Victor LaValle. Titled “Pretty Dancer,” it’s dedicated to Muhammad Ali and produced by Madlib. We were also given a guided tour of the Most Important Songs in Mos Def’s life, in chronological order:
2. ”O Holy Night,” as first heard in church as a child
3. ”It’s Like That” by Run DMC, as first heard blasting from an open doorway in the Bronx in the early 1980s
4. “Planet Rock” by Afrika Bambaataa and the Soulsonic Force, as first heard inside a Brooklyn pizzeria one day with his mother ("They sounded like they were coming from space."):
5. ”The Message” by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, as first heard during a “last day of school” class party in the fourth grade.
6. ”The Bridge is Over” by Boogie Down Productions, as first heard on a Bronx sidewalk ("It was news.")
7. ”A Love Supreme” by John Coltrane, as first heard at the age of 14 ("It was my first means of travel.")
8. The Band of Gypsys live album by Jimi Hendrix, as first heard at the age of 15 ("I remember being mad, because it was like, ‘why did no one tell me about this?’")
9. ”Bitches Brew” by Miles Davis, as first heard at the age of 16
The blogger reviews are starting to come in: Brian Litvack of YO BRO IT’S ME LITTY and Sportsvite.com was impressed:
I’m super glad I went as I was really impressed with Mos Def. He is such an astute observer of society which he then processes in his own unique way. Mos Def has the amazing ability to articulate his thoughts in such a rhythmatic flow that makes his words even more captivating. He speaks in such a deliberate and patient manner. It seems like he pauses in mid-sentence to scan his own mental dictionary for the perfect word or phrase and then nails it every time. He gets you to want to listen to what he has to say next. I think that is called charisma.
The challenge, I believe, with these “in-person” appearances is that the facade is blown. Oftentimes, I leave these events with the star losing their luster and no longer being a fan. But did the star this evening keep on shining after all of the questions from the host and the audience? Mos Def. (Oh come on, you had to know that was coming!)
And the New York Observer Politicker blog has quotes from Mos on Barack Obama.
Explaining what he considers to be the subconscious appeal of Obama, he said, “On an intuitive level I could sense it. And when I saw him on the cover of Men’s Vogue, even before he threw his hat in, I was like, ‘This guy is going to run for president and he’s going to win.’ And he’s going to win because he’s an author, and he looks good.”
Mos Def was engaging, animated and personable in his 
