E-mail a friendMos Def
airdate February 14, 2005
Mos Def is a voice of new-school hip-hop and a serious actor. The Brooklyn-born artist began rhyming at age 9 and formed his first group with his siblings. He's appeared on numerous records with several groups and debuted his solo album in '99. He began his acting career on TV's The Cosby Mysteries and has several notable performances to his credit, including roles in Broadway's Pulitzer Prize-winning Topdog/Underdog and HBO's Emmy-winning Something the Lord Made. 'The New Danger' is his sophomore CD.
Mos Def
Tavis: I'm awfully pleased to welcome Mos Def to this program. Finally got him here. The talented actor and musician has the unique distinction of being the only artist in 2004 and, for that matter, ever nominated in the same year for an Emmy, a Grammy, and a Golden Globe. Player, I ain't mad at you. The Grammy nomination came for his latest CD, "The New Danger," long-awaited follow up to his CD "Black on Both Sides." From "The New Danger" CD, here is the video for "Ghetto Rock."
Mos Def singing: The haters can't -- with it
'Cause they mom and they sister and girl in love with it
Soundman holla black COME WITH IT
Spin the record 'till the record done spinning
Up top is you getting up with it?
Dirty dirty is you getting cronk with it?
Smokey smoke from coast to coast
Be careful, our first draw be that overdose
Who stay holding it from Brooklyn?
YOU KNOW IS MOS!
Tavis: Mos, almost said how you living. But I ain't gotta say that. I see you living large, man.
Mos Def: I'm doing all right, brother. Blessed. I'm blessed.
Tavis: Nice to see you, man.
Def: Good to be here.
Tavis: Congrats. 2004, all that stuff I just listed. Heck of a year for you. How you going to top that this year?
Def: I ain't going to top it. I'm just trying to-- '05 has been nice, too. It's been--it has been a nice journey. I don't want to top nothing. I just want to keep going, you know.
Tavis: I'm going to be all over the map with you for these next 10 or 12 minutes, because there's so much to talk to you about. But let me just--again, all over the map--this movie, the HBO film you did, "Something the Lord Made," that thing was serious. I mean, I love this about HBO. They run stuff 25,000 times every day. So I've seen it, like, a gazillion times already. But every time I see it, I'm fascinated by it. For those who haven't seen "Something the Lord Made," tell me about the project and why you chose to do it, about this African-American doctor.
Def: Dr. Thomas' story is just--it's an amazing story. He was an amazing man. And it was a challenge. I mean, he was a unique individual. He was a skilled craftsman, a quiet, very determined sort of man. And somebody who was dynamic and distinctive without being loud, you know.
Tavis: Kind of like you, huh? You don't say a lot.
Def: Listen, Dr. Thomas is from Nashville. I'm from Brooklyn. I mean, I don't think--Chris Rock made a good point. I don't think that everybody has got different parts of their personality, dynamics, or whatever. It can get loud sometimes. But generally, I'm--I guess people would say I'm laid back or reserved. But I appreciated about Dr. Thomas, that he was able to be, you know, bold, even from that posture. He was dynamic, even in his stillness, and that he was a humble man who really didn't take any shorts about who he was or his own identity. And his personality and his achievements are even deeper than we were able to get into in the movie.
Tavis: His humility is made all the more amazing when you consider that what the story is really about is an African-American doctor who did some monumental, significant, life-changing research.
Def: Yeah.
Tavis: That he didn't get the credit for. White doctors got the credit, but he did the work.
Def: He did technological development, you know. I mean, the bulldog clamp is his invention, you know, and this is the linchpin of the procedure, because it's what allows the surgeons to apply pressure to those arteries long enough to perform on them to sew them together. I mean, first of all, one of the unsung heroes of the operation is Helen Taussig, who started the research at a children's hospital. And because she was a woman in the medical field at that time, she wasn't really taken seriously. So I don't think it's--I think it's a bit of, you know, poetic justice if you will that this ends up in the hands of someone else who is discriminated against, or just minimalized because of where they come from in society.
Tavis: Well, the movie on HBO we're talking about is called "Something the Lord Made." If you've not seen this, you've got to see it. It's a great piece that Mos Def stars in. Speaking of movies, I was digging you in--it's been a minute since I've seen you. But that "Italian Job" thing was nice, too. I hear you guys are working on a sequel. Is that true?
Def: Yeah, you know, there's been talk of it. With me--it's funny, 'cause I just saw Mark last night.
Tavis: Mark Wahlberg.
Def: And we were talking about it. We just want to get the script together. To be perfectly frank, it's really not worth doing if the script--
Tavis: If the script ain't right. Yeah.
Def: Yeah. I mean, that's the thing that I'm, like, the stickler for the most. I like the script to be in as good condition as it can be.
Tavis: Where did this acting thing come from? When you and I first met years ago--I'm never surprised at artists. I have a problem with critics who try to pigeonhole artists anyway. There's nothing wrong--if you got it, flaunt it. If you can sing and act and dance, it you're a triple-threat, quadruple-threat, I ain't mad at you going to do your thing.
Def: Jamie Foxx is the one--
Tavis: Jamie is putting this thing down, no question about it.
Def: He's an amazing singer and musician.
Tavis: But I didn't know had you this acting thing in you when I met you a few years ago. Now you're serious about this acting thing.
Def: I mean, it's just always been something that I've done ever since I was, you know, preteen, teenager, doing Off Broadway in New York, and you know, taking scene study classes, whatever I could do. And it's not the sort of thing that you brag about or--when I was doing it, it was just like kind of before Spike Lee did "She's Gotta Have It," which was like a huge moment, you know. There weren't a lot of young, black actors. It was like sitcoms and, you know, cameos on network shows. Like you wanted to get in national television commercial if you could. So it's just a thing I enjoyed doing and that I stayed at. I'm just--was grateful to be able to earn a living and really be able to do it as a professional. So many great actors that I worked with in the theater, or wherever, that have families, they had to keep day jobs. I mean, super-talented people, super sincere, you know, enthusiastic about what they were doing. They never got a chance. So I'm just glad.
Tavis: You're doing more then making a living these days. And speaking of making a living, there's the acting and the music. I want to show this right quick. You're always making statements with your music, which I love, but this time you actually chose to make a couple of statements with the cover on the CD. There are two sides to this. First of all--all right, Dave. Give me this one. You got this one? There you go. This is -- what's the statement here, Mos?
Def: Well, you know, sometimes you do something just because, you know, you--I mean, I had the experience with Topdog, "Topdog/Underdog", the play where--
Tavis: Suzan-Lori Parks.
Def: Suzan-Lori Parks' play, and Jeffrey Wright's character Lincoln, you know, he does the thing in whiteface. And there is a long tradition in America of performance in blackface. Bert Johnson and vaudeville and like this. I think I'm just referencing that part of, you know, the black experience in America and putting it in a modern context.
Tavis: And speaking of that black experience in America, what is the statement on this piece?
Def: It means something to everybody who sees it, you know. And I don't like to put just my definition on it, you know. What I do appreciate about it is that people have a response to it.
Tavis: Right.
Def: When they see it. And I think that, you know, people--black people in this country, male or female, have been at that kind of breaking point at some point, that point of madness or abandon or, you know, danger. And it's a real...I wanted to do something that was, you know, edgy. It came from inside my gut, as opposed to, like, inside my brain.
Tavis: Well, you accomplished edgy. If that's what you were going for, you got it.
Def: Thank you.
Tavis: The name of the new CD is "The New Danger," the new CD by Mos Def. If you're a Mos Def fan, you're digging this already. And if you're not, you should check it out. He's an awfully talented artist. Look for a lot more out of him in the coming months and years. Nice to see you, man. All the best to you.
Def: Good to be here, Tavis. Thank you so much, man.
Tavis: My pleasure. That's our show for tonight. I'll see you back here next time on PBS. Until then, good night from L.A., thanks for watching, and keep the faith.
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