Reflect on the manner in which an musical artist(Mos Def) deals with Essay

Reflect on the manner in which an musical artist(Mos Def) deals with issues of identity or racism - Essay Example Born Dante Terrel Smith in 1973, Mos Def has also been called Mighty Mos Def, The Freaky Night Watchman, Boogie Man, Black Dante, Dante Beze, Pretty Flaco and Flaco Bey (wikipedia 2006) all in an effort to develop his identity. Urban Thermo Dynamics was his first group with his siblings. He began working solo in 1996 with De La Soul and da Bush Babees before his first single came out, Universal Magnetic. Working with Talib Kweli, he formed Black Star in 1998. His first solo album came out in 1999, Black on Both Sides, and his second, The New Danger, in 2004. Despite saying that he wasn’t â€Å"down with that commercial nonsense† and that he wouldn’t do an album with JayZ and RocAFella for that reason, he still made a commercial for General Motors that made his fans wonder. Still, Mos Def â€Å"keeps it real† with his fan-base by his ‘real’ lyrics and his excellent movie portrayals.