Showbiz
Mos Def to change name to Yasiin
Published Thursday, Sep 8 2011, 12:32 BST | By Mayer Nissim | 1 comment
© PA Images / Dan Steinberg/AP
The rapper and actor, born Dante Terrell Smith, told MTV's Sucker Free that he will start calling himself Yasiin from 2012.
"I'm retiring the Mos Def name after 2011," he said. "I'm actually doing it. Yasiin. That's it.
"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."
He continued: "I feel I've done quite a bit with that name... it's time to expand and move on."
Of the new name, which is derived from the Koran, Mos Def added: "I didn't want to have to deal with having any moniker or separation between the self that I see and know myself as."
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Watch the Mos Def 'Ghetto Rock' music video below:
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