The Grio

Revisiting ‘Black on Both Sides’ — Mos Def’s 1999 debut album — 25 years later

Editor’s note: The following article is an op-ed, and the views expressed are the author’s own. Read more opinions on theGrio. There are a few songs I vividly remember hearing (or seeing if the video ...
The Source Magazine

Today in Hip-Hop History: Mos Def Released His Solo Debut ‘Black On Both Sides’ 26 Years Ago

On this date in 1999, Brooklyn lyricist, actor, and social activist Yasiin Bey—who the Hip Hop world first knew as Mos Def—released his debut solo album Black On Both Sides on the Rawkus/Columbia ...
Okayplayer

Behind The Beat: How Mos Def & Diamond D Created "Hip Hop," the Epicenter of 'Black On Both Sides'

Trading in my fitted for a fedora and white tee for a trench coat, I probe the possibility that pgLang’s Golden Child just may be the strongest branch of hip-hop’s sprawling family tree. 12 hours ago ...
Complex

Watch Joey Badass Cover Mos Def’s 'Black on Both Sides' Track “UMI Says”

Joey Badass covered Mos Def’s “UMI Says” in the latest edition of Australian radio station Triple J’s Like a Version series. Backed by a live band featuring rising Zimbabwe-born, Melbourne-based ...
The Village Voice

Live: Mos Def and Gil Scott-Heron at Carnegie Hall

Gil Scott-Heron, the now 59 year-old “Godfather of Hip-Hop,” wrote and sang this in the early 1980s: “I take pride in what’s mine—is that really a crime—When you know I ain’t got nothing else? / Only ...