Mos Quotes & Sayings

I've always loved rhyming. I love language. — Mos Def

I give a damn if any fan recalls my legacy, I'm trying to live life in the sight of GOD's memory. — Mos Def

My presence speaks volumes before I say a word. — Mos Def

We blasted holes in the night until she bled sunshine — Mos Def

I just don't think it's very dignified to ask people to like you. You can just wind up being somebody's ottoman. — Mos Def

I got my first exposure to Islam when I was 13. — Mos Def

If you're going to do Chuck Berry, you got to, you know, go all out, and the duck walk is just kind of you know, cursory. That's like standing. — Mos Def

I could see it in your eyes, that you honestly believed that i didn't want you anymore. The mos t absurd ridiculous concept as if there were any way I could exist without needing you. — Stephenie Meyer

Twitter freaks me out. You have followers? It feels so obsessive and proprietary. — Mos Def

That idea of peace and love toward humanity shouldn't be nationalistic or denominational. It should be a chief concern for all mankind. — Mos Def

So rather than really have, like a close relationship to anything that's coming out today, people are just, they've got it on as background music. It's kind of the same way the cabdrivers use music; it's very disposable. But, that doesn't mean there aren't a great number of artists who are doing things to change that. — Mos Def

My Umi said shine your light on the world, shine your light for the world to see — Mos Def

Don't forget that we come into this life with out anything and with out anything we are going to leave, nothing is more valuable than human life!
Mos harroni se kemi ardhur ne kete jete pa asnjegje, e do te shkojme pa asnjegje! Asgje nuk eshte me e kushtushme se Jeta e njeriut ! — Zybejta "Beta" Metani' Marashi

But even creeps deserve to live someplace halfway decent. — Mos Def

And remember don't high post when you're far from home, and high posting when you're all alone. — Mos Def

Look at music: I've always loved hiphop and rap, and now there's this whole progressive movement, with De La Soul and Mos Def, Common. It's some of the best stuff around. — Ryan Phillippe

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 and I feel I've done quite a bit with that name and it's time to expand and move on. — Mos Def

Speech is my hammer bang the world into shape now let it fall - HUNGH — Mos Def

The ability to have somebody read something and see it, or for somebody to paint an entire landscape of visual imagery with just sheets of words - that's magical. That's what I've been trying to strive for - to draw a clear picture, to open up a new dimension. — Mos Def

I don't mind being black. I'm black out loud. It's more than the people that they are, it's the condition that they represent. — Mos Def

All the things that are worth doing, take time. — Mos Def

Both the Shardon and their kin, the Chuns, have similar expressions. In Shardonish, it's Chu'rosh ko'ingar ju'shingu, ishi kimush'ur ta'osh., while in Chunshar it's Cho'ros'ah ko'ingar ju'shingu, esh'i ki'mos'ah'ir ta'ah. Roughly translated, both mean the same thing; 'There is a Darkness among the stars, deeper than space itself.' — Stuart Lynn Sexton

Lumos (noun; lu-mos): 1. A spell to create light, also known as the Wand-Lighting Charm. (Origin: the Harry Potter series) 2. A nonprofit working to end the institutionalization of children. It — J.K. Rowling

I'm a passionate person. I'm a lot of things, like most people are. Most people are dynamic. The focus is not on me though, I'm a screen. The aim is to always keep myself in the position where the screen is clear. — Mos Def

I ain't no perfect man I'm tryna do the best that I can with what it is I have. — Mos Def

Fame is like getting across the street. It's like, if there's nothing to be across the street for, it's a pointless destination. — Mos Def

It wouldn't be fair to cast aspersions on an entire cultural movement based on the actions of a few. To quote my grandfather, 'One bad apple don't spoil the whole bunch.' — Mos Def

You have to experience life, make observations, and ask questions. — Mos Def

Hip-Hop went from selling crack to smoking it — Mos Def

Good art provides people with a vocabulary about things they can't articulate. — Mos Def

Beef is not what Jay said to Nas;
Beef is when the working folks can't find jobs. — Mos Def

If 'Life in Marvelous Times' can't get on the radio, then I don't need to be on the radio. — Mos Def

I never had any ambitions of being a movie star or anything like that, but you know, this is nice. — Mos Def

Peace before everything, God before anything,
Love before anything, real before everything,
Home before any place, shoot before anything,
Style and state radiate, Love Power slay the hate. — Mos Def

I don't want to waste anyone's time or money. I want to give people some truth and positive heart lift. — Mos Def

African art is functional, it serves a purpose. It's not a dormant. It's not a means to collect the largest cheering section. It should be healing, a source a joy. Spreading positive vibrations. — Mos Def

When people say, 'I don't see you enough,' well just because you don't see me don't mean I don't exist, or just 'cause you haven't heard me don't mean I haven't been making noise. But if I keep making noise, you'll pick up. — Mos Def

I'm inspired by playwrights, novelists, poets: The value of language has been a lifelong passion of mine. I enjoy it. I'm good at it. — Mos Def

Restlessness is my nemesis/ It's hard to just chill and sit still — Mos Def

I didn't want to have to deal with having any moniker or separation between the self that I see and know myself as. — Mos Def

I feel like I was the only person who was capable of making this type of music in this type of way. I don't rap like nobody, I don't try to sound like nobody. — Mos Def

I dreamt that I could paint you with words, but there were no colors bright enough, black or white enough, blue or green enough ... they didn't mean enough — Mos Def

I'm retiring the Mos Def name after 2011. I'm actually doing it. — Mos Def

I don't hate nobody. I hate certain conditions that are inflicted upon the people - and they're helpless with it. — Mos Def

I began to fear that Mos Def was being treated as a product, not a person, so I've been going by Yasiin since '99. At first it was just for friends and family, but now I'm declaring it openly. — Mos Def

Why did one straw break the camel's back?
Here's the secret:
The million other straws underneath it. — Mos Def

Young bloods can't spell but they can rock you in Playstation — Mos Def

I thought everybody got into rock 'n' roll because they didn't want to follow instructions. — Mos Def

Make today's solid ground out of yesterday's quicksand. — Mos Def

You're not gonna get through life without being worshipful or devoted to something. You're either devoted to your job, or to your desires. So the best way to spend your life is to try to be devoted to prayer, to Allah. — Mos Def

The test in life nowadays is just trying to keep yourself charged up with enough good feeling. It's like, "OK what am I going to do to feel really good today?" Not like, some chick or a drink ... — Mos Def

Don't look down, it's an impossible view; Fly like an eagle whatever you do — Mos Def

I'm doing exactly what I was supposed to do. Yeah. I didn't exactly choose this. My own life, if it were up to me, would be very, very quiet. I'd be like a shopkeeper, a book collector, or something like that. I'm not like this. Myself as a performer and an artist is totally different from who I am. — Mos Def

The moment you start thinking it's hopeless, then it is. [But], if you think it's gonna get better, it really does. Life is a test. — Mos Def

To me, the job of the artist is to provide a useful and intelligent vocabulary for the world to be able to articulate feelings they experience everyday, and otherwise wouldn't have the means to express in a meaningful and useful way. — Mos Def

The thing that give me the mos' trouble was, it didn't make no sense. You don't look for no sense when lightnin' kill a cow, or it comes up a lood. That's jus' the way things is. But when a bunch of men take an' lock you up four years, it ought to have some meaning. Men is supposed to think things out. Here they put me in an' keep me an' feed me four years. That ought to either make me so I won't do her again or else punish me so I'll be afraid to do her again — John Steinbeck

Every time you ask yourself where hip-hop's going, ask yourself where you're going; how are you doing? — Mos Def

I'm not shy about heated debate or passionate discourse, but when people get crazy or rude, that's a buzz kill. There's got to be a better code of conduct, some basic etiquette. — Mos Def

Yo, it's 1 universal law but 2 sides to every story,
3 strikes and you be in for life, mandatory.
4 MC's murdered in the last 4 years,
I ain't tryin to be the 5th one, the Millennium is here.
Yo, it's 6 million ways to die, from the 7 deadly thrills,
8-year olds gettin' found with 9 mill's.
It's 10 P.M., where your seeds at? What's the deal? — Mos Def

You've got to validate every day. There are those who just put a stamp on it and say, "This is gonna be a good day and I'm not gonna let anything else make it a bad day." — Mos Def

Mos Def is one of the most creative, intelligent human beings I've had the opportunity to work with. He is fun. The entire time, he would go in and out of different characters, just for the fun of it. Awesome energy. — Jill Scott

I can't control what people think. I'm not trying to manipulate people's thoughts or sentiments. I write all the time. You have to experience life, make observations, and ask questions. It's machine-like how things are run now in hip-hop, and my ambitions are different. — Mos Def

Breathe in ... inhale vapors from bright stars that shine,
Breathe out ... weed smoke retrace the skyline. — Mos Def

Mos Eisley spaceport. You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious. — George Lucas

There are a lot of people who call themselves teachers or leaders, but they're really just propagandists. — Mos Def

I 'uz mos' to de foot er de islan' b'fo' I found' a good place. I went into de woods en jedged I wouldn' fool wid raffs no mo', long as dey move de lantern roun' so. I had my pipe en a plug er dog-leg, en some matches in my cap, en dey warn't wet, so I 'uz all right. — Mark Twain

Why do I need ID to get ID?
If I had ID, I wouldn't need ID. — Mos Def

I have mad brims. — Mos Def

I get reminded a lot of the time that my life is a little bit different, but I'm just trying to keep it as regular as possible because I like it that way. — Mos Def

I was taught when there's somethin' you can change around keep quiet, you got nothin' to complain about. — Mos Def

Everything's got space between it, the planets, trees, your eyes. Your eyes get too close together, it's a whole different world. You can lose perspective. — Mos Def

What I take from writers I like is their economy - the ability to use language to very effective ends. The ability to have somebody read something and see it, or for somebody to paint an entire landscape of visual imagery with just sheets of words - that's magical. — Mos Def

Man, I smashed her like an Idaho Potato — Mos Def

I'm just an artist and I'm doin' what I like to do. — Mos Def

You have to be an extremist to believe that you're gonna be the president of the United States and your name is Barack Hussein Obama! And he's using extreme methods, but his application is very smooth. Michelle Obama is extreme, her presence is extreme. And it's an extreme good. Extreme is not negative. — Mos Def

I can't take it y'all
I can feel the city breathin
Chest heavin, against the flesh of the evening
Sigh before we die like the last train leaving — Mos Def

I don't care about what brand you are, I'm concerned what type of man you are, what your principles and standards are. — Mos Def

So I think hip-hop is moving and is going to continue to move in the direction of rappers just being honest with themselves, whether you're talking about Common and Mos Def or Nas and 50 cent. — Talib Kweli

I want to be necessary and do good works. I ain't here to waste nobody's time, because I don't want you to waste mine. — Mos Def

I've been twenty one years as a nurse, five years as a forensic nurse." Bunmi was seducing Asa into accepting a fact that her interrogations were professional and infallible "I've come across countless MOs of various rapists. Many a rapist seems to be cautious of AIDS so they coerce their victims into stripping and only for them to penetrate in between the thighs. — S.A. David

there's nothing better after a gruelling day of work than to have multiple orgasms. Now, as we all know, most guys aren't capable of giving us MOs and, just quietly, they really should fucking teach that shit in high school Sex Ed. But," she sighed, disappointedly, "they don't, and because it's a skill possessed by the unicorns of the world, we need to have with us - at all times - a BOB. So please, for me, pack your fucking vibrator. — K.M. Golland

Live now for the promise of the Infinite — Mos Def

I play the guitar. This year at the Sundance film festival, I joined the band from 'The Guitar' on stage. We warmed up for Patti Smith, and then the director Michel Gondry got on the drums to play some songs from the soundtrack to his film Be Kind Rewind with Mos Def. It was pretty mad. — Saffron Burrows

It's possible and available to any artist to be himself or herself on their own terms, to be accepted and embraced by black people. You don't have to be a thug to get love from black people. — Mos Def

I know what it feels like to have the door slammed firmly in my face, so I'm cool with that. — Mos Def

I met Mos Def around that time but I didn't hook up with him until I was about 17 or 18. — Talib Kweli

I'm growing as an individual, but your always growing. All of my albums are snapshots of where I am artistically. — Mos Def

This thing called rhymin' is no different than coal minin';
We both on assignment to unearth the diamond. — Mos Def

I'm trying to get low. People's personalities can get in the way of their own work. — Mos Def

I like to read the 'Financial Times' when I'm traveling. 'Economist.' 'Ad Busters.' — Mos Def

If Islam's sole interest is the welfare of mankind, then Islam is the strongest advocate of human rights anywhere on Earth. — Mos Def

I learned [playing Chuck Berry] that there's something to be said for the courage of conviction, that sense of belief, being bold enough to believe in your vision. And there's a quote that really fits his particular energy. It says - they say don't go where the path may lead, but go where there's no path and leave a trail. I think that's exactly what Chuck did, you know. It's an inspiration to a lot of folks, not just musicians, but people everywhere. — Mos Def

History has proven that it's impossible to crush the artist. There's always gonna be a need for somebody to write a poem or sing a song about something, about life - that makes it real. There's the word that goes beyond the word. — Mos Def

I'm blacked than midnight on Broadway and Myrtle — Mos Def

They say that when a man faces his destiny, the destiny ends and he becomes the man that he really is. — Mos Def

I also think swimmers are pretty fashion conscious and mos aren't always the best accessory to be rocking. Haha. — James Magnussen

I've been fortunate with my acting career. A lot of scripts come to me. I don't mind auditioning if something that requires that, but I haven't had to in awhile, which is a nice place to be 'cause I've been on quite a lot of auditions in my life. — Mos Def

You can positively affect and change a social circumstance with art, and it's vital that a change happens now. — Mos Def

The new moon rode high in the crown of the metropolis. Shinin', like Who on top of this? — Mos Def

I think that Mos Def is the best actor, but when you talk about rappers in films, I don't really think the quality of the acting is most important because most rappers are put in movies because of the personality and people want to see that. — Morris Chestnut