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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

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I Began To Fear

Mos Def

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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.

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Family And Friends

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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.

Family And Friends

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I Don't Care About What Brand You Are, I'm Concerned What Type Of Man You Are, What Your Principles And Standards Are.

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I Have No Confidence Issues With The Impact Or The Quality Of The Music. No One In Hip-hop, Before This Point And To This Point, With All Due Respect, Has Done This.

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What I Take From Writers I Like Is Their Economy - The Ability To Use Language To Very Effective Ends.

I Thought Everybody Got Into Rock 'n' Roll Because They Didn't Want To Follow Instructions.

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.

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Focused. I'm A Hustler. And My Hustle Is Trying To Figure Out The Best Ways To Do What I Like Without Having To Do Much Else.

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

I Don't Want To Waste Anyone's Time Or Money. I Want To Give People Some Truth And Positive Heart Lift.

Why Do I Need I.d. To Get I.d.? If I Had I.d. I Wouldn't Need I.d.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Young Bloods Can't Spell But They Could Rock You In Playstation...

I've Always Loved Rhyming. I Love Language.

I Just Don't Think It's Very Dignified To Ask People To Like You. You Can Just Wind Up Being Somebody's Ottoman.

But Even Creeps Deserve To Live Someplace Halfway Decent.

I Feel Like Being Into The Beat Of Your Own Drum Has Become Too Prominent In The Culture.

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My Presence Speaks Volumes Before I Say A Word.

I Never Had Any Ambitions Of Being A Movie Star Or Anything Like That, But You Know, This Is Nice.

It’s One Thing To Be The Greatest; It’s Another Thing To Be Necessary. The Best Are The Most Necessary: Those Who Take Less Than They Give And Love More Than They Hate.

At Its Heart, Music Is All Higher Mathematics.

Every Time You Ask Yourself Where Hip-hop's Going, Ask Yourself Where You're Going; How Are You Doing?

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Funny Retirement

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I Seen Her On The Ave, Spotted Her More Than Once. Ass So Fat That You Could See It From The Front.

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We Blasted Holes In The Night Until She Bled Sunshine

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I Got My First Exposure To Islam When I Was 13.

They Say That When A Man Faces His Destiny, The Destiny Ends And He Becomes The Man That He Really Is.

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You Have To Experience Life, Make Observations, And Ask Questions.

I'm Really Quite Bipolar, And The Depressed Times, When Everything Felt Like Night, Sometimes You Get To Such A Low Point That You Physically Beat At It Until It Bleeds - As You Would Say - Bleeds Till Sunshine. You Get To A Point Where You Say, 'i Will Not Take It Anymore! I'm Gonna Do Something Drastic If I Stay This Depressed. I've Got To Break Out Of There!'

I'm Trying To Get Low. People's Personalities Can Get In The Way Of Their Own Work.

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.

If It's Just Fame For The Sake Of Being Famous, No One Even Cares About You - And You Don't Even Care About Yourself Because You're Like, "this Is So Ridiculous."

Twitter Freaks Me Out. You Have Followers? It Feels So Obsessive And Proprietary.

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