The Witzard

Brooklyn veteran emcee Yasiin Bey , aka infrequent actor Dante Smith , recently "released" and 8-track video "collection" of expertly re-rapped MF DOOM covers, but BEYONDOOOM isn't exactly his first foray into Stones Throw -related material; Yasiin Bey 's 2009 album, The Ecstatic , his last record released under the Mos Def moniker, was essentially a loosely compiled Stones Throw beat tape. It's littered with cleverly re-purposed production work from the likes of Oh No , Madlib, J Dilla , Georgia Anne Muldrow, and MADVILLAIN : "Several Stones Throw artists and Stones Throw [released] instrumentals are included on Mos Def 's new album The Ecstatic , which will be released June [9th]," Stones Throw wrote in a detailed beat-oriented 2009 mini-press release. "Revelations," lifted from MADVILLAINY 2: The Madlib Remix album has very recently been used to score a 2-minute animated short created by Afrofuturism -centric graphic...

The New Danger (2004), Mos Def 's STELLAR Hip-Hop/Blues Rock album recorded with Funky cats from Bad Brains, Living Colour , and a few other pioneering African-American Rock bands... has to be one of my favourite albums of ALL TIME! Dante Smith has always been a stylish, righteous, socially conscious rapper, ever since forming Black Star with like-minded friend-musician, Talib Kweli in the mid-90's. Mos Def recently pulled a "Cat Stevens," whole-heartedly converting to Islam , and changed his name to Yasiin Bey . "I Don't Like" is the third release that's been slow leaked from Top 40 Underdog , Bey's upcoming G.O.O.D. Music flip of Modern Radio staples. But don't get it twisted, this surely isn't Mos Def 's first rodeo; He managed to effortlessly re-work both Jay-Z/Kanye 's "The Takeover" and Grandmaster Flash 's "The Message" (1982) on The New Danger . Chief Keef, Lil' Wayne , and T...