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of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, New York City, Mos Def began his music career in 1994 in the short-lived group Urban Thermo Dynamics with his younger brother D.c.Q and younger sister Ces. Despite their contract with Payday Records, the group only released two singles, and their debut album Manifest Destiny was not released until years later. In 1996, he emerged as a solo artist and worked with De La Soul and da Bush Babees, before he released his own first single, "Universal Magnetic," which was a major underground hit. Afterwards, Mos signed with Rawkus Records and formed the group Black Star with Talib Kweli. They released an album, Mos Def and Talib Kweli are Black Star, in 1998. The album yielded the hit singles, "Respiration" and "Definition," which would go on to be featured in VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of Hip-Hop. Mos followed with his solo debut album Black on Both Sides in 1999, also through Rawkus. The album was certified gold and credited by critics as bringing hip-hop back to its "soapbox" roots. The album was a great success commercially as well, and gave Mos a jumping off point to nurture a burgeoning film career that would see roles in several hit movies.



After the collapse of Rawkus, Mos signed to Interscope/Geffen Records, which released his second solo album The New Danger in 2004. The New Danger contained a mix of several musical genres, including soul, blues, and rock and roll, and featured "Ghetto Rock," a tune nominated for several Grammys in 2004. Mos Def's final solo album for Geffen Records, True Magic, was released in December 2006, but received little promotion from the artist or the label. Mos came back, however, in 2009 with The Ecstatic and plans to collaborate with several other artists on new projects. He also continues his love affair with movies, scoring roles sure to be celebrated by his legions of enthusiastic urban fans.