Journalist (such a rarity these days to say that) Sama’an Ashrawi continues his All-Star Tribute to the Underground Kings with this sit-down with the artist formally known as Mos Def.

PREVIOUS: Freddie Gibbs On UGK’s Legacy (Video)

Here goes much better footage of Mos bringing out Kanye to perform “Can’t Tell Me Nothing” at the La Bataclan in Paris.

PREVIOUS: Mos Def – The Light Is Not Afraid of The Dark (prod. Kanye West) [Unreleased]

While out in Paris, Mos Def (Yasiin Bey) surprises the crowd with a special appearance by Kanye West for an amped performance of one of my favorite songs “Can’t Tell Me Nothin.”

A few weeks ago we saw Yasiin Bey perform an unreleased Kanye West-produced cut. Now, OKP provides the original recording version that was originally recorded during the Tru3 Magic sessions. Take a listen below.

PREVIOUS: Yasiin Bey – Black Jesus (prod. Mannie Fresh)

The artist formerly known as the mighty Mos Def took to Chicago’s Shrine to perform his Kanye West-produced song originally slated to be on Tru3 Magic, and the Camovement crew was on hand to capture the man with the red microphone in action.

PREVIOUS: DJ Dub Presents: Yasiin Bey – Re:DEFinition

DJ Dub teams up with OnSMASH to put together a mix of Mos Def Yasiin Bey’s classics, b-sides and blends. Stream/download link after the jump.

We’ve seen the two working in the studio, now Mannie Fresh has confirmed that his OMFGOD project with Mos Def is complete and is currently in the mixing stage. Keeping it to a feature-free 10-track project, Mannie shares some thoughts with HipHopDX.

We recorded way more than that. But rather than to [just] have somebody say like, ‘Oh, wow’ – I think a lot of times when you do that you throw away music. So, I just wanna give people like ten bangers and let’s be out.

Mos is a Hip Hop head, so it kinda came easy. And, by him being a Mannie Fresh fan, and me being his fan, it came real easy. And I think that’s the way the process should be. We should have fun. It was no stress; we didn’t have no budgets from nobody, we didn’t have nobody hanging over us, no A&Rs. It was just something that we decided to do.

The New Orleans producer also revealed that they had a “couple of offers” from labels but they’ve decided to release it digitally on their own instead. Dope!

Bring back Black Star, please.

Bright light from a distant star.

Sitting down with Rolling Stone, Talib Kweli gave a new (hopefully solid) date for the release of his sixth studio album Prisoner Of Conscious… April 23rd.

Four years in the making, Prisoner of Conscious represents a more nuanced selection of songs, which feature guests including Kendrick Lamar, Nelly and Busta Rhymes. It retains the live instrumentation Kweli incorporated on The Beautiful Struggle and Eardrum; a sample of Eric B & Rakim’s “Paid in Full” for the Trend-produced song “Turnt Up” prevented a scheduled November release. The delay allowed Kweli time to “rethink” the album, and he tacked on two more songs in December.

“I tried to focus more on the musicality of the album and make decisions based more on how the music feels, rather than make decisions based on what I wanted to say,” Kweli said. “This is the most time I’ve ever spent on a record.”

Kweli also goes on to discuss a possible Black Star reunion with Mos Def Yasiin Bey, finishing up with “I would love to get back into it whenever he’s ready.”

Visuals from the Roc-A-Fella reunion show this past Wednesday at the Gramercy Theater in New York featuring highlights and behind the scenes footage from the show.

PREVIOUS: Roc-A-Fella Reunite At The Gramercy Theater (Video)

At the Sean Price x Murs x 9th Wonder release show a few weeks ago, Young Guru actually debuted this track for the crowd (as well as a couple other Mos Def tracks), but nobody really got the true feel and message of it due to the riot-starting backdrop blasting through the speakers. Well, here’s your chance.

PREVIOUS: Mos Def & Mannie Fresh Record “OMFGOD pt.3″ (Video)