Mos Def : NPR

'SNL' just wrapped its 48th season: It's time to cruelly rank its musical guests

For his "Rich Spirit" / "N95" medley on SNL, Kendrick Lamar performed with minimal visual accompaniment, perfectly geared for the raw intimacy of his newest material. Will Heath/NBC hide caption

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Will Heath/NBC

Music

'SNL' just wrapped its 48th season: It's time to cruelly rank its musical guests

May 23, 2023 • From Kendrick Lamar and Megan Thee Stallion to Coldplay, here they are: the magnificent, the flawed-but-forceful, the forgettable and the truly, epically misbegotten.

The Paradox Of Yasiin Bey's 'Negus,' A Rap Album Trapped In An Art Museum

Yasiin Bey at Paris Fashion Week in January 2019. Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images for Louis Vuitton hide caption

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Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images for Louis Vuitton

Review

Music Features

The Paradox Of Yasiin Bey's 'Negus,' A Rap Album Trapped In An Art Museum

February 5, 2020 • The latest album by the rapper formerly known as Mos Def will be heard by very few people — a fact that represents everything fascinating and frustrating about his last decade.

My American Dream Sounds Like Black Star

Talib Kweli and Mos Def of Black Star. Bob Berg/Getty Images hide caption

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Bob Berg/Getty Images

The Record

My American Dream Sounds Like Black Star

August 22, 2012 • For Teju Cole, "Respiration," a song about New York City, is the best words in the best order.

All Songs Considered

Fall Music Preview

September 21, 2009 • On this All Songs we spin some of the albums we're most looking forward to coming out this fall. Hear previews from The Flaming Lips, choral versions of classic Kinks songs, The Swell Season and more.

Fall Music Preview

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Review

Music Reviews

Twitter Music Reviews: Criticism As Haiku

July 2, 2009 • Twitter, as we've seen in the protests in Iran, is becoming something of a force for democracy. It's proving useful not only for organizing street demonstrations but also for bringing down the walls around that most rarefied of communities: the world of music reviews.

Twitter Music Reviews: Criticism As Haiku

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Music Interviews

Mos Def: From Hip-Hop Star To Chuck Berry

December 9, 2008 • Rapper Mos Def is not known for taking the artistically easy road. His film roles in Monster's Ball, Be Kind Rewind and Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy are as distinctive as the records that have made him a hip-hop icon. He talks about his latest film role, playing Chuck Berry in Cadillac Records.

Mos Def: From Hip-Hop Star To Chuck Berry

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Music Interviews

Rapper and Actor Mos Def

Fresh Air

December 22, 2004 • The multi-talented Mos Def plays a police officer in the new indie film The Woodsman, also starring Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick, about a pedophile who moves into a suburban neighborhood. He also talks with Terri Gross about his new rap album, The New Danger.

Rapper and Actor Mos Def

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