 Mos Def touched down in the Bay Area for three days and definitely made his presence felt. Everywhere he went he drew huge crowds of enthusiastic fans who are not only feeling his new album 'Black On Both Sides', but they're also feeling Mos along with other artists like label mate Pharoahe Monch are repainting and refreshing the Hip Hop musical landscape. His performance at San Francisco's Justice league drew close to 2000 people who watched Mos do a show that lasted more then an hour. He not only did his songs, but he took time out to talk to the audience about the inspiration and deeper meaning behind many of the tracks including 'Rock-N-Roll', and 'Mr Nigga'. He also refused to have alcohol sold during his performance because it clashed with his Islamic beliefs. Now initially Mos was supposed to get off the plane and head on over to KPFA's Hard Knock radio show for a live in studio interview that was also being broadcasted on the Internet. Bay Area traffic left him stranded so he wound up calling in and when he did get to the studio it was just as the show was ending. Nevertheless the conversation was good as we covered a range of topics that centered on the type of roles and responsibility Hip Hop artist should embrace during these troubling times to Al Sharpton's harsh criticism of rappers during the NAACP convention. Mos let it be known that while he as an artist is not perfect he strives to be useful. He wants to have impact and hence he aligns himself with projects and activities that allow him to do that. He also noted that not every artist will be able to do all the types of things we who sit on the outside would like them do. In other words, not every artist will be a good organizer, not everyone will know how to go out and lead rallies and protests or even how to accurately articulate a particular problem. He went on to add that oftentimes community people expect a lot from artists but at the same time they rarely reach out and invite these individuals and create space for them to plug in where they can best utilize their talents and skillz to perhaps show support or bring attention to a particular cause.. Mos spoke about an upcoming project 'Hip Hop For Respect' that he did last May in response to a vicious police shooting last February '98 that left an unarmed Bronx man Amadou Diallo shot 41 times by New York City police. Mos sent out an email seeking the help of Hip Hop artists and invited them to come and help put together a project that would bring attention to the scores of people who were murdered or brutalized by police. The response was overwhelming to the point he wound up having to turn away artists. Some of the folks included on the project are; Kool G Rap, Cappadonna, De La Soul, Common, Rah Digga, Dwayne Wiggins and Pharoahe Monch to name a few. Every thing will drop down in January of 2000 just in time for the trial that will be held against the 4 officers responsible for murdering Diallo. As an activist Mos spoke about the book store he and his Black Star partner Talib Kweli recently took over. The bookstore is called N'Karu which translates to 'the message is yet to come'. After 23 years, it's the oldest bookstore in Brooklyn. Mos and Talib have established a non-profit education center within the bookstore and they have some aggressive and great plans for it to continue impacting the community. For more info on Mos and Talib's bookstore call 718-783-6306 for more information. Mos also let it be known that he had just completed a film that will soon be released by Spike Lee called 'Bamboozled' . When pressed for more information he noted that he was sworn to secrecy and he could not supply anymore information. Every journalist trick in the book could not get Mos to budge on more info. He left only saying the film is dope.. Finally Mos gets props for his participation in various Bay Area events..He did two autograph signings at local record stores both in Oakland and San Francisco. In both cases hundreds of people showed up resulting in Mos doing impromptu performances. At the San Francisco signing over at Amoeba Records he wound up performing 8 songs. Mos also came down and participated in a lecture that I was doing on Hip Hop for Vista College. After I spoke, Mos spoke for about 15 minutes and left the crowd and professor impressed with his vast knowledge of music in general. He made the connection to Hip Hop and various other music genres that have been born out of the Black community like Jazz and Blues. He noted that as an artist he seeks to expand his horizons by eventually doing collaborations with artist like Gil Scott Heron and Bjork. He also left a list of records that would serve as a nice introduction for the professor musician Johnny Otis who really hasn't been a big fan of Hip Hop. I didn't get a chance to see the list. Afterwards Mos stuck around to watch some up and coming musicians perform. He jumped on stage during the performance of a Hip Hop band called Cohesion and ripped a nice freestyle. Mos definitely gets props for being more then just an artist, but also for being a down to earth brother who seems to really care about the types of things he allows himself to engage in. As he said..He's not perfect but he's useful.. Those are profound words to live by..
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