Scritti politti mos def biography

Yasiin Bey (; born Dante Terrell Smith, December 11, 1973), better known by his former stage name Mos Def (), is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and actor.

He launched his hip hop career in 1994, joining his siblings in the short-lived rap group Urban Thermo Dynamics (UTD) and on albums by Da Bush Babees and De La Soul. In 1996, he and fellow Brooklyn-based rapper Talib Kweli formed Black Star, whose debut album Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star featured the singles "Definition" and "Respiration". He released his solo debut, Black on Both Sides in 1999, then The New Danger (2004), True Magic (2006), and The Ecstatic (2009). His hits include "Oh No", "Ms. Fat Booty", and "Mathematics". In 2014, About.com listed him 14th on its "50 Greatest Rappers of All Time".

A former child actor in television films, sitcoms, and theater, Bey has appeared in the films Something the Lord Made, Next Day Air, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, 16 Blocks, Be Kind Rewind, The Italian Job, The Woodsman, Bamboozled, and Brown Sugar and in television series such as Dexter and House. He hosted Def Poetry Jam from 2002 to 2007.

Bey has spoken out on several social and political causes, including police brutality, American exceptionalism, and the status of African Americans.

Early life

Mos Def was born Dante Terrell Smith on December 11, 1973, in Brooklyn, New York City, the son of Sheron Smith and Abdulrahman

Fuelled by Marxist writings and theories, and living in a Camden squat, Gartside's approach to pop music was deconstructivist, pulling it apart and putting it back together. The sound was fresh - a lo-fi funk-reggae that fitted in with a world of John Peel-supported new wave. Indeed, Peel was a strong supporter of the band's work.

The golden period wasn't to last though; supporting Gang Of Four in Brighton in 1980, Gartside suffered a severe panic attack, resulting in hospitalisation. He would not return to the stage for 26 years.

Returning to the fray, he went pop, investigating soul and vocally moving to a sweet soul falsetto style. Songs To Remember (1982) hit number 12 in the UK charts but he then left Rough Trade, signed to Virgin, shed his band members and moved to New York. This proved a purple patch for Gartside as he tinkered with soul and the dawn of modern R'n'B.

It's accepted that his recordings and methods from this period were one of the few white influences on black pop music in the last 30 years, as he used the new technology of sequencers on Cupid And Psyche 85 (1985). Wood Beez (Play Like Aretha Franklin) was the first UK top 10 single for Gartside while the American hit Perfect Way was covered by jazz legend Miles Davis. The Word Girl was another UK top 10 single.

Scritti Politti singles were regularly featured on the burgeoning MTV network, and success once more had its downside. "I was... investigating being a pop star," he says, "But I wanted to get away from it as soon as it happened!

"I guess it froze me, with indecision and fear. It certainly culminated in me not wanting to do it anymore. It was completely the 'wrong line of work' for me ever to have begun, as it didn't suit my character or temperament or delicate sensibility to be on children's television or whatever it was."

Gartside's discomfort with fame meant another three year wait for another album. Provision was released in 1988. "[I

1985 was a very good year for Scritti Politti, but for frontman Green Gartside, it was sheer torture.

The literate synth-pop trio, formed in 1978 in Leeds, was “the next big thing” in England. Its debut Warner album, “Cupid & Psyche 85,” produced by Arif Mardin, spawned a string of U.K. hits – “Wood Beez (pray like aretha franklin),” “Absolute,” “Hypnotise,” “The Word Girl” and “Perfect Way.”

It crossed the Atlantic and also did well in the United States. The album reached the Top 50; “Perfect Way” peaked at No. 11 and stayed on Billboard’s pop chart for nearly six months, and “Wood Beez” was a moderate hit. “Perfect Way” even made its way onto an episode of the hit ABC series, “Growing Pains,” with the main characters dancing to the manic hit and their father wondering out loud, “Who or what is a Scritti Politti?”

Then came a defining moment for Gartside.

“I can remember doing ‘American Bandstand’ with Dick Clark,” the Welsh-born singer-songwriter said recently. “Apart from the absolute terror one feels of being on national television, Dick would come up to you and ask you completely ridiculous questions, to which you could only give a ridiculous answer. You can’t even play with it. I guess I needed the confidence and the wit to play that game well, because there’s a little voice inside your head that says, ‘You know what? This isn’t fun.’ It isn’t what you wanted after all. There is no ironic distance between you and this stuff.”

After taking three years to make the follow-up album, “Provision,” and being unhappy with the results, despite memorable collaborations with Miles Davis (“Oh Patti”) and Roger (“Boom! There She Was”), Gartside permanently put distance between himself, band mates David

British music group

"Politti" redirects here. For the Argentine actress, see Andrea Politti.

Scritti Politti are a British band formed in 1977 in Leeds by singer-songwriter Green Gartside, who is the sole remaining member of the original band.

Initially formed as a punk-aligned underground act influenced by leftist politics, they transitioned into a commercial pop music project in the early 1980s, achieving success on the record charts in the UK. The group's most successful album, 1985's Cupid & Psyche 85, spawned three UK Top 20 hits with "Wood Beez (Pray Like Aretha Franklin)", "Absolute", and "The Word Girl", and one US Top 20 hit with "Perfect Way". The band's 1988 album Provision peaked in the UK Top 10 and produced a UK Top 20 hit single, "Oh Patti". After releasing two non-album singles in 1991, as well as a collaboration with B.E.F., the band returned in the late 1990s after a seven-year break.

History

Origins

In the mid-1970s, Green Gartside studied fine art at Leeds Polytechnic. The punk rock group Sex Pistols 'Anarchy' tour, which included the Damned and the Heartbreakers, was launched at the Polytechnic on 6 December 1976. It inspired Gartside to form a band with his childhood friend Nial Jinks and fellow student Tom Morley.

Scritti Politti originally consisted of Gartside as the lead vocalist, Jinks as bass player, and Morley as drummer, with Matthew Kay as their manager who sometimes played the keyboard. Gartside and Jinks knew each other since being students at Croesyceiliog Grammar School in Cwmbran, South Wales. Gartside met Morley at Leeds Polytechnic. For their first public performance in 1976, supporting local Leeds punk group SOS, the group went under the name 'The Against'.

Upon finishing their studies, the group relocated to London's Camden Town around 1977, where they lived in a squat. The name Scritti Politti was chosen as a homage to the Italia