Top videos | Abibitumitv.com

Home
Articles

Top videos

All Time

Today

This week

This month

This year

Mos Def - Umi Says Angela Malele 25 Views • 5 years ago

People's Party with Talib Kweli arriving soon!
A weekly interview show with big-name guests exploring hip-hop, culture, and politics.
1st episode on Sunday, June 9th at youtube.com/UPPROXXvideo

From 1999 Album: "Black On Both Sides"

Born Dante Terrell Smith on December 11, 1973, in Brooklyn, NY, Mos Def began rapping at age nine and began professionally acting at age 14, when he appeared in a TV movie. After high school, he began acting in a variety of television roles, most notably appearing in 1994 on a short-lived Bill Cosby series, The Cosby Mysteries. In 1994 Mos Def formed the rap group Urban Thermo Dynamics with his younger brother and sister, and signed a recording deal with Payday Records that didn't amount to much. In 1996 his solo career was launched with a pair of high-profile guest features on De La Soul's "Big Brother Beat" and Da Bush Babees' "S.O.S." A year later, in 1997, Mos Def released his debut single, "Universal Magnetic," on Royalty Records, and it became an underground rap hit. This led to a recording contract with Rawkus Records, which was just getting off the ground at the time, and he began working on a full-length album with like-minded rapper Talib Kweli and producer Hi-Tek. The resulting album, Black Star (1998), became one of the most celebrated rap albums of its time. A year later came Mos Def's solo album, Black on Both Sides, and it inspired further attention and praise. Yet, aside from appearances on the Rawkus compilation series Lyricist Lounge and Soundbombing, no follow-up recordings were forthcoming, as the up-and-coming rapper turned his attention elsewhere, away from music.

During the early 2000s, Mos Def acted in several films (Monster's Ball, Bamboozled, Brown Sugar, The Woodsman) and even spent some time on Broadway (the Pulitzer Prize-winning Topdog/Underdog). He simultaneously worked on the Black Jack Johnson project with several iconic black musicians: keyboardist Bernie Worrell (Parliament/Funkadelic), guitarist Dr. Know (Bad Brains), drummer Will Calhoun (Living Colour), and bassist Doug Wimbish (the Sugarhill Gang, Grandmaster Flash, Living Colour). This project aimed to reclaim rock music, especially the rap-rock hybrid, from such artists as Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst, who Mos Def openly despised. What made Black Jack Johnson so anticipated though was not so much the supergroup roster of musicians or even Mos Def himself, but rather the lack of black rock bands. Following the demise of Living Colour, there were few, if any, that had attained substantial success. Mos Def hoped to infuse the rock world with his all-black band, and during the early 2000s, he performed several small shows with his band around the New York area. In October 2004, he finally delivered a second solo album, The New Danger, which involved Black Jack Johnson on a few tracks.

Two years later, after a few more acting roles — including the Golden Globe-winning Lackawanna Blues and the Emmy-winning Something the Lord Made, both of which were made-for-television movies — Mos Def released his third solo album, True Magic (2006). A contract-fulfilling release for Geffen, which had absorbed Rawkus years prior, the album trickled out in a small run during the last week of 2006. Bizarrely, the disc came with no artwork and was sold in a clear plastic case — though its single, "Undeniable," did manage to grab a Grammy nomination for Best Rap Solo Performance. The Ecstatic, released on the Universal-distributed Downtown label, followed in June 2009; at that point, Mos Def had significant acting roles in Michel Gondry's Be Kind Rewind (in which he co-starred with Jack Black) and Cadillac Records (he played Chuck Berry).

Extended & Updated Info:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mos_def

Inequality – How Wealth Becomes Power (3/3) | DW Documentary Ambakisye-Okang Dukuzumurenyi 25 Views • 5 years ago

How much power do people with a lot of money really have? Who decides how Germany should look? These questions are the subject of the film "Land of Inequality - Power.”

Many studies show that a small but wealthy part of society defines a country’s political direction. It’s the same all over the world. German researchers evaluated hundreds of opinion polls on the topics of the economy, environment, foreign policy and finance. They then examined what poor people wanted from politics on these issues - and what the rich did. The differences were clear: "An obvious example is taxes on property,” says Armin Schäfer, a political scientist at the University of Munster. "Higher income groups are more skeptical about any reintroduction of a property tax, whereas lower income groups definitely want it. So far, we have not reintroduced a property tax in that form.” So who gets to decide what Germany looks like? To find out, our film follows building contractor Christoph Gröner, who has made millions from the construction business. Gröner wants to build an entire new district in Cologne, which is facing a severe housing shortfall and where rents are soaring and the poor in particular feel ignored. But he has faced delays in getting building permits. Cologne Mayor Henriette Reker says: "It is a city’s job to provide land and grant building permits.” But can’t it do that faster? Gröner says the politicians should take their foot off the brakes. To show how much power money really wields, we go to the places where politics and economics come together - to the district town halls and the VIP box at a Bundesliga stadium. And to Europe's largest real estate show in Cannes, where billionaire investors use their financial clout to shape cities and regions as they wish.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

DW Documentary gives you knowledge beyond the headlines. Watch high-class documentaries from German broadcasters and international production companies. Meet intriguing people, travel to distant lands, get a look behind the complexities of daily life and build a deeper understanding of current affairs and global events. Subscribe and explore the world around you with DW Documentary.

Subscribe to DW Documentary:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCW39...
For more documentaries visit:
http://www.dw.com/en/tv/docfilm/s-3610
Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/dwdocumentary/
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/dw.stories

DW netiquette policy: https://p.dw.com/p/MF1G

Showing 747 out of 748

Please note that if you are under 18, you won't be able to access this site.

Top videos All Time Today This week This month This year

Language

Top videos

All Time

Today

This week

This month

This year