Performance · Production
Mos Def
aka Yasiin Bey
real name Dante Terrell Smith
Brooklyn, United States
Mos Def is credited on 1,047 releases across 251 albums tracked on Gatefold, active 1994–2025 — the collector-built map of who actually made the music.
1,047
Credits
251
Albums
4
Decades active
1,001
In collections
Biography
Brooklyn, NYC-based rapper of Trinidadian descent, Dante "Beze" Terrell Smith (better known simply as Mos Def) is also making a career as a Hollywood actor.
Born: 11 December 1973 in Brooklyn, New York.
He first gained interest as part of the group Urban Thermo Dynamics with his younger brother DCQ and sister Ces. Has since worked with many respected artists from many different genres, notably with Talib Kweli together as group Black Star.
Also known as Yasiin Bey since he handed his old name Mos Def to TV pundit Stephen Colbert after appearing on his TV show "The Colbert Report".
Father of Laila!
Bio from Discogs
Credited work
1,047 releases · 251 albums · active 1994–2025
- Performance · 1,484
- Production · 258
- Other credits · 36
Studios: D&D Studios · Platinum Island Studios · Battery Studios, New York · Electric Lady Studios
Discography
Records they worked on — most-collected first.
Plastic Beach
2010
The College Dropout
2004
Late Registration
2005
†
2007
Black On Both Sides
1999
Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star
1998
Graduation
2007
Phrenology
2002
Stakes Is High
1996
Things Fall Apart
1999
The Love Movement
1998
Freetown Sound
2016
100th Window
2003
At. Long. Last. A$AP
2015
The Ecstatic
2009
On How Life Is
1999
Like Water For Chocolate
2000
Who Is Jill Scott? (Words And Sounds Vol. 1)
2000
Rising Down
2008
Quality
2002
Collected
2006
Train Of Thought
2000
The Private Press
2002
Feedback
2006
Frequent collaborators
Around the web
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