Mos Def gets Pwned
This is kind of old in internet time (5 days) but I haven’t seen it covered in many places. The video above is from last Friday’s Real Time with Bill Maher and features Mos Def, Salman Rushdie, and Christopher Hitchens. Mos Def begins his streak of retardation at about the 2 minute mark and sustains it for the duration of the succeeding video below. You must watch both videos to understand on what I’m commenting.
Look at how stupid Mos Def acts. It’s interesting because he is commonly touted as one of the most intelligent rappers around, a sentiment with which I agree, but that’s not to say that Mos Def is more intelligent than most people, just most rappers.
For those who missed it, Mos Def asks if Al Qaeda or the Taliban have a clear organizational goal. Hitchens and Rushdie both give him an answer that, yes, they do have a so-called manifesto, it is to restore Islam to a place of supreme (political, social, etc.) power in the world. For some reason Mos Def asks the same question again and then says that he doesn’t believe what the news or any of the guests on Maher’s show tell him anyway (so why did he ask in the first place?) at which point Hitchens shows the audience how a truly intelligent person acts. Hitchens breaks down Mos Def and admonishes him for the idiotic nonsense that is coming out of his mouth. Mos Def then claims that he has some sort of automatic legitimacy simply because he is from Brooklyn, implies that Hitchens is gullible and/or can’t determine strong evidence from weak evidence because his background is not one of poverty, and accuses Maher of conspiratorially planning this event. The audience applauds Mos Def consistently, which worries me.
Unfortunately, after watching these videos I cannot look at Mos Def in the same way that I previously did. This whole exchange reminds me of my ultra-liberal college professors who insisted that hip hop studies is a legitimate area of academic interest, really? If you want to entertain yourself, and maybe appreciate the abilities of an artist, then listen to Mos Def’s music. If you want to educate yourself, then read a Christopher Hitchens book or column. If you have any doubts, simply refer to the videos above.
April 1st, 2009 at 3:09 pm
I stoped respecting Mos when at last years Rock the Bells in Miami he went on a rant about how if you see him on the street not to talk to him even look at him. He didn’t want to know his his fans and didn’t care to.
April 1st, 2009 at 9:44 pm
It’s sad to see “Mr. Definately” use the 4 most popular words on Maury/Springer as an argument…
“You don’t know me.”
April 1st, 2009 at 11:43 pm
I really don’t think he got pwned at all. mos asked honest questions and admitted he was inexperienced from the get go. Hitchens, “the expert,” lashed out the moment his position was challenged. Foreign news coverage in America is extremely biased. thats a fact
April 1st, 2009 at 11:49 pm
I studied with Hitchens at the New School. Bit my whole style from the man. Mos Def does not belong in the same arena with him. Nobody can really hang. If you like this one you should YouTube around and watch him burn everyone from Hannity to Dinesh D’souza. The man’s a contrarian genius.
April 2nd, 2009 at 12:29 am
Dinesh D’souza is a big retard. That is all.
April 2nd, 2009 at 3:38 am
im glad that i read this and saw this video. basically because the person that posted and gave thier synopsis on what mos def felt is an utter idiot. im from brooklyn also. just as mos def. its not about the fact im from brooklyn or from poverty i know more or can have a third eye view of things. its the whole hearted truthfullness i approach life with that allows me to see through the mirror and smoke show this country and many other empires pull over societies eyes to have them believe in anything thay say. i believe in infinite possibilies. i dont believe in the fact that anything that comes out of a wordsmith’s mouth is golden. because def speaks in laymen’s terms doesnt mean he’s unintelligent. admire the man for his strength to defend his thoughts when he was clearly surrounded and attacked by ultra right demons. never listen to another def song, roots, saigon, brother ali or any other hip hop song in ur life. instead watch fox news all day and revel in ur protective blanky that they give u in the sense of believing that they have ur best intentions at heart in all that they report and say. u want real news and real reports from the real world not that super nationalist far right bull shit fox spits hit up democracynow.org
April 2nd, 2009 at 6:06 am
OMG that is embarrassing. It’s funny because I always find myself defending mos def’s normalcy to my girlfriend who swears he is at least half-tard. I hope she never sees this it will be impossible to uphold his honor. He is such a moron. Good Rapper though.
April 2nd, 2009 at 6:10 am
Knife
I have this to say to you. A person of intelligence would have never accepted to come on a show and discuss an issue they are not familiar with. Only a half-tard would do such a thing.
April 2nd, 2009 at 6:10 am
Good Rapper Though!
April 2nd, 2009 at 9:36 am
this raises a very interesting point about the egocentricity of the underground rap world. underground rap fans have somehow convinced themselves that their music is more intelligent than the alternative (mainstream rap, southern rap, snap music, crack music, mack music, whatever). when rappers like krs-one, mos def and talib kweli are elevated for mentioning socio-political buzzwords in their lyrics there becomes a tendency to think they are the rubric or metric for other “intelligent” or “conscious” emcees. not only does this water down a genre’s worth of fan’s ideal of “intelligence” but it gives them a free pass to go on political talk shows, look fucking retarded, allow the demonization of hip hop and play as pawns for racist white studio execs to maintain harmful stereotypes (how stupid did mos def look wearing that hat and that hoody?? at least put on a fucking button up). further, it gives young hip hop fans all over the world the impression that if they watch a documentary or two and learn words like “gentrification” then they are “conscious” and are now capable of holding a conversation with adversaries who spent 10 years in higher education mastering facets of subjects like economics that only a small percentage of the american population will ever understand.
my point? rappers aint shit. listen to rap but read the “lyrics” of real intellectuals (they are only found in books, not cds), and admit to yourself that underground rap has become the comic book/star wars circuit of the entertainment industry – a ton of balding, 37 year old white nerds wearing goofy clothes and talking about how they used to breakdance in 8th grade. read books, rap fans (lots of them).
p.s. wasnt new mos supposed to drop last month? and what happened to the mos def/madlib collaboration???? get off the fucking talk shows and hit the booth
April 2nd, 2009 at 5:40 pm
Mos certainly got pwned. But Hitchens is a retard. His obsession with hating on religion pervades almost everything he writes/speaks about.
He mentions that ‘we know’ that 50 released guantanamo detainees have returned to the battlefield. This guantanamo recidivism myth has been shown to be untrue, most notably by a study done at Seton Hall. It is simple fear-mongering by the defense department, and Hitchens buys into it because he is obsessed with demonizing Islam.
April 2nd, 2009 at 9:59 pm
Bottom line: Mos Def sucks at debate. I don’t have a problem with him believing whatever he wants to believe, but if you want to have a discussion with people, you have to do better than that. He didn’t bring up any examples of him getting info from non-mainstream media sources or present any counterpoint to Hitchins. Killa Cam did a better job on O’Reilly even. Step ya game up.
April 3rd, 2009 at 9:26 am
In my brief “got your back” for “Mr. Definitely” it is hard for me to believe that no one else knew who Assata Shakur was, but it is really funny to hear an audience member yell “Tupac” when it was being discussed.
A lot of this has been talked about on the boards, what struck me is Mos Def saying “you knew this was going to happen” to Bill Maher. Bill Maher must have been thinking, “yes, I did think that you were going to have to come on this show and debate politics intelligently.” Not that intelligent debate happens all that often on his snarky show.
April 3rd, 2009 at 12:59 pm
How did mos get pawned. He is playing devil’s advocate. why the F are we watching Bill Maher anyways i don’t get it – he’s a liberal right? Bill Maher is scared of Al Queda now? and bin laden, i tought he was against the war we are in and the reasons why we are in it
mos def is right about bin laden, he is a figure head. when is the last time any one really saw bin laden. mos def did not even say much, and the whole time they were trying to roast him when he just asked an honest question. his only point was not to read everything you believe, what’s wrong with that. to call him retarded, he sounded pretty intelligent to me, he was trying to make a comparison with poverty in america and what is happening to those countries infiltrated with al queda….he INFERRED that, Y’all missed the boat – mos def is LIGHT YEARS ahead of y’all, that’s why he is an MC and a talented one at that, who gives a shit about his community and is willing to look slightly less than genius in order to raise concern for his cause
we need more people like mos def and less people like bill maher, who has an agenda..he can go join john mayer and stay on HBO
April 3rd, 2009 at 3:20 pm
Yeah wow.. Mos Def played himself.
He came off looking like a complete ignoramus that is so stuck on pre-conceived uneducated opinions and conspiracy theories. When his back was against the wall he started getting angry.
He essentially is saying he doesn’t trust mainstream media’s explanation of real facts, but doesn’t provide any concrete explanation of why he believes what he believes, only brings up a side story about media mis-representation from 20+ years ago.
HERE IS WHERE HE GETS PWNED:
“We’re just waiting to see evidence that you DO have”. – Chris
“I don’t have nothing to prove”. – Mos Def
BOOM.
uneducated, fgt, called out – and knowing it.. so he gets angry.
—-
You guys also made some really good points:
Trill: “how stupid did mos def look wearing that hat and that hoody?? at least put on a fucking button up”, – EXACTLY, how is anyone supposed to take the dude serious when he looks like he took a wrong turn @ Karmaloop photoshoot.
James: “because def speaks in laymen’s terms doesnt mean he’s unintelligent.” – True, but after watching this it actually appears that he has a physical problem forming intelligent sentences, as if he has some sort of slurring speech problem of some sort.
Sean: “This guantanamo recidivism myth has been shown to be untrue, most notably by a study done at Seton Hall. It is simple fear-mongering by the defense department, and Hitchens buys into it because he is obsessed with demonizing Islam” – true.
–
And finally, something I’ve always found hilarious.. and discovered while growing up in East Hartford while witnessing thousands of interracial arguments: Why do so many black people feel the need to repeat themselves LOUDLY multiple times when they are trying to prove a point in an argument situation.
“Don’t pretend to know me”
“Don’t pretend to know me”
“Don’t pretend to know me..”
April 3rd, 2009 at 5:39 pm
I’ve been trying to hold back from commenting how retarded mos def is. The video speaks for itself.
On a side note. I knew he was retarded from that movie where he’s in the bus surrounded by cops, he’s not acting in that movie.
April 4th, 2009 at 10:50 am
Mos Def is not a scholar. He is an important figure that Bill has on his show from time to time to relay an extremist perspective. Bill himself is a anti-religious extremist, as shown in his movie “Religulous.” For me, I can not respect the reaction of Chris Hitchens. Instead of answering Mos’s question directly, he chose to be crass and hostile. Trying to prove Mos’s ignorance on national television is no way to confront whatever problems he may have with the accomplished rapper. He deliberately drove Mos into a corner, while the original question that Bill asked was left unanswered. I suggest that if the two (Mos Def and Chris Hitchens) are ever on the show again, Chris puts his ego away long enough to answer the original question at hand.
-DJ PHSH, West Philly-based DJ/Producer/Man of Vision
April 7th, 2009 at 2:38 am
Musicians, actors, and most artists in general always sound silly making political statements and opinions because they are self absorbed ego manics that happen to have the ear of a lot of people. When they have that type of attention that really start to believe that what that think is important even if they are talking out their ass. I a sucker for “Ms Fat Bootey” though…
April 7th, 2009 at 9:10 am
Hey great post. And we haven’t even started to talk about Alex Jones & KRS…
Separate the art from the artist and you’ll enjoy things more!
April 7th, 2009 at 10:37 am
All I really have to say is this:
This months Rolling Stone has Lil’ Wayne on the cover under the title “Rap’s Genius”.
Besides the fact that there is only ONE true Genius in rap, this perception of hip hop’s intelligence is so fucking skewed it worries me.
April 7th, 2009 at 11:13 am
No one should be looking toward their entertainers exclusively for serious education- the words genius and retard get thrown around a lot but in reality we’re all in between depending on the task or activity.
April 17th, 2009 at 4:37 pm
come the fuck on people the guys is asking a question and stating his opinion about the media and if mos def was dumb he wouldnt be in the show more than once
this guys speaks for the people in the struggle u dont really know what is like to a be minority and in poverty in america it sucks balls
May 19th, 2009 at 3:34 am
Mos Def should be ashamed of Himself. Better to be thought a fool , then open ones mouth and remove all doubt.I really had a hard time sitting through his endless pointless diatribes.Frankly , how any Grown Adult could listen to his Looney Ignorant ramblings and then read some of his supporters replies in this Blog and not feel a lump in the pit of there Stomachs over just how bad the educational system in our Country has become, I don’t know.
October 27th, 2009 at 5:27 pm
I gotta say after reading all the comments I (hesitantly) expected Mos Def to get shit on.
In reality, (after watching the video) I think he actually held his ground fairly well and was diverted many times. He could have articulated his argument a bit more, but in the end, his very valid question remained unanswered.
Who and what are Al-Qaeda?
He wasn’t unprepared.
Al-Qaeda is a CIA operation, not an Islamic movement. He should have made that part more clear. Just my 2 Amero’s.
March 2nd, 2011 at 11:25 am
Mos Def is a spoiled child actor from NY who took advantage of the popularity of Hip Hop in the 90s.Mos Def does not have the same experience poor kids have in the city.Intelligence is not one of Mos Def or any popular fake conscious rappers strong point.”Smart” rappers like Chino Xl who is a member of Mensa and has a 214 point IQ will never be mainstream because they will not sell out their people the way Mos Def ,Talib Kweli and KRS One have.These so called conscious rappers are pimping alcohol to the youth and have some pathetic excuses why it is OK.
Rappers who have College Degrees and actually utilize their knowledge and have lyrics with substance:
1) Canibus
lazarus Jackson
2) Edan
3) Lazerus
4) Presto
5) Chino Xl
6) Sick Since
7) Grayskul