Latest Mos Def Quotes from Interviews

Quotes about:

• I've always loved music and I love the language, which is a huge reason why I'm part of theater.

  Mos Def

  Reason Why, Language, Theater

  "David Bowie & Mos Def: The Style Council (2003 Cover Story)". Interview with Ben White, www.complex.com. January 11, 2016.

• You've got to validate every day. There are those who just put a stamp on it and say, "This is gonna be a good day and I'm not gonna let anything else make it a bad day."

  Mos Def

  Good Day, Bad Day, Stamps

  "David Bowie & Mos Def: The Style Council (2003 Cover Story)". Interview with Ben White, www.complex.com. January 11, 2016.

• The moment you start thinking it's hopeless, then it is. [But], if you think it's gonna get better, it really does. Life is a test.

  Mos Def

  Thinking, Get Better, Doe

  "David Bowie & Mos Def: The Style Council (2003 Cover Story)". Interview with Ben White, www.complex.com. January 11, 2016.

• The test in life nowadays is just trying to keep yourself charged up with enough good feeling. It's like, "OK what am I going to do to feel really good today?" Not like, some chick or a drink.

  Mos Def

  Feelings, Trying, Tests

  "David Bowie & Mos Def: The Style Council (2003 Cover Story)". Interview with Ben White, www.complex.com. January 11, 2016.

• To me, it's like happiness is about happiness, but happiness is a fight.

  Mos Def

  Fighting

  "David Bowie & Mos Def: The Style Council (2003 Cover Story)". Interview with Ben White, www.complex.com. January 11, 2016.

• There's just some dysfunctionalism with artists.

  Mos Def

  Artist

  Source: ca.complex.com

• I'm really quite bipolar, and the depressed times, when everything felt like night, sometimes you get to such a low point that you physically beat at it until it bleeds - as you would say - bleeds till sunshine. You get to a point where you say, 'I will not take it anymore! I'm gonna do something drastic if I stay this depressed. I've got to break out of there!'

  Mos Def

  Sunshine, Night, Bipolar

  "David Bowie & Mos Def: The Style Council (2003 Cover Story)". Interview with Ben White, www.complex.com. January 11, 2016.

• If it's just fame for the sake of being famous, no one even cares about you - and you don't even care about yourself because you're like, "This is so ridiculous."

  Mos Def

  Care, Sake, Ridiculous

  "David Bowie & Mos Def: The Style Council (2003 Cover Story)". Interview with Ben White, www.complex.com. January 11, 2016.

• Fame is like getting across the street. It's like, if there's nothing to be across the street for, it's a pointless destination.

  Mos Def

  Fame, Destination, Streets

  "David Bowie & Mos Def: The Style Council (2003 Cover Story)". Interview with Ben White, www.complex.com. January 11, 2016.

• I thought everybody got into rock 'n' roll because they didn't want to follow instructions.

  Mos Def

  Rocks, Want, Rock N Roll

  "David Bowie & Mos Def: The Style Council (2003 Cover Story)". Interview with Ben White, www.complex.com. January 11, 2016.

• History has proven that it's impossible to crush the artist. There's always gonna be a need for somebody to write a poem or sing a song about something, about life - that makes it real. There's the word that goes beyond the word.

  Mos Def

  Crush, Song, Real

  "David Bowie & Mos Def: The Style Council (2003 Cover Story)". Interview with Ben White, www.complex.com. January 11, 2016.

• Michael Jordan on the court is a completely different guy. If the play requires him to leap out all the way and grab the ball, that's what he'll do. He may be a completely shy, withdrawn sort of person [off the court].

  Mos Def

  Play, Guy, Different

  "David Bowie & Mos Def: The Style Council (2003 Cover Story)". Interview with Ben White, www.complex.com. January 11, 2016.

• I tell people all the time, I've always loved music and I love the language, which is a huge reason why I'm part of theater. But, I didn't wanna do all of this. I would've been satisfied to do it, like, on the weekends among friends, and to have a regular job.

  Mos Def

  Jobs, Weekend, People

  "David Bowie & Mos Def: The Style Council (2003 Cover Story)". Interview with Ben White, www.complex.com. January 11, 2016.

• I'm doing exactly what I was supposed to do. Yeah. I didn't exactly choose this. My own life, if it were up to me, would be very, very quiet. I'd be like a shopkeeper, a book collector, or something like that. I'm not like this. Myself as a performer and an artist is totally different from who I am.

  Mos Def

  Book, Artist, Who I Am

  "David Bowie & Mos Def: The Style Council (2003 Cover Story)". Interview with Ben White, www.complex.com. January 11, 2016.

• Fame is like getting across the street. It's like, if there's nothing to be across the street for, it's a pointless destination. It's like, "I gotta get across the street, man! I gotta be there! I gotta be there!" Then you get across the street and you're like, "Yeah I'm here!" And then, that's it. Fame doesn't make you particularly happy.

  Mos Def

  Men, Fame, Yeah

  "David Bowie & Mos Def: The Style Council (2003 Cover Story)". Interview with Ben White, www.complex.com. January 11, 2016.

• It's difficult to really be an artist nowadays. People are just on another page. You have a society that needs you to say something, but they don't want to give you the environment to be able to be just a functioning, happy, normal person. It's like, the industry is at odds with you, the society is at odds with you. You start to live in this very confined box where it's like, It's "me" and "them."

  Mos Def

  Artist, Odds, People

  "David Bowie & Mos Def: The Style Council (2003 Cover Story)". Interview with Ben White, www.complex.com. January 11, 2016.

• I think hip-hop is actually one of the most challenging things that's happened in music in a long time. The people who are in charge of what people see or hear are afraid. What you hear on top 40 or what you see on BET or MTV is not a fair representation of what is really going on...

  Mos Def

  Thinking, Mtv, Long

  "David Bowie & Mos Def: The Style Council (2003 Cover Story)". Interview with Ben White, www.complex.com. January 11, 2016.

• People don't like the music that's out now, that's on their radio stations, and they want to hear something different, but they're just the audience. You know, people will keep the TV on even if a show is on that they hate - because, unfortunately, they've been programmed to do that. [But] they are really looking for something that's gonna speak to the world that they're living in. That's what people are looking for, but they're not finding it.

  Mos Def

  Hate, People, Different

  "David Bowie & Mos Def: The Style Council (2003 Cover Story)". Interview with Ben White, www.complex.com. January 11, 2016.

• So rather than really have, like a close relationship to anything that's coming out today, people are just, they've got it on as background music. It's kind of the same way the cabdrivers use music; it's very disposable. But, that doesn't mean there aren't a great number of artists who are doing things to change that.

  Mos Def

  Mean, Artist, Numbers

  "David Bowie & Mos Def: The Style Council (2003 Cover Story)". Interview with Ben White, www.complex.com. January 11, 2016.

• I want to be necessary and do good works. I ain't here to waste nobody's time, because I don't want you to waste mine.

  Mos Def

  Want, Waste, Good Work

  "House Music: Mos Def". Interview with Spank Rock, www.interviewmagazine.com. May 29, 2009.

• I learned [playing Chuck Berry] that there's something to be said for the courage of conviction, that sense of belief, being bold enough to believe in your vision. And there's a quote that really fits his particular energy. It says - they say don't go where the path may lead, but go where there's no path and leave a trail. I think that's exactly what Chuck did, you know. It's an inspiration to a lot of folks, not just musicians, but people everywhere.

  Mos Def

  Believe, Inspiration, Thinking

  Source: www.npr.org