Ugh, we knew we were going to have to cover up this Mos Def tattoo eventually; we just hoped it would be out of sober regret, not because Mos Def changed his stage name to Yasiin. “I’m retiring the Mos Def name after 2011,” the actor/rapper told MTV’s Sucker Free at NYC’s Rock The Bells concert this past weekend. “I’m actually doing it. Yasiin. That’s it.” Well, maybe we can somehow turn the M into a Y…ugh, no, just start over on the other cheek.
While his real name continues to be Dante Terrell Smith, the former Black Star rapper won’t be offended if people slip up and use the wrong moniker from time to time. “Mos Def is a name that I built and cultivated over the years, it’s a name that the streets taught me, a figure of speech that was given to me by the culture and by my environment, and I feel I’ve done quite a bit with that name and it’s time to expand and move on,” he says. “Also, I didn’t want to have to deal with having any moniker or separation between the self that I see and know myself as.” Plus, Mos did say he’s making the change after 2011, which means we can still proudly wear these cut-offs for at least the next 4 months.
[Photo: WENN]
