Still currently embroiled in a legal dispute in South Africa after being charged “for violating local immigration laws while trying to leave the country with a “world passport””, Yasiin Bey (formerly known as Mos Def) recently announced in a Facebook Live videostream that he was officially retiring from rap and entertainment this year.
As you may recall, Yasiin previously announced his retirement at the top of 2016 with a voicemail left for Kanye West with a rap over Ye and Kendrick Lamar’s “No More Parties In L.A.”
In the video update provided last night, Yasiin stated that “I’m retiring this year for real.” As far as films, Yasiin responded “I do have one or two films that I made commitments to earlier, before I announced my retirement. Apart from that, I’m moving onto other things, still being creative. You know, definitely fashion, textiles, and just art. Whatever I can create that’s beautiful and useful, that’s what I wanna do.”
For fans who were looking forward to seeing the veteran rapper perform at last night’s show at the O2 Forum in London, Yasiin provided details on why it was canceled, stating he is still not able to perform abroad due to the current legal issues; although the show has been postponed to October 22nd, while offering JAY Z the chance to release some of his “exclusive new material” for TiDAL (which may or may not end up being purchased by Apple).
If this is all true, it’s a damn shame. Hip-Hop will surely miss this legend’s presence.
