walking upstream…
Mos Def
Dante Terrell Smith grew up a child actor in Brooklyn before turning to rap, forming Black Star with Talib Kweli in 1996 and releasing his solo debut, Black on Both Sides, in 1999 — a jazz-inflected, politically engaged record that made him one of conscious hip-hop's defining voices. He kept moving between rap, rock, and acting through The New Danger, True Magic, and The Ecstatic, and in 2011 formally took the name Yasiin Bey, saying he'd come to fear Mos Def was being treated as a product rather than a person.
the sound in question
1999
Ms. Fat BootyMos Def
walk the tributaries ↓
Slick Rick1980s · Hip-hop / East Coast hip-hop / Old-school hip-hop
Slick Rick's novelistic, first-person storytelling — building a full scene and a moral out of a rhyme instead of just boasting — shapes Mos Def's narrative verses; Black Star's 'Children's Story' is a direct, title-and-structure homage to Rick's original, repurposed into a cautionary tale about selling out.
listen: upstream & heresource: uDiscover Music — 'Children's Story' as a reimagining of Slick Rick's original; Black Star taking their lead from Boogie Down Productions' Criminal Minded-to-Edutainment arc ↗
1988
Children's StorySlick Rick
1998
Children's StoryMos Def
listen forCompare Slick Rick's cadenced, almost spoken-word bedtime-story delivery on the original to Black Star's version: same sing-song storytelling frame, same 'once upon a time' narrative arc, redirected at the music industry instead of a stickup kid.
Eric B. & Rakim1980s · Hip hop / Golden age hip hop / Boom bap
Rakim's cool, internally-rhymed authority over the beat rather than shouting at it is a direct model for Mos Def's unhurried delivery; on 'Love' he goes further than homage and builds the hook directly out of Rakim's own lines.
listen: upstream & heresource: WhoSampled — Mos Def's 'Love' sampling Eric B. & Rakim's 'I Know You Got Soul' ↗
1987
I Know You Got SoulEric B. & Rakim
1999
LoveMos Def
listen forDrop the needle on 'I Know You Got Soul' and then 'Love' back to back — the laid-back, syllable-stretching cadence carries over, and Mos Def's chorus literally samples/interpolates Rakim's phrasing from the original.
Boogie Down Productions1980s · East Coast hip-hop / Hardcore hip-hop / Conscious hip-hop
BDP's arc from the hardcore 'Criminal Minded' to the teacherly social criticism of 'Edutainment' set the template for hip-hop as consciousness-raising, not just entertainment — the lineage Black Star explicitly picked up. Producer Hi-Tek built 'Definition''s beat by sampling BDP's own 'The P Is Free (Remix)' and interpolating 'Stop the Violence' in the hook.
listen: upstream & heresource: uDiscover Music — 'Children's Story' as a reimagining of Slick Rick's original; Black Star taking their lead from Boogie Down Productions' Criminal Minded-to-Edutainment arc ↗
1987
The P Is Free (Remix)Boogie Down Productions
1998
DefinitionMos Def
listen forListen for the same drum break and bassline under 'The P Is Free (Remix)' resurfacing as the foundation of 'Definition,' with the 'Stop the Violence' hook folded into Black Star's own anti-violence chorus about hip-hop mourning Biggie and Tupac.