Focused. I'm a hustler. And my hustle is trying to figure out the best ways to do what I like without having to do much else.

You're not gonna get through life without being worshipful or devoted to something. You're either devoted to your job, or to your desires. So the best way to spend your life is to try to be devoted to prayer, to Allah.

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.

If you're going to do Chuck Berry, you got to, you know, go all out, and the duck walk is just kind of you know, cursory. That's like standing.

I'm just an artist and I'm doin' what I like to do.

I feel like being into the beat of your own drum has become too prominent in the culture.