Yasiin Bey’s Mysterious New Music Shows His Many Sides (Audio)

For the second time this month, Yasiin Bey (f/k/a Mos Def) emerges with a new song. Like the last (posted below), this is part of his Dec. 99th moniker. Today’s (May 21) installment, “Dec. 99th – Tall Sleeves,” finds the Brooklyn, New Yorker rhyming, singing, and speaking on a futuristic care of Ferrari Sheppard (of A Country Called Earth). He shows his range in this fully formed song, that may be more abstract than some of the tracks heard on Mos Def’s four solo albums. This song is said to be recorded in Capetown, South Africa.

In the Electronic-tinged record, Bey vocally alludes to Afrika Bambaataa & The Soulsonic Force’s “Planet Rock.” The lyrics reference space, time, teams, author, Frantz Fanon, Dres, and bees of the insect family.

Presently, Yasiin Bey is said to be signed to Kanye West’s G.O.O.D. Music imprint. He has not released an album since 2009’s The Ecstatic (as Mos Def) on Downtown/Atlantic Records.

#BonusBeat: “Dec. 99th – N.A.W.”: