Mos Def, or Dante Terrell Smith as his family knows him, started his career in the music industry as an MC / rap artist in Urban Thermo Dynamics, a Hip Hop group in 1994. Urban Thermo Dynamics was short lived and only managed to release two singles and one full album. However, the album was only released in 2004, many years after the group broke up. In 1996 he went solo and started singing with Da Bush Babees and De La Soul. After the collaborations with the artists he started to work on his own and released his first solo, Universal Magnetic, a single that turned out to be a huge success in the underground market.

After the success of Universal Magnetic, Mos Def went on to sign a deal with Rawkus Records music label and started a collaboration group with Talib Kweli. The two artists released an album by the name of Mos Def and Talib Kweli are Black Star, which was the name of the group. Two songs of the album made it to the VH1 Top 100 hip hop hits, which led to Mos Def releasing his first solo album named Black on Both Sides in 1999, which was also released through Rawkus Records. After the release of his album he collaborated with a few artists and then signed with Interscope/Geffen Records.

In 2004 Mos Def released his second album named The New Danger, under the auspices of Interscope/Geffen. In 2006 Mos Def released True Magic, his final album under the Interscope/Geffen banner. The album was never marketed and was only received underground. However, Mos Def’s music career is still going strong. His acting career started in 1988 when he landed the role in the TV movie God Bless the Child as Richard Watkins. From 1990 – 1991 he starred in the TV series You Take The Kids and played the role of Raymond Kirkland in 6 episodes. In 1994 he landed the role of Dante in the movie The Cosby Mysteries and then got to reprise his role in an adaptation of the movie The Cosby Mysteries, the TV series from 1994 – 1995.

In 1997 he played Levon Wells in the hit cop series NYPD Blues in the episode named All’s Well that Ends Well, and then landed another role in the series in 1998 as Leslie Peach in the episode Czech Bouncer. Also in 1998 he landed the role in the hit TV series Spin City and played Monty the Card Hustler in the episode Gentlemen’s Agreement. In 2000 he got to reprise his role as Leslie Peach in NYPD Blue and then went on to Bamboozled as Mau Mau: Big Blak Afrika. The movie was directed by Spike Lee and also starred Damon Wayans and Jada Pinkett Smith.

After landing parts in hit movies like Monsters Ball, Showtime, The Italian Job, and the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Mos Def went on to guest star in TV series’ like Chappelle’s Show, 2003 – 2006 for six episodes, the hit animated series The Boondocks in 2005 – 2008 as two characters, and House MD in 2009 as Lee in the episode Locked In.