Yasiin Bey, who was recently permitted to leave South Africa, will be performing his final set of shows in the U.S. starting in December.
Bey, also known as Mos Def, was previously blocked from leaving South Africa after violating local immigration laws. The Black Star rapper was able to clear those issues up after apologizing to the government. He’s now partnered up with the Apollo Theater and The John F. Kennedy Center for his final set of U.S. performances, according to Billboard. “We’re so excited to collaborate with the Kennedy Center on what will be a milestone moment in not only hip-hop history but also in popular culture,” said the Apollo Theater’s executive producer Kamilah Forbes in a statement.
The performances will kick off on December 21 in Harlem at New York’s Apollo Theater and will end on January 2 at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. He is set to perform songs from all of his albums along with debuting some new material. Special guests are also expected to perform at these shows, so it’s pretty likely that his Black Star partner Talib Kweli will show up at some point. Yasiin Bey, who’s also an established actor, confirmed in a video last month that he is retiring from the entertainment industry after previously announcing the decision at the beginning of 2016. “I’m retiring this year for real,” he said in the clip. “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.” He also said he offered Jay Z some “exclusive new material” for his Tidal streaming service.
Source: hiphopdx.com
