Just before midnight last evening, what already proved
to be a traumatic beginning to this year in music was
solidly underscored by the retirement of the prolific rapper,
actor and activist Yasiin Bey aka Mos Def. The news was
delivered via a voicemail message that was released
through Kanye West’s website. The message began with
a freestyle that was a riff on Kanye’s latest single release,
“No More Parties In L.A.” and contained a shoutout to
‘Ye for being a “real friend” and that he would release one
last album this year and also cease doing motion pictures.
This comes in the wake of Bey being arrested by authorities
in South Africa after trying to travel to Ethiopia to perform
in a concert there. The Department of Home Affairs claims
that Yasiin was using a fradulent document, namely a World
Passport. They also state that the rapper had entered South
Africa in 2013 and had been illegally living in the country
after staying past the alloted time in conjunction with his
visa which expired in 2014. A representative for Bey stated
to the press two days before this announcment that the arrest
at Cape Town International Airport was unwarranted, and
that the document was accepted before by the South African
government. Yaasin has done shows in the past couple of
years in different nations, but there is no record of what
documentation he used to travel.
This situation on the surface is puzzling, and offers up many
more questions than answers. It’s no secret that Yasiin has
been an outspoken advocate for justice and human rights,
most notably shown as he underwent the force feeding method
of torture that was inflicted on prisoners at Guananamo Bay,
Cuba under the direction of the United States government on
videotape. This has been brewing since the rapper was unable
to make a show here in Washington D.C. last year due to some
travel hangups. One has to ask: if Mos has been traveling with
this World Passport, why would the South African government
accept it on prior occasions and not now? Granted, the World
Passport is a travel document created by the World Service
Authority, a group that was created by the late Garry Davis
based on the 30 articles of the United Nations Declaration of
Human Rights that was created in 1948. The document is not
globally fully accepted because there have been individuals using
it under false names among other security issues, but it is legally
accepted in Ecuador, Burkina Faso, Tanzania, Togo, Mauritania and
Zambia. Julian Assange and Edward Snowden are also World
Passport owners. A representative for the group claims they’re
now in touch with Bey’s lawyers and says that this was accepted by
South Africa beforehand. Another problem that comes up is this: if he
has been living illegally in the country according to authorities, why
arrest him now and demand that he leave instead of in 2014 when
it was determined he stayed past the limit?
The situation does bring into light a pressing question in terms of
nations and borders. One of the hot topics of this current American
presidential election season is immigration. Syria, racked to the core
by a civil war, has seen hundreds of thousands flee their homeland
into Europe and Canada and sparingly into this country. Without
being marked as purely the stuff of conspiracy theorists, identity
through the passport and the ideas of how one can truly be a citizen
of the world are in question. Chuck D and Public Enemy have been
hammering this home throughout their careers. More and more
we are seeing how the Black and Brown diaspora is connecting via
social media and travel. Tie that into the social justice movements
here and abroad. It does figure in to this situation. Now, this next
question may be pure speculation but it has to be asked: is Yasiin
marked by some authority somewhere because of his sociopolitical
beliefs and activism work? For embracing Islam as he does so? We’ve
seen musicians being asked to leave countries before i.e. Snoop Dogg.
But when it becomes political, it takes on a whole new meaning. You
almost forget that South Africa in their apartheid era spurred the
flight and exile of their own artists in Miriam Makeba and Hugh Maskela
among many others. Given the recent stirrings of protest from students
who fight to strip colonial markings and influence from their universities
there as well as for more fair inclusion of Black students, one wonders
what the government’s true thoughts are about an expatriate American
rapper with a conscious message in that mix.
The saddest thing of all about this situation is that Bey looks to be
done with entertainment, period. It’s going to be damn hard to really
imagine no more music from him. It’s going to be damn hard to not
see his personality jump out at you on the screen. As I finish editing
this piece, the television is blasting one of my favorite sci-fi films, The
Hitchiker’s Guide To The Galaxy that he starred in. It hits me that Mos
has been on the scene in some form or fashion for over two decades
going all the way back to The Cosby Mysteries. That’s a long period of
time. And perhaps other things in his life have led him to make this
decision. When he references Kanye’s recent song “Real Friends”, in
listening to the message, you hear the weight. Whatever the outcome
of this is, there are no more parties to be had in South Africa. And
wherever Yasiin Bey chooses to go next, hopefully it can be in peace.