The silly reason Mos Def dropped out of high school: “I was pretty impressed with myself”
Like many teenagers, Mos Def didn’t take academic life too seriously. With the amount of success that has come his way creatively since, it’s easy to see why. Schools are typically formulaic in the way classes are handled, pushing for basic skills like adding up numbers or understanding biology. For an artist, it can be a difficult environment in which to thrive.
The Brooklyn rapper (also known as Yasiin Bey) might not be as active in terms of musical releases these days, but he remains one of the most technically gifted MCs, and he didn’t learn it from standard classrooms. He signed up to school plays and enrolled in a performing arts magnet school, Philippa Schuyler Middle School, before moving on to Talent Unlimited High School. However, this would be the end of his school days.
Like so many young boys, Mos turned a lot of his attention to girls. He became so fascinated with the opposite sex that he decided to throw his days of education away. “I’d been acting professionally since I was a freshman, and by my sophomore year, I’d discovered the phenomenon of high school ladies,” he admitted to Spin. “And I was running around here in the Village, and the only reason I still went to school was for the arts. And then, in my senior year, I booked this job in LA.”
Mos starred in the sitcom You Take the Kids alongside Nell Carter and Roger E Mosley, but when it finished, he made a drastic decision. “I was going to school out there, but the show got cancelled, and I came back,” he explained. “I’d met a girl — she was a couple years older than me, and I was pretty impressed with myself, so I was like, ‘I’m not going back to school.’ It was a silly thing, but I really wanted to pursue my career. I’d also run away from home when I was 15.”
So, it was a combination of both women and his drive for success as a musician and actor that contributed to him quitting. He became one of the most respected rappers in the world on the music side, captivating hip-hop fans with 1999’s Black on Both Sides and 1998’s Mos Def and Talib Kweli Are Black Star. He’s also starred in many movies, including Begin Again, I’m Still Here, and Monster’s Ball.
On the romantic side, Bey was previously married to Maria Yepes before divorcing in 2006. They have two daughters together, but their separation wasn’t simple. She took him to court after he was meant to pay her $10,000 a month, but instead paid her $8,000. He also has four other children, including singer and producer Laila Smith, with separate women.
Mos also married Alana Wyatt in 2005. The couple got married just three days after meeting each other; they separated two months later, but never finalised their divorce. In her book, she claimed they quickly bought an $850,000 house together but broke up over an alleged loud argument that got out of control.