History
2009 · Downtown DWT70055 · Brooklyn, New York
- Artist
- Mos Def
- Title
- History
- Release
- The Ecstatic
- Year
- 2009
- Label
- Downtown # DWT70055
- Format
- CD · Album
- Language
- English
- Country
- Brooklyn, New York, USA
- Genre
- Hip Hop · East Coast Hip Hop · Conscious Hip Hop
- Primary theme
- Post-War
Annotation — Rap / Hip Hop Songs
Mos Def, influential East Coast Hip Hop / Conscious Hip Hop artist, born Dante Terrell Smith on 11 December 1973 in Brooklyn, New York, USA, also a member of well-known duo group Black Star with Talib Kweli. He currently goes by the name Yasiin Bey. He referenced the Vietnam War in the following tracks: "Speed Law" (1999), "Get By" (2003) (with Kanye West, JAY-Z, Talib Kweli, and Busta Rhymes), and"History" (2009) (with Talib Kweli).Talib Kweli, East Coast Hip Hop / Conscious Hip Hop artist, born Talib Kweli Greene on 3 October 1975 in Brooklyn, New York, USA, member of Black Star with Mos Def. Songs referencing Vietnam included "Get By" (2003) (with Kanye West, JAY-Z, Mos Def, and Busta Rhymes), "Happy Home" (2007 (with Madlib), "History" (2009) (with Mos Def), and "Learn Truth" (2013) (with R.A. the Rugged Man).The song "History", a collaboration between Mos Def and Talib Kweli, recalled a key moment in the Vietnam conflict - the collapse of South Vietnam under US President Gerald R. Ford in 1975: "Ford was president... the war was ended when the North Vietnamese stormed the city of Saigon".
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
About the artist
Mos Def, influential East Coast Hip Hop / Conscious Hip Hop artist, born Dante Terrell Smith on 11 December 1973 in Brooklyn, New York, USA, also a member of well-known duo group Black Star with Talib Kweli. He currently goes by the name Yasiin Bey. He referenced the Vietnam War in the following tracks: "Speed Law" (1999), "Get By" (2003) (with Kanye West, JAY-Z, Talib Kweli, and Busta Rhymes.
Themes
Saigon · Fall of Saigon · Ford