I don't have details into most of what's here, but my Mos Def performance experiences have been nothing but positive. He has dressed like you said, which is irrelevant, but he's always put on an amazing show with great energy and has always been nothing but appreciative and thankful of the crowd and them being there. I've seen him as Blackstar 3 times now in the last several years. First show was the night they announced the new album, and most recently just a few weeks back when Blackstar had a one off show with Pharoah Monch's new rock band 13 and Dead Prez. Not discounting your experience at all, but I definitely have not had a similar experience.
I saw MOS with Maseo of De La Soul as his DJ in January of 2000 at University Of Washington right after Black On Both Sides came out. I've met Saul Williams after events where he spoke about Mos getting him into spoken word. I've even done ticket giveaways for his shows. I've been a fan for a long time. I've had positive experiences with his work, but that's irrelevant. In fact, the ticket giveaway that I hosted was for a show after the incident that I mentioned with Madlib. I still had high hopes wanted to go see him do his own thing again, in his own environment. Unfortunately, he ghosted the venue right before the show was supposed to go on.
I'm glad that you've had pleasant experiences with him, but you basically are discounting mine with your comment, to an extent. If someone told me that someone did something fucked up to them, I wouldn't tell them how that person never did that fucked up thing to me, because they are sharing a personal experience, and me offering a conflicting one doesn't add anything, it only aims to take something away. It's essentially a defense of what I experienced, which was terrible. I never said he was terrible live across the board. I've seen great shows by him, myself. That still doesn't change the reality that he has this aspect to him or this potential for foolery.
I've been a long-time fan of his and he came out acting like a condescending, pretentious drunk asshole dressed like it was fashion week. Much like with Talib, when you're selling one image of yourself and you come throwing around something in conflict with that, it's pretty telling. You can watch Kweli's comment section to see who he does and does not flex on. He does nothing but ardently defend Chappelle or anyone else that he sees as larger or more powerful than him, while attacking anyone that he believes is less successful and fair game -- primarily, underground artists that he's drawn inspiration from like Freestyle Fellowship. Blackstar was all about consciousness and preaching the higher self, but Kweli is always posting some starfucker nonsense and for all his speeches and anti-materialism, Yasiin stepped out looking like a goof flashing his designer clothes (very relevant to my experience), while LITERALLY telling us what a great honor it was for us that he was gracing us with his presence. It was a room full of white kids in Oakland. He didn't give a fuck and it was a bad moment for the guy. I don't care who you are, if you don't deliver; I'm there for a show, not an "appearance." Unfortunately, a large portion of that crowd was probably more than happy to tell people he and Chappelle showed up, regardless of how terrible it was. I was excited to see him and then I was just disappointed. If I wasn't a fan who had both expected and experienced better, then it wouldn't have been so disheartening. This was some Hollywood shit, but he also started out as a child actor and the dude was on The Cosby Mysteries. He's not going to pull that shit on a stage with Monch. At a Blackstar show, he's already being celebrated.
MOS had a bad moment, but it happened and I mention it as an example of how these artists whose work we admire and whose actions might seem out of the ordinary in a scenario like this are not infallible. I absolutely love Kweli's People's Party podcast and how much reverence he shows to the guests, which is crazy because that shit can be so Jekyll and Hyde with his IG page, sometimes. Last time he responded to me in his comments, all he said was "bars," so I'm not anti-Talib either, I'm just aware that there are dimensions to these guys beyond whatever image many of us have previously enjoyed and swallowed whole. There are evolutions and de-evolutions with people. Some of us may still view Madlib as the scrappy cratedigger, but he's become a superproducer, much the same way that Jack White is not the same kid in the indie band from Detroit, but a co-founder of Tidal -- Jack does great things with his position, these days, too, but he's a different guy in a different world. Mos and Kweli have embraced these personas and the sheer fact that, after decades, these guys only now reunite and aim their sights at a big name producer, while essentially leaving Hi Tek behind, says something to me. So does the fact that they only released the album through their bullshit app. I'd imagine it's a tricky position to want to be celebrated for the work you've put in and acknowledge your own achievements, but they definitely are susceptible to wielding a particular swag of importance and buying into their own shit, at times. If Talib Kweli is attacking Egon, then something is wrong here that none of us really want to have to accept. I love Now Again and Stones Throw and celebrate the success of all involved here, but I question how down-to-earth any of the parties involved are, anymore, just based on how hard they all stunt on social media and in personal experiences that I've seen. This can't end well for anyone and I'm a fan of everyone involved. Someone, if not all of them, are lost in the sauce.
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