It’s certainly been an up-and-down year for fans and followers of Yasiin Bey (formerly known as Mos Def). Be it the announcement of his musical retirement, the saddening final live performances, or even his passport issues which has held him in South Africa since January, only to be recently resolved – it’s been confusing to say the least.
With his imminent retirement ahead, nobody exactly expected the announcement of a brand new album as part of a new a collaborative duo with Ferrari Sheppard, Dec.99th. The release is expected to come out next week.
According to Pitchfork, the album is similarly titled December 99th, and is the result of the duo spending “last year recording in South Africa” while Bey “awaited his departure from the country”. The pair first met in 2013 in Ethiopia, at a time where Sheppard was primarily working as a photographer and journalist, producing music as a hobby. The duo made their debut back in May with the bold and veracious N.A.W., and went on to release a number of tracks such as Local Time, Seaside Panic Room, and the non-album cut HYMN.
After his announcement in January, Yasiin Bey reaffirmed his musical retirement last month, explaining, “I’m moving onto other things, still being creative. Definitely fashion, textiles and just art. Whatever I can create that’s beautiful and useful, that’s what I wanna do.”
During this he mentioned that “exclusive new material” to be released onto Jay Z‘s Tidal streaming platform, and with December 99th charted as a Tidal exclusive, there is certainly reason to believe that this album may in fact be the last we hear of him musically.
It’s going to be okay, we promise.
Whether or not this will actually be Bey’s final musical output is questionable and frankly unlikely, but maybe I’m just jaded and cynical. You decide.
December 99th Tracklist:
- N.A.W.
- Blade In The Pocket
- SPESH
- Local Time
- Tall Sleeves
- Seaside Panic Room
- Shadow In the Dark
- It Goes
- Special Dedication
Album Image: Pitchfork
Header Image: Okayplayer
Yasiin Bey (Mos Def in most of our hearts) has released another song as Dec. 99th with Chicago-based producer Ferrari Sheppard.
The track, Hymn was released with the following statement from Bey, “Condolences to the families of the slain. Never stop pursuing freedom.” The song features Bey reciting a spoken word poem about life and death (This is what death can’t kill / This is what death can’t kill: life) over a groovy bass line.
Bey touches on how society has become numb to the violence in the world from watching too many violent videos on social media. “How many views when the blood ooze?” he asks. Hymn was released via TIDAL and is Dec. 99th’s first official single on the music streaming service. Complex notes, HYMN comes to us via the label AWGE which, is A$AP Rocky’s “small but secretive internal art direction team.” Dec. 99th have released a steady stream of tracks including: N.A.W., Tall Sleeves, and Local Time.
It seems that Bey still has a whole lot to say to follow through on his retirement from the music industry. Unless, Dec. 99th is his final album that he promised.
Check out Hymn on TIDAL.
Image: OKPLAYER