A
court date for rapper Mos Def, born Dante Smith, was postponed yesterday by a
New York court reportedly due to the rapper’s schedule.In
August, Mos Def and others were arrested for performing his controversial song
"Katrina Clap" outside of the MTV Video Music Awards. The
rapper was subsequently charged for disorderly conduct. "Katrina Clap"
is a barbed freestyle that criticizes the Bush administration and the sluggish
response to the Hurricane Katrina disaster. Theron
‘Tee Smif’ Smith, a film maker on the scene, was arrested with Mos Def. His company,
Kings County Cinema Company, filmed the event. Although
he is not at liberty to discuss the details of the case, Smith queried why there
hasn’t been more dialogue about the incident. "The
observation I have is how the Hip-Hop community didn’t publicly discuss what happened
more," Smith told AllHipHop.com. "In the history of Hip-Hop, when was
the last time you saw and heard of an event when a recognized artist in Hip-Hop
physically made a major sociopolitical statement about what’s happening to Black
people to the world? The music has been subdued for a long time. The VMA’s are
one of the major media events of each year. It was a bold statement that didn’t
get its recognition." The
rapper and the others involved in the arrest will return to court next week per
a judge’s orders. In
related news, Mos Def recently offered his support to the Hands Off Assata Campaign
with Sonia Sanchez and the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement.
The event, which took place two weeks ago, was in support of African American
activist Assata Shakur. Shakur
escaped prison in 1979 and now resides in Cuba, but the US Department of Justice
maintains a $1 million bounty on her head for her involvement in the shooting
death of a New Jersey police officer. Shakur,
who is also the god mother of Tupac, maintains her innocence in the slaying.
