Yasiin Bey, formerly and most popularly known as Mos Def, was forced to cancel many of his upcoming international tour dates due to his inability to leave the country of South Africa. The popular underground rap artist was charged, as well as bailed, from charges of using a false passport and travel documents, while attempting to leave the country of South Africa, earlier this year, while also being charged with illegally helping his family remain in the country.
Even though the artist is out on bail, he is not able to tour internationally due to his scheduled hearing, which is set for May 12th. In order to finish their investigation, prosecuters asked for a postponement of Bey’s case, rescheduling it to March 24th, followed by a request to postpone from Bey’s side. Due to the involvement of U.S. as well as other authorities, one of the lawyers called this case “complicated but simple at the same time” which might indicate that this case might take longer than fans hope.
Bey was scheduled to play several shows lined up all over the Scandinavian area of Europe. Both Sweden and Denmark had performances scheduled for May 5 and May 6th, but was forced to cancel them. According to Pitchfork, Yasiin Bey has chosen to release and share an audio message, that he recorded in Cape Town, apologizing to his Scandinavian fans for his cancellations. In the message, Bey starts off with the announcement of the show’s cancelling followed by an immediate and sincere apology, indicating that it is due to “the matters at hand here in South Africa”, assuring his fans he is safe and healthy, but not providing any more update other than he is “looking to reschedule these dates later this fall”, which at least tells fans that they will in fact see him again. The message added that he is “hopeful”, “grateful”, and “very, very blessed.” and just that he is “at peace” ending with a sense of hope from freestyle rapper.
Yasiin released a freestyle and message on Kanye West’s website, after news came out that he had been arrested, which explained his side of the story, along with the announcement of his retirement from the entertainment world after the release of his upcoming final album.
Fans look forward to the rescheduled dates in the future, as well as the upcoming new album, in a bittersweet tone, it indicates that the rapper is both back but almost gone from the underground-soul rapping world that he embodied so well.
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