Look up Creole or creole in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

Creole may refer to:

Languages[link]

A creole language is a stable, full-fledged language that originated from a pidgin.

Creole languages subgroups may include:

• Arabic-based creole languages
• Dutch-based creole languages
• English-based creole languages
• French-based creole languages
• Singdarin, Chinese-based creole languages
• German-based creole languages
• Malay-based creole languages
• Ngbandi-based creole languages
• Portuguese-based creole languages
• Spanish-based creole languages

Specific creole languages include:

• Haitian Creole language, French-based, an official language of Haiti
• Mauritian Creole, French-based, spoken in Mauritius
• Louisiana Creole French, spoken in Louisiana
• Belizean Kriol language, spoken in Belize
• Cape Verdean Creole, spoken on the islands of Cape Verde
• Krio Dayak language, spoken by Krio Dayak people in West Kalimantan, Indonesia
• Liberian Kreyol language, spoken in Liberia
• Seychellois Creole, French-based, spoken in the Seychelles
• Guinea-Bissau Creole, spoken in Guinea-Bissau
• Negerhollands, a Dutch-based creole, once spoken in the U.S. Virgin Islands
• Bislama, an English-based creole, spoken in Vanuatu
• Llanito, a Spanish- and English-based creole, spoken in Gibraltar
• Bajan or Barbadian Creole, English-based, spoken in Barbados
• Antillean Creole or Créole Martiniquais, French-based, spoken in the Lesser Antilles
• Tok Pisin, an official language of Papua New Guinea
• Torres Strait Creole or Brokan, spoken in far north-east Australia, Torres Strait, and south-west Papua
• Patois, French based, spoken in Saint Lucia
• Nagamese creole, based on Assamese, used in in Nagaland, India

People[link]

Creole peoples – various distinct ethnic groups; mix of culture:

• Louisiana Creole people
• Belizean Kriol people
• Sierra Leone Creole people
• Krio Dayak people, an ethnic group in West Kalimantan, Indonesia
• Mauritian Creole people
• Surinamese Creole people
• Haitian Creole people

Other uses[link]

• Louisiana Creole cuisine, a style of cooking of the New Orleans area, Louisiana that blends many influences.
• "Creole Love Call", a composition by Duke Ellington
• The Creole case, an international dispute about the Creole, a US slave-trade ship.
• Creole Records, a record label
• Creole Pig, a breed of pig from Haiti
• Zydeco, Louisiana Creole folk music
• CREOLE, a component model of the General Architecture for Text Engineering text processing system
• Créolité, a Martinican literary movement
• Creole (markup), a common wiki markup language to be used across different wikis
• Ponce Creole, an architectural style unique to Ponce, Puerto Rico, born in the late eighteenth century
• Creole sheep, a sheep breed
• Creole Queen, a 1,000 passenger sternwheel riverboat
• The Story of Creole, an animated short written by Stephen Cosgrove about a bird-dinosaur-like creature with a big heart and an alligator who couldn't talk straight who find kindred spirits in each other.

See also[link]

• Criollo (disambiguation)

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (March 2011)

Charlie Hunter
Hunter performing on February 25, 2006 at SPACE in Portland, Maine.
Background information
Birth name	Charlie Hunter
Born	(1967-05-23) May 23, 1967 (age 45)
Origin	Berkeley, California, U.S.
Genres	Jazz, post-bop, jazz fusion, acid jazz, jazz-funk
Occupations	Guitarist
Instruments	Guitar
Labels	Blue Note Records
Associated acts	The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy The Coalition of the Willing Garage A Trois
Notable instruments
8-string guitar/bass hybrid, custom built by Ralph Novak[1]

Charlie Hunter (born May 23, 1967) is an American guitarist, composer and bandleader.

First coming to prominence in the early 1990s, Hunter has recorded 17 albums. Hunter plays custom-made seven and eight-string guitars, on which he simultaneously plays basslines, rhythm guitar, and solos. Critic Sean Westergaard^[2] describes Hunter's guitar technique as "mind-boggling ... he's an agile improviser with an ear for great tone, and always has excellent players alongside him in order to make great music, not to show off."

Biography[link]

This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (July 2010)

Hunter was born in Rhode Island. When he was four his mom packed him and his younger sister in an old yellow school bus and headed west. After several years living on a commune in Mendocino County they settled in Berkeley, California. Hunter graduated from Berkeley High School and took lessons from famed guitar teacher Joe Satriani. At eighteen he moved to Paris. Returning to the Bay area, Hunter played a seven-string guitar and organ in Michael Franti's political rap group, The Disposable Heroes of Hiphoprisy. In 1992, they were one of the opening acts for U2's Zoo TV Tour.

Since the debut of his self-titled Charlie Hunter Trio (which included John Ellis on sax and Jay Lane on drums) in 1993, Charlie Hunter has recorded seventeen albums. He co-founded Garage A Trois, a jazz fusion band with Stanton Moore and Skerik. He has collaborated with Bobby Previte for an ongoing project entitled "Groundtruther." He also recorded and toured for Bobby Previte's The Coalition of the Willing in 2006.^[3] He appears on acclaimed jazz bassist Christian McBride's Live At Tonic. On both The Coalition of the Willing and Live at Tonic he plays 6-string guitars. His earliest known released recording without unusual guitars is as a guest bassist for the band Sweet Potato from California's East Bay. The song "Crankshaft" can be found on the Ubiquity Records compilation Mo Cookin from 1994 and the song "Monkey Wrench" can be found on the Ubiquity Records compilation Still Cookin from 1995. He also played guitar on the track "Me and Chuck" from the Les Claypool and the Holy Mackerel album, Highball with the Devil, released in 1996.

Charlie played in the band T.J. Kirk active 1990s that merged the music of Thelonious Monk, James Brown, and Rahsaan Roland Kirk. T.J Kirk is: Will Bernard - Guitar, John Schott - Guitar, Charlie Hunter - 8-string guitar and Scott Amendola - Drums. Three recordings of the time are called: T.J. Kirk August 8, 1995, If Four Was One September 24, 1996 and Talking Only Makes it Worse released in 2005. Hunter contributed to three songs for D'Angelo's Voodoo (2000), including "The Root".^[4] Hunter has stated that the session for the song was the most challenging session he has worked on.^[4]

In the summer of 2007, Charlie toured with a trio that included New York keyboardist Erik Deutsch and New York/New Orleans drummer Simon Lott. This trio recorded the July, 2007 Fantasy release Mistico. In 2008, Hunter recorded his first self-release, Baboon Strength. Featured on the record are Erik Deutch on keys and Tony Mason on drums. Hunter returned to the studio in Fall of 2009 to record with drummer Eric Kalb.

In 2008, eminent clarinetist and composer Ben Goldberg put together a project entitled "Go Home" with Charlie on guitar(s), Ron Miles (trumpet) and Scott Amendola (drums). The alternately funky, beautiful, spacious and deep compositions showcase all the musicians. The group performed at the Jazz Standard in New York from October 29 to November 1, 2009 with Curtis Fowlkes on trombone, replacing Miles on trumpet.

Hunter was also an inaugural member of the Independent Music Awards' judging panel to support independent artists.^[5]

Charlie Hunter is represented by Tree Lawn Artists, Inc.^[6]

Equipment[link]

Hunter currently plays a custom-made, seven-string guitar made by Jeff Traugott. Previously, Hunter played a custom-made, eight-string guitar made by luthier Ralph Novak of Novax Guitars. He plays the lead guitar on the top five strings (tuned ADGBe) and bass guitar (tuned EAD) on the bottom three strings simultaneously. With the addition of a Hughes & Kettner Tube Rotosphere (a Leslie rotary speaker simulator), his unique style produces a sound similar to that of a Hammond organ -- an instrument he set out to imitate.^{[citation needed]}

In 2006, Hunter removed the top guitar string and had the neck of his guitar reworked and now plays a modified 7-string on the formerly-8 string body. Hunter has mentioned that because of his small hands, he had to move out of position to make use of the 8th string and thus wasn't using it much. A change in Hunter's style away from the organ sound into a more blues and distortion based sound happened at the same time. After removing the 8th string, Hunter retuned all of the strings up a half step: F-A#-D# on the bass and A#-D#-G#-C on the guitar. As of 2008, he had once again retuned up another whole step: G-C-F on the bass and C-F-A#-D on the guitar.^[7]

He has recently begun using Headstrong amps. Headstrong is based out of Santa Cruz, California.

Discography[link]

• 1993 - Charlie Hunter Trio - Prawn Song
• 1995 - Bing, Bing, Bing! - Blue Note
• 1996 - Ready, Set...Shango! - Blue Note
• 1997 - Natty Dread - Blue Note
• 1998 - Return of the Candyman - Blue Note
• 1998 - All Kooked Out! (Stanton Moore) - Fog City
• 1999 - Duo - Blue Note
• 1999 - Mysteryfunk (Garage a Trois) - Fog City
• 2000 - Voodoo (D'Angelo) – Cheeba Sound
• 2000 - Charlie Hunter - Blue Note
• 2000 - Solo Eight-String Guitar - Contra Punto
• 2001 - Songs from the Analog Playground - Blue Note
• 2003 - Emphasizer (Garage a Trois) - Tone-Cool
• 2003 - Right Now Move - Ropeadope
• 2003 - Come In Red Dog, This is Tango Leader (with Bobby Previte) - Ropeadope
• 2004 - Friends Seen and Unseen - Ropeadope
• 2004 - Latitude (Groundtruther) - Thirsty Ear
• 2005 - Steady Groovin' - Blue Note
• 2005 - Longitude (Groundtruther) - Thirsty Ear
• 2005 - Outre Mer (Garage a Trois) - Telarc
• 2005 - Earth Tones (with Chinna Smith and Ernest Ranglin) - Green Street
• 2006 - The Coalition of the Willing (Bobby Previte) - Ropeadope
• 2006 - Live at Tonic (Christian McBride) - Ropeadope
• 2006 - Copperopolis - Ropeadope
• 2007 - Mistico - Fantasy
• 2007 - Altitude (Groundtruther) - Thirsty Ear
• 2007 - Continuum (In Repair) - John Mayer
• 2008 - Baboon Strength - reapandsow
• 2008 - Fade - (Tim Collins featuring Charlie Hunter & Simon Lott) - Ropeadope
• 2009 - Go Home - (Ben Goldberg, Charlie Hunter, Scott Amendola & Ron Miles) - BAG Production
• 2009 - Gentlemen, I Neglected To Inform You You Will Not Be Getting Paid - Spire Artist Media / reapandsow
• 2010 - Public Domain -

Videography[link]

• 2004 - Right Now Live, Ropeadope Digital (DVD released July 13)
• 2005 - Solo Inventions, Shanachie Entertainment (DVD released September 6)
• 2006 - In Repair: One Song, One Day, playing 8-string with John Mayer, Aware Records (iTunes download)
• 2011 - Solos: the Jazz Sessions, Original Spin Media (DVD released February 22)

Filmography[link]

• SOLOS: the jazz sessions (2004)
• Late Night with Conan O'Brien (1997)
• Rochester, New York Jazz Festival (2009)

References[link]

External links[link]

• CharlieHunter.com
• Charlie Hunter collection on the Internet Archive's live music archive

Mos Def
Mos Def at YBCA in San Francisco on December 31, 2008
Background information
Birth name	Dante Terrell Smith
Also known as	Yasiin Bey
Born	(1973-12-11) December 11, 1973 (age 38) Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Genres	East Coast hip hop, alternative hip hop
Occupations	Rapper, actor, singer, activist
Years active	1996 – present
Labels	Rawkus, Priority, Geffen, Downtown, GOOD Music, DD172
Associated acts	Soulquarians, Black Star, Talib Kweli, Native Tongues Posse, Kanye West, Gorillaz, Massive Attack, Pharoahe Monch, Eminem, Blakroc, Robert Glasper Experiment

Dante Terrell Smith (born December 11, 1973) is an American actor and MC, known by the stage names Mos Def ( /ˌmoʊsˈdɛf/) and Yasiin Bey. He started his hip hop career in a group called Urban Thermo Dynamics, after which he appeared on albums by Da Bush Babees and De La Soul. With Talib Kweli, he formed the duo Black Star, which released the album Black Star in 1998. He was a major force in late 1990s underground hip hop while with Rawkus Records. As a solo artist he has released the albums Black on Both Sides in 1999, The New Danger in 2004, True Magic in 2006, and The Ecstatic in 2009.^[1]

Although he was initially recognized for his musical output, since the early 2000s, Mos Def's screen work has established him as one of only a handful of rappers who has garnered critical acclaim for his acting work. He is well known for his portrayal of Brother Sam in the American drama series Dexter. Mos Def has also been active in several social and political causes.

Early life[link]

He was born Dante Terrell Smith in Brooklyn, New York City, the son of Sheron Smith and Abdul Rahman.^[2] He was raised by his mother in Brooklyn; his father lived in New Jersey. While his father was initially a member of the Nation of Islam and later an active member in the community of Imam Warith Deen Mohammed, who merged into mainstream Islam from the Nation, Mos Def was not exposed to Islam until the age of 13. At 19, he took his shahada, the Muslim declaration of faith. He is friends with Ali Shaheed Muhammad and Q-Tip of A Tribe Called Quest.^[2]

Career[link]

Music[link]

In 1996, Mos Def emerged as a solo artist and worked with De La Soul and Da Bush Babees, before he released his own first single, "Universal Magnetic".

Mos Def in 1999

Mos Def signed with Rawkus Records and formed the group Black Star with Talib Kweli. They released an album, Mos Def & Talib Kweli are Black Star, in 1998.^[3] Mostly produced by Hi-Tek, the album featured the hit singles, "Respiration" and "Definition", which would go on to be featured in VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of Hip-Hop.^[4] Mos Def released his solo debut album Black on Both Sides in 1999, also through Rawkus.^[5] Around this time he also contributed to the Scritti Politti album Anomie & Bonhomie and Rawkus compilations Lyricist Lounge and Soundbombing.

Def performing at Rock the Bells (New York).

After the collapse of Rawkus, he signed to Interscope/Geffen Records, which released his second solo album The New Danger in 2004.^[6] The New Danger contained a mix of several musical genres, including soul, blues, and rock and roll, performed with his rock band Black Jack Johnson, which contained members of the bands Bad Brains and Living Colour. The singles included "Sex, Love & Money" and the B-side "Ghetto Rock"; the latter went on to receive several Grammy Award nominations in 2004.

Mos Def's final solo album for Geffen Records, True Magic, was released in 2006.

The song "Crime & Medicine" is essentially a cover of GZA's 1995 single "Liquid Swords", though it contains different verses. Also, the track "Undeniable" samples a version of the Barrett Strong/Norman Whitfield composition "Message from a Black Man". The song "Dollar Day" uses the same beat as Juvenile's "Nolia Clap".^[7]

On November 7, 2007, Mos Def performed live in San Francisco at a venue called The Mezzanine. This performance was recorded for an upcoming "Live in Concert" DVD. During this performance Mos Def announced that he would be releasing a new album to be called The Ecstatic. He sang a number of new tracks; in later shows, Def previewed tracks produced by Madlib and was rumored to be going to Kanye West for new material. Producer and fellow Def Poet Al Be Back stated that he would be producing as well.^[8] The album was released on June 9, 2009; upon its release, only Madlib's production had made the cut, along with tracks by Preservation, The Neptunes, Mr. Flash, Madlib's brother Oh No, a song by J. Dilla, and Georgia Anne Muldrow.

Mos Def appears alongside Kanye West on the track "Two Words" from The College Dropout album, the track "Drunk And Hot Girls" and the bonus track "Good Night" off West's third major album, Graduation. In 2002, he released the 12" single Fine, which was featured in the Brown Sugar Motion Picture Soundtrack.^[9]

Mos Def also appears on the debut album from fellow New Yorkers Apollo Heights on a track titled, "Concern." In October, he signed a deal with Downtown Records and appeared on a remix to the song "D.A.N.C.E." by Justice.^[10] Mos Def appeared on Stephen Marley's debut album Mind Control on the song "Hey Baby." In 2009, Mos Def worked together with Somali rapper K'naan to produce the track "America" for K'naan's album Troubadour.^[11]

In April 2008 he appeared on the title track for a new album by The Roots entitled Rising Down. The new single, Life In Marvelous Times, was made officially available through iTunes on November 4, 2008, and is available for stream on the Roots' website Okayplayer.

April 2009 saw him traveling to South Africa for the first time where he performed accompanied by The Robert Glasper Experiment at the renowned Cape Town International Jazz Festival. He enticed his bemused African following with an encore introduced by his own rendition of John Coltrane's "Love Supreme" followed by a sneak preview of the track "M.D. (Doctor)", much to the delight of the fans.^[12]

Mos Def also designed two pairs of limited edition Converse shoes. The shoes were released to Foot Locker stores on August 1, 2009 in very limited amounts.^[13]

In late 2009, Mos Def created a brand of clothing line with UNDRCRWN called the "Mos Def Cut & Sew Collection." All clothing items will be sold in select stores located around the U.S. and almost exclusively on the UNDRCRWN website.^[14] 2009 also found Mos Def among the MCs collaborating with the Black Keys on the first Blakroc album, a project headed by the Black Keys and Damon Dash. Mos Def appeared with Jim Jones and the Black Keys on the Late Show with David Letterman to perform the Blakroc track "Ain't Nothing Like You (Hoochie Coo)".

In March 2010, Mos Def's song Quiet Dog Bite Hard was featured in Palm's "Life moves fast. Don't miss a thing." campaign.^[15]

Mos Def features on the first single, "Stylo", from the third Gorillaz album, Plastic Beach, alongside soul legend Bobby Womack. He also appears on the track titled "Sweepstakes".

In September 2010, after appearing on Kanye West's G.O.O.D. Friday track "Lord Lord Lord", Mos Def confirmed his signing with GOOD Music.^[16]

Mos Def has been an active contributor to the recovery of the oil spill in the Gulf, performing concerts and raising money towards the repair of the damages. In June 2010, he recorded a cover of the classic New Orleans song originally by Smokey Johnson, "It Ain't My Fault" with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Lenny Kravitz and Trombone Shorty.

In September 2011, Mos Def announced that he planned to use the name Yasiin instead of Mos Def beginning in 2012.^[17]

In January 2012, it was reported that Mos Def and Talib Kweli had begun "to resurrect" Black Star.^[18]

Acting[link]

He began his professional acting career at the age of fourteen, appearing in the TV movie God Bless the Child, starring Mare Winningham. He then played the oldest child in the short-lived family sitcom, You Take the Kids, starring Nell Carter and Roger E. Mosley. His most notable acting role before his music career was that of Bill Cosby's sidekick on the short-lived detective show, The Cosby Mysteries. He also starred in a 1996 Visa check card commercial featuring Deion Sanders. In 1997 he had a small role alongside Michael Jackson in his short film and music video "Ghosts".

After brief appearances in Bamboozled^[19] and Monster's Ball,^[20] Mos re-invigorated his acting career with his performance as a talented rapper who is reluctant to sign to a major label in Brown Sugar.^[21] He was nominated for an Image Award and a Teen Choice Award.^[22]

In 2001, he took a supporting role to Beyoncé Knowles and Mehki Phifer in the MTV movie Carmen: A Hip Hopera as Lt. Miller, a crooked cop.

In 2002, he played the role of Booth in Suzan-Lori Parks' Topdog/Underdog, a Tony-nominated and Pulitzer-winning Broadway play. He and co-star Jeffrey Wright won a Special Award from the Outer Critics Circle Award for their joint performance.^[23] He also received positive notices as the quirky Left Ear in the blockbuster hit, The Italian Job in 2003.^[24] He also appeared in 2003 in the music video You Don't Know My Name of the song by Alicia Keys.

In television, Mos Def has appeared on NYPD Blue,^[25] on Comedy Central's Chappelle's Show,^[26] and has hosted the award-winning HBO spoken word show, Def Poetry since its inception.^[27] The show's sixth season aired in 2007. He also appeared on the sitcom My Wife And Kids as the disabled friend of Michael Kyle (Damon Wayans).

Mos Def won Best Actor, Independent Movie at the 2005 Black Reel Awards for his portrayal of Detective Sgt. Lucas in The Woodsman.^[28] For his portrayal of Vivien Thomas in HBO's film Something the Lord Made,^[29] he was nominated for an Emmy Award^[30] and a Golden Globe, and won the Image Award. He also played a bandleader in HBO's Lackawanna Blues. He then landed the role of Ford Prefect in the 2005 movie adaptation of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.^[31]

Def and Bruce Willis on the set of 16 Blocks, filmed on location in Chinatown, Manhattan on Pell Street.

In 2006, Mos Def appeared in Dave Chappelle's Block Party alongside fellow Black Star companion Talib Kweli, while also contributing to the film's soundtrack.^[32] Also, Mos Def was featured as the black banjo player in the infamous "Pixie Sketch" from Chappelle's Show: The Lost Episodes. He was later edited out of it on the DVD. Additionally, Mos Def starred in the action film 16 Blocks alongside Bruce Willis and David Morse.^[33] He has a recurring guest role on Boondocks, starring as "Gangstalicious". He is also set to be in Toussaint, a film about Haitian revolutionary Toussaint Louverture, opposite Don Cheadle and Wesley Snipes. He made a cameo appearance — playing himself — in the movie Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby.^[34]

In 2007, Mos Def narrated the PBS-broadcast documentary Prince Among Slaves.

In 2008, Mos Def starred in the Michel Gondry movie Be Kind Rewind, playing a video rental store employee whose best friend is played by co-star Jack Black.^[35] He also portrayed Chuck Berry in the film Cadillac Records,^[36] for which he was nominated for a Black Reel Award and an Image Award.

In 2009, he appeared in the House episode entitled "Locked In" as a patient suffering from locked-in syndrome. His performance was well-received, with E! saying that Mos Def "delivers an Emmy-worthy performance."^[37] He was also in the 2009 film Next Day Air.

In 2010, he appeared on the children's show Yo Gabba Gabba! as Super Mr. Superhero. He also appeared in A Free Man of Color, John Guare's play at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre.^[38]

In 2011, he began a multi-episode appearance on the Showtime television series Dexter. He played Brother Sam, an ex-con who has supposedly found religion despite finding himself in violent situations.^[39]

Social and political views[link]

In 2000, Mos Def performed a benefit concert for death row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal.^[40]

In September 2005, Mos Def released the single "Katrina Clap," renamed "Dollar Day" for True Magic, (utilizing the instrumental for New Orleans rappers UTP's "Nolia Clap"). The song is a criticism of the Bush administration's response to Hurricane Katrina. On the night of the MTV Video Music Awards, Mos Def pulled up in front of Radio City Music Hall on a flatbed truck and began performing the "Katrina Clap" single in front of a crowd that quickly gathered around him. He was subsequently arrested despite having a public performance permit in his possession.^[41]

On September 7, 2007, Mos Def appeared on Real Time with Bill Maher where he spoke about racism against African Americans, citing the government response to Hurricane Katrina, the Jena Six and the murder conviction of Mumia Abu-Jamal. He appeared on Real Time again on March 27, 2009, and spoke about the risk of nuclear weapons.^[42] Mos Def said that he did not listen to any of Osama Bin Laden's messages because he did not trust the translations.^[43]

Personal life[link]

In 1996, Def married Maria Yepes. After having two daughters, Chandani and Jauhara Smith, he filed for divorce in 2005.^[44]

In October 2006 Mos Def appeared on 4Real, a documentary television series.^[45] Appearing in the episode "City of God," he and the 4Real crew traveled to City of God, a slum in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to meet Brazilian MC MV Bill and learn about the crime and social problems of the community.^[46]

Nominations[link]

• Black Movie Awards
  • 2006 Source Awards
• Black Reel Awards
  • 2008, Best Supporting Actor: Cadillac Records
  • 2003, Best Actor- Independent: Civil Brand
  • 2004, Best Supporting Actor: The Italian Job
  • 2005, Best Actor TV Movie/Mini-Series: Something the Lord Made
  • 2005, Best Indie Actor: The Woodsman (won)
• Emmy Award
  • 2004, Best Actor in a Television Movie or Mini-Series: Something the Lord Made
• Golden Globes
  • 2005, Best Actor in a Television Movie or Mini-Series: Something the Lord Made
• Grammy Awards
  • 2005, Best Urban/Alternative Performance: "Sex, Love & Money"
  • 2006, Best Urban/Alternative Performance: "Ghetto Rock"
  • 2007, Best Rap Solo Performance: "Undeniable"
  • 2010, Best Rap Solo Performance: "Casa Bey"
  • 2010, Best Rap Album: "The Ecstatic"
  • 2011, Best Short Form Music Video: "Stylo" (with Bobby Womack and Gorillaz)
• Image Awards
  • 2009, Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture: Cadillac Records
  • 2003, Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture: Brown Sugar
  • 2005, Outstanding Actor in a Television Movie or Mini-Series: Something the Lord Made

Discography[link]

• Black on Both Sides (1999)
• The New Danger (2004)
• True Magic (2006)
• The Ecstatic (2009)
• Yasiin Bey Presents (TBA)^[47]

Collaborations

• Mos Def & Talib Kweli are Black Star (1998) (with Talib Kweli as Black Star)
• Black Star Aretha (2012) (with Talib Kweli as Black Star)^[47]
• Cruel Summer (2012) (with GOOD Music)^[48]

Filmography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Mos Def

• Mos Def / Dante Smith discographies at Discogs.
• Mos Def at Geffen Records.
• Mos Def at MTV
• Mos Def at the Internet Movie Database
• Mos Def at Emmys.com

Mississippi John Hurt
Hurt making a recording for the Library of Congress in 1964.
Background information
Birth name	John Smith Hurt
Born	(1893-07-03)July 3, 1893 or (1892-03-08)March 8, 1892 Teoc, Carroll County, Mississippi, United States
Origin	Avalon, Mississippi
Died	November 2, 1966(1966-11-02) Grenada, Mississippi
Genres	Country blues, Delta blues, Folk
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, Sharecropper, Farm hand
Instruments	Guitar, Vocals
Years active	1928, 1963 – 1966
Labels	Okeh Vanguard
Associated acts	Shell Smith Willie Narmour
Notable instruments
Guild F-30NT

John Smith Hurt, better known as Mississippi John Hurt (July 3, 1893^[1][2] or March 8, 1892^[3] — November 2, 1966) was an American country blues singer and guitarist.^[4]

Raised in Avalon, Mississippi, Hurt taught himself how to play the guitar around age nine. Singing in a loud whisper, to a melodious finger-picked accompaniment,^[5] he began to play local dances and parties while working as a sharecropper. He first recorded for Okeh Records in 1928, but these were commercial failures, and Hurt drifted out of the recording scene, where he continued his work as a farmer. After a man discovered a copy of one of his recordings, "Avalon Blues", which gave the location of his hometown, there became increased interest in his whereabouts. Tom Hoskins, a blues enthusiast, would be the first to locate Hurt in 1963. He convinced Hurt to relocate to Washington, D.C., where he was recorded by the Library of Congress in 1964. This rediscovery helped further the American folk music revival, which had led to the rediscovery of many other bluesmen of Hurt's era. Hurt entered the same university and coffeehouse concert circuit as his contemporaries, as well as other Delta blues musicians brought out of retirement. As well as playing concerts, he recorded several studio albums for Vanguard Records.

He died in Grenada, Mississippi. Material recorded by Hurt has been re-released by many record labels over the years (see discography); and his influence has extended over many generations of guitarists. Songs recorded by Hurt have been covered by Bob Dylan, Jerry Garcia, Beck, Doc Watson, John McCutcheon, Taj Mahal, Bruce Cockburn, David Johansen, Bill Morrissey and Guthrie Thomas.

Biography[link]

Early years[link]

Born John Smith Hurt in Teoc,^[6] Carroll County, Mississippi and raised in Avalon, Mississippi, he learned to play guitar at age nine. He was completely self-taught, playing his mother's boyfriend's guitar whenever he stayed over at her house. His style was not reminiscent of any other style being played at the time; it was the way Hurt "thought the guitar should sound". He spent much of his youth playing old time music for friends and dances, earning a living as a farmhand into the 1920s.^[7] His fast, highly syncopated style of playing made his music adept for dancing. On occasion, a medicine show would come through the area; Hurt recalls being wanted by one of them. "One of them wanted me, but I said no because I just never wanted to get away from home."^[6] In 1923 he partnered with the fiddle player Willie Narmour as a substitute for his regular partner Shell Smith.^[7]

First recordings[link]

When Narmour got a chance to record for Okeh Records as a prize for winning first place in a 1928 fiddle contest, he recommended Hurt to Okeh Records producer Tommy Rockwell. After auditioning "Monday Morning Blues" at his home, he took part in two recording sessions, in Memphis and New York City (see Discography below).^[7] While in Memphis, Hurt recalled seeing "many, many blues singers ... Lonnie Johnson, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Bessie Smith, and lots, lots more."^[6] Hurt described his first recording session as such:

... a great big hall with only the three of us in it: me, the man [Rockwell], and the engineer. It was really something. I sat on a chair, and they pushed the microphone right up to my mouth and told me that I couldn't move after they had found the right position. I had to keep my head absolutely still. Oh, I was nervous, and my neck was sore for days after.^[6]

Hurt attempted further negotiations with OKeh to record again, but after the commercial failure of the resulting records, and Okeh Records going out of business during the Great Depression, Hurt returned to Avalon and obscurity, working as a sharecropper and playing local parties and dances.^[5]

Rediscovery[link]

After Hurt's renditions of "Frankie" and "Spike Driver Blues" were included in The Anthology of American Folk Music in 1952, and an Australian man discovered a copy of "Avalon Blues", there became increased interest in finding Hurt himself.^[8] In 1963, a folk musicologist, Tom Hoskins, supervised by Richard Spottswood, was able to locate Hurt near Avalon, Mississippi using the lyrics of "Avalon Blues":^[8]

Avalon, my home town, always on my mind/Avalon, my home town.

While in Avalon, Hoskins convinced an apprehensive Hurt to perform several songs for him, to ensure that he was genuine.^[8] Hoskins was convinced, and seeing that Hurt's guitar playing skills were still intact, Hoskins encouraged him to move to Washington, D.C., and begin performing on a wider stage. His performance at the 1964 Newport Folk Festival saw his star rise amongst the new folk revival audience.^[5] Before his death he played extensively in colleges, concert halls, coffee houses and also on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, as well as recording three further albums for Vanguard Records.^[5] Much of his repertoire was recorded for the Library of Congress, also. His fans particularly liked the ragtime songs "Salty Dog" and "Candy Man", and the blues ballads "Spike Driver Blues" (a variant of "John Henry") and "Frankie".^[5]

Hurt's influence spanned several music genres including blues, country, bluegrass, folk and contemporary rock and roll. A soft-spoken man, his nature was reflected in the work, which consisted of a mellow mix of country, blues and old time music.^[7]

Hurt died of a heart attack in Grenada, Mississippi.^[9]

Style[link]

Hurt incorporated a fast, pick-less, syncopated fingerpicking style that he taught himself. He was influenced by very few people; but does recall an elderly, unrecorded, blues singer from that area, Rufus Hanks, who played twelve-string guitar and harmonica.^[6] He also recalls listening to the country singer Jimmie Rodgers. Many of his songs were in very basic keys (C, G, D, F, etc.), his fingers picking notes within the chords. On occasion, Hurt would use an open tuning and a slide, as he did in his arrangement of "The Ballad of Casey Jones".^[8][6]

Tributes[link]

There is now a memorial in Avalon, Mississippi for Mississippi John Hurt. It is parallel to RR2, the rural road on which he grew up.

American singer-songwriter Tom Paxton, who met Hurt and played on the same bill as him at the Gaslight in Greenwich Village around 1963, wrote and recorded a song about him in 1977 entitled "Did You Hear John Hurt?" Paxton still frequently plays this song at his live performances.

The first track of John Fahey's 1968 solo acoustic guitar album Requia is entitled "Requiem For John Hurt". Fahey's posthumous live album The Great Santa Barbara Oil Slick also features a version of the piece, there entitled "Requiem For Mississippi John Hurt".

British folk/blues artist Wizz Jones recorded a tribute song called "Mississippi John" for his 1977 album Magical Flight.

Discography[link]

NOTE: Sources for this section are as follows:^{[10][11][12][13]}

78 rpm releases[link]

• "Frankie"/"Nobody's Dirty Business" (Okeh Records, OKeh 8560) (1928)
• "Stack O' Lee"/"Candy Man Blues" (Okeh Records, OKeh 8654) (1928)
• "Blessed Be the Name"/"Praying on the Old Camp Ground" (Okeh Records, OKeh 8666) (1928)
• "Blue Harvest Blues"/"Spike Driver Blues" (Okeh Records, OKeh 8692) (1928)
• "Louis Collins"/"Got the Blues (Can't Be Satisfied)" (Okeh Records, OKeh 8724) (1928)
• "Ain't No Tellin'"/"Avalon Blues" (Okeh Records, OKeh 8759) (1928)

Albums[link]

• Folk Songs and Blues [live recordings] (Piedmont Records, PLP 13757) (1963)
• Worried Blues (Piedmont Records, PLP 13161) (1964)
• Today! (Vanguard Records, VSD-79220) (1966)
• The Immortal Mississippi John Hurt (Vanguard Records, VSD-79248) (1967)
• The Best of Mississippi John Hurt [live recordings] (Vanguard Records, VSD-19/20) (1970)
• Last Sessions (Vanguard Records, VSD-79327) (1972)
• Volume One of a Legacy [live recordings] (Piedmont Records, CLPS 1068) (1975)
• Monday Morning Blues: The Library of Congress Recordings – Volume One (Flyright Records, FLYLP 553) (1980)
• Avalon Blues: The Library of Congress Recordings – Volume Two (Heritage Records, HT-301) (1982)
• Satisfied [live recordings] (Quicksilver Intermedia, QS 5007) (1982)
• The Candy Man [live recordings] (Quicksilver Intermedia, QS 5042) (1982)
• Sacred and Secular: The Library of Congress Recordings – Volume Three (Heritage Records, HT-320) (1988)
• Avalon Blues (Flyright Records, FLYCD 06) (1989)
• Memorial Anthology [live recordings] (Genes Records, GCD 9906/7) (1993)

Selected compilation albums[link]

• The Original 1928 Recordings (Spokane Records, SPL 1001) (1971)
• 1928: Stack O' Lee Blues – His First Recordings (Biograph Records, BLP C4) (1972)
• 1928 Sessions (Yazoo Records, L 1065) (1979)
• Satisfying Blues (Collectables Records, VCL 5529) (1995)
• Avalon Blues: The Complete 1928 Okeh Recordings (Columbia Records, CK64986) (1996)
• Rediscovered (Vanguard Records, CD 79519) (1998)
• The Complete Recordings (Vanguard Records, CD 70181-2) (1998)
• Candy Man Blues: The Complete 1928 Sessions (Snapper Music, SBLUECD 010) (2004)

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Mississippi John Hurt

• Mississippi John Hurt Museum Includes a link to a discussion forum regarding Mississippi John Hurt with substantive participation by grand nephew, Fred Bolden.
• Mississippi John Hurt News Website run by Hurt's grand nephew, Fred Bolden. Has several forums and discussions open to the public.
• Illustrated Mississippi John Hurt discography
• Available recordings at The Internet Archive
• Allmusic
• Mississippi John Hurt's Stackolee Recording, sheet music and guitar tab.

Further reading[link]

• Ratcliffe, Philip R., (2011) Mississippi John Hurt: His Life, His Times, His Blues. Jackson, Mississippi: University Press of Mississippi.

John Hurt
Hurt at the Festival de Dinard, 2009
Born	John Vincent Hurt (1940-01-22) 22 January 1940 (age 72) Chesterfield, Derbyshire, England, United Kingdom
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1961–present
Spouse	Annette Robertson (1962–64; divorced) Donna Peacock (1984–90; divorced) Jo Dalton (1990–96; divorced; 2 children) Ann Rees Meyers (2005–present)

John Vincent Hurt, CBE (born 22 January 1940) is an English actor and former voice actor. Among other honours, he has received two Academy Award nominations, a Golden Globe Award, and four BAFTA Awards, with the fourth being a Lifetime Achievement recognition.^[1]

Hurt is known for his leading roles as Joseph Merrick (billed as John Merrick) in The Elephant Man, Winston Smith in Nineteen Eighty-Four, Mr. Braddock in The Hit, Stephen Ward in Scandal, and Quentin Crisp in The Naked Civil Servant and An Englishman in New York. Recognizable for his distinctive rich voice,^[2] he has also enjoyed a successful voice acting career, starring in films such as Watership Down, The Lord of the Rings and Dogville, as well as BBC television series Merlin.

Hurt initially came to prominence for his role as Richard Rich in the 1966 film A Man for All Seasons, and has since appeared in such popular motion pictures as: Alien, Midnight Express, Rob Roy, V for Vendetta, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, the first, penultimate, and last Harry Potter films, the Hellboy film series, and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. Hurt is one of England's best-known, most prolific and sought-after actors, and has had a versatile film career spanning six decades.^[3] He is also known for his many Shakespearean roles.^[4] His character's final scene in Alien is consistently named as one of the most memorable in cinematic history.^{[5][6][7][8][9][10][11]}

Early life[link]

John Hurt was born in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, when his father was vicar of Shirebrook.^[12] He is the son of Phyllis (née Massey), an amateur actress and engineer, and Arnould Herbert Hurt, a mathematician who became an Anglican clergyman.^[4] Hurt has an older brother, Br. Anselm (born Michael), a Roman Catholic convert, who became a monk and writer at Glenstal Abbey, to whose books his younger brother John has contributed.^[13]

Hurt also has an adopted sister, Monica. His father was a vicar at St John in Sunderland, but in 1937 he moved his family to Derbyshire, where he became Perpetual Curate of Holy Trinity church. When John was five, his father became the vicar of St Stephens Church at Woodville, South Derbyshire and remained there until 1952. In 1945, John's father founded 1st Woodville (St Stephens) Scout Group which is still going strong today.^{[citation needed]}

Hurt had a strict upbringing: the family lived opposite a cinema but he was not allowed to visit. He was also not permitted to mix with local children because in his parents' view they were "too common".^[14] Hurt's mother died in 1975, and his father died in 1999 at the age of 95.

Education[link]

At the age of eight he was sent to the Anglican St Michael's Preparatory School in Otford, Kent, where he eventually developed his passion for acting. He decided he wanted to become an actor, and his first role was that of a girl in a school production The Bluebird (L'Oiseau Bleu) by Maurice Maeterlinck. While he was a pupil at the school he was abused by Donald Cormack (now deceased), then Senior Master of the school and later Head Teacher (until his retirement in 1981).^[15] Hurt described how Cormack would remove his two false front teeth and put his tongue in the boys' mouths, and how he would rub their faces with his stubble. Hurt said that the experience affected him "hugely".^[16]

His father moved to St Aidan's Church in Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire. Hurt (then aged 12) became a boarder at Christ's Hospital School (then a grammar school) in Lincoln, because he had failed the entrance exam for admission to his brother's school. Hurt often accompanied his mother to Cleethorpes Repertory Theatre, but his parents disliked his acting ambitions and encouraged him to become an art teacher instead. His headmaster, Mr Franklin, laughed when Hurt told him he wanted to be an actor, saying "you wouldn't stand a chance in the profession."^[14]

Aged 17, Hurt enrolled in Grimsby Art School (now the East Coast School of Art & Design), where he studied art. In 1959 Hurt won a scholarship allowing him to study for an Art Teachers Diploma (ATD) at Central St. Martins College in Holborn, London. Despite the scholarship, paying for his studies was financially difficult and so he persuaded some of his friends to pose nude and sold the portraits. In 1960 he won a scholarship to RADA where he trained for two years. He was then cast in small roles on TV.^{[citation needed]}.

Career[link]

Hurt's first film was The Wild and the Willing (1962), but his first major role was as Richard Rich in A Man for All Seasons (1966). His portrayal of Quentin Crisp in the 1975 TV play The Naked Civil Servant gave prominence and earned him the British Academy Television Award for Best Actor. The following year, Hurt played the Roman emperor Caligula in the BBC drama serial, I, Claudius. In 1978, he appeared in Midnight Express, for which he won a Golden Globe, a BAFTA and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor (the latter of which he lost to Christopher Walken for his performance in The Deer Hunter). Hurt played Hazel, the heroic rabbit leader of his warren in the film adaptation of Watership Down and later played the major villain, General Woundwort, in the animated television series version.

His roles at the end of the 1970s and the beginning of the 1980s included Kane, the memorable first victim of the title creature in the film Alien (a role which he reprised as a parody in Spaceballs); would-be art school radical Scrawdyke in Little Malcolm; and "John" Merrick in the Joseph Merrick biography The Elephant Man, for which he won a BAFTA and was nominated for a Golden Globe and an Academy Award for Best Actor. He also had a starring role in Sam Peckinpah's critically panned but moderately successful final film, The Osterman Weekend (1983). Also in 1983 he starred as the Fool opposite Laurence Olivier's King in King Lear. Hurt also appeared as Raskolnikov in the BBC series Crime and Punishment in 1980.

Cynthia Nixon, Hurt and Swoosie Kurtz in 2009.

Hurt has taken roles in famous political allegories, first playing the hero in an early production and then the tyrannical villain in a later work. For instance, he played Winston Smith in the 1984 adaptation of the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four and then assumed the role of Adam Sutler (a Big Brother-esque leader of a fascist Great Britain) in the 2006 film V for Vendetta, a film that drew many parallels to the world of Orwell's 1984.

In 1985, Hurt starred in Disney's The Black Cauldron, voicing the film's main antagonist, the Horned King. In 1986, Hurt provided the voiceover for AIDS: Iceberg / Tombstone, a public information film warning of the dangers of AIDS. In 1988 He voiced the main role in The StoryTeller, a professional capturer of imagination. He had a memorable supporting role as "Bird" O'Donnell in Jim Sheridan's 1990 film The Field, which garnered him another BAFTA nomination. In 2001, he played Mr. Ollivander, the wand-maker, in the first Harry Potter film, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. He returned for the adaptation of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, though his scenes in that film were cut. He also returned for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 and Part 2. In 1999, Hurt provided narration on the British musical group Art of Noise's concept album The Seduction of Claude Debussy. He was made a Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE) in June 2004. During this time, he narrated a four part series on the Universe which was released on DVD in 1999. In May 2008, he appeared in Steven Spielberg's Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull as Harold Oxley.^[17] He is also the voice of The Great Dragon Kilgharrah, who aids the young warlock Merlin as he protects the future king Arthur, in the BBC television series Merlin.^[18]

In 2008, 33 years after The Naked Civil Servant, Hurt reprised the role of Quentin Crisp in An Englishman in New York. This film depicts Crisp's later years in New York.^[19]

In June 2009, Hurt played the on-screen Big Brother for Paper Zoo Theatre Company's production of Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four. The theatre production premiered at the National Media Museum, in Bradford and will be touring during early 2010. Hurt said, "I think Paper Zoo thought it would be quite ironic to have the person who played Winston having risen in the party. From the Chestnut Tree Cafe, he's managed to get his wits together again, now understanding that 2 and 2 make 5, and becomes Big Brother. So it tickled my fancy, and of course I looked up Paper Zoo, and they seem to me to be the sort of company that’s essential in the country as we know it, and doing a lot of really good stuff."^[20]

Hurt is due to appear alongside Ben Kingsley in a new feature entitle Broken Dream which will be directed by Neil Jordan in 2011.^[21] At the 65th British Academy Film Awards Hurt won the award for Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema.