- published: 24 Feb 2011
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A lyricist is a songwriter who specializes in lyrics. A singer who writes the lyrics to songs is a singer-lyricist[citation needed]. This differentiates from a singer-composer[citation needed], who composes the song's melody.
Collaboration takes different forms. Some composers and lyricists work closely together on the song, with each having an input into both words and tune. Oftentimes, a lyricist will fill in the words to a tune already fully written out. Dorothy Fields worked in this way. Lyricists have often added words to an established tune, as Johnny Burke did with the Erroll Garner tune Misty. Some partnerships work almost totally independently, for example, Bernie Taupin famously writes lyrics and hands them over to Elton John, who then sets them to music, with minimum interaction between the two men.
In the Christian hymn-singing tradition, many of the best-loved pieces have words written to fit existing melodies. The Christmas carol, What Child Is This, had its words set to an old English folk tune that formerly was a lover's lament, Greensleeves. The English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams famously set existing poems, by men like William Cowper and Charles Wesley, to traditional folk tunes to create hymns, many of which he published in the English Hymnal. A different way in which this happened was the marriage of non-related words and tune, a well known example being The Star-Spangled Banner, the national anthem of the United States, with words written by Francis Scott Key strictly as a poem, which was later set to the tune of an old drinking song.
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.
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.
He was born Dante Terrell Smith in Brooklyn, New York City, the son of Sheron Smith and Abdul Rahman. 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.
Actors: Andy Griffith (actor), Harvey Fierstein (actor), Charles Durning (actor), Jon Cryer (actor), Jesse Eisenberg (actor), Cuba Gooding Jr. (actor), Jon Cryer (actor), Alan Cumming (actor), Peter Billingsley (actor), Michael Bloomberg (actor), Keith Carradine (actor), Richard Briers (actor), Matthew Broderick (actor), Jake Gyllenhaal (actor), Richard Griffiths (actor),
Genres: Documentary, Music, Musical,Actors: Mos Def (actor), MC Lyte (actress), Common (actor), Snoop Dogg (actor), CeeLo Green (actor), Terrill Bazile (miscellaneous crew), Q-Tip (actor), Erykah Badu (actress), Dan Redican (producer), Tracee Ellis Ross (actress), Jordan Black (actor), Terri McCoy (director), R.P. Sekon (director), R.P. Sekon (producer), Ivan Victor (editor),
Genres: Comedy, Music,Actors: Danny Elfman (actor), Tim Burton (actor), Danny Elfman (actor), Joe Ranft (actor), Henry Selick (actor), Blair Clark (actor), Eric Leighton (actor), Deane Taylor (actor), Greg Dykstra (actor), Bonita R. DeCarlo (actress), Gregg Olsson (actor), Kathleen Gavin (actress), Pete Kozachik (actor), Daniel Mason (actor), Anthony Scott (actor),
Genres: Documentary, Short,Actors: Mos Def (actor), MC Lyte (actress), Common (actor), Snoop Dogg (actor), CeeLo Green (actor), Terrill Bazile (miscellaneous crew), Q-Tip (actor), Erykah Badu (actress), Dan Redican (producer), Tracee Ellis Ross (actress), Jordan Black (actor), Terri McCoy (director), R.P. Sekon (director), R.P. Sekon (producer), Ivan Victor (editor),
Genres: Comedy, Music,Actors: Mos Def (actor), MC Lyte (actress), Common (actor), Snoop Dogg (actor), CeeLo Green (actor), Terrill Bazile (miscellaneous crew), Q-Tip (actor), Erykah Badu (actress), Dan Redican (producer), Tracee Ellis Ross (actress), Jordan Black (actor), Terri McCoy (director), R.P. Sekon (director), R.P. Sekon (producer), Ivan Victor (editor),
Genres: Comedy, Music,Actors: Mos Def (actor), MC Lyte (actress), Common (actor), Snoop Dogg (actor), CeeLo Green (actor), Terrill Bazile (miscellaneous crew), Q-Tip (actor), Erykah Badu (actress), Dan Redican (producer), Tracee Ellis Ross (actress), Jordan Black (actor), Terri McCoy (director), R.P. Sekon (director), R.P. Sekon (producer), Ivan Victor (editor),
Genres: Comedy, Music,Actors: Kevin Brownlow (miscellaneous crew), Shirley MacLaine (actress), Hugh M. Hefner (producer), Carl H. Lindahl (producer), Dana Delany (actress), Roddy McDowall (miscellaneous crew), Shirley MacLaine (actress), Dana Delany (actress), Francis Lederer (actor), Roddy McDowall (actor), Roddy McDowall (actor), Roddy McDowall (actor), Adolph Green (actor), Adolph Green (actor), Adolph Green (actor),
Plot: Documentary recounting the life story of Louise Brooks in 5 sections: "Lulu in Toe Shoes"; "Lulu in Hollywood"; "Lulu in Berlin"; "Lulu in Hell"; and "Resurrection". Narrated by Shirley MacLaine and featuring numerous interviews with friends and relatives of the legendary star, it also contains excerpts from many of her films including her first on-screen appearance.
Keywords: actress, behind-the-scenes, character-name-in-title, cult-figure, death, film-history, filmmaking, german-filmmaking, german-history, historic-figureActors: Prince Charles (actor), Kate Winslet (actress), Adolf Hitler (actor), Roddy McDowall (actor), John F. Kennedy (actor), Gloria Stuart (actress), David McCallum (actor), Martin Luther King (actor), Victor Garber (actor), Josef Goebbels (actor), James Cameron (actor), Kaiser Wilhelm II (actor), Leonardo DiCaprio (actor), Tom Jennings (writer), Kevin Burns (producer),
Genres: Documentary,Actors: Paul Leder (writer), Paul Leder (director), Greg Mullavey (actor), Paul Leder (producer), Bob Summers (composer), Bob Cook (producer), Bernard White (actor), Jennifer Rhodes (actress), Dick Sargent (actor), Eddie Barth (actor), Steven Ford (actor), Gary Werntz (actor), Lauren Woodland (actress), Rebecca Holden (actress), Kurek Ashley (actor),
Genres: Drama, Thriller,Actors: Nelson McDowell (actor), Perry Ivins (actor), Arthur Housman (actor), Jimmy Conlin (actor), Harrison Greene (actor), Ben Hall (actor), Brooks Benedict (actor), Frank Conroy (actor), Ray Cooke (actor), Pat Flaherty (actor), James Dunn (actor), Tyler Brooke (actor), Jay Eaton (actor), Russ Clark (actor), Paul McVey (actor),
Plot: Down-on-his-luck film director Jimmie Dale takes a job at a fly-by-night acting school. He is drawn into the plans of the school's owner to bilk a wealthy young man out of the funds he has supplied to shoot a movie starring pretty student Alice Perkins. But Jimmie hopes to bilk the bilkers by actually completing the movie as ostensibly planned.
Keywords: number-in-title