Is the United States government getting revenge on the rapper known as Mos Def for his well-publicized criticisms of U.S. foreign policy?
Yasiin Bey, the artist formerly known Mos Def, has canceled his U.S. tour after being denied entry into the country of his birth.
The “Mathematics” rapper, who has been living in South Africa for the past year, has been barred by “immigration/legal issues,” according the Boston Together Music Festival’s website.
No government official or agency has yet revealed the real reason behind the move to keep Brooklyn-born Bey, 40. But in recent years he has been increasingly critical of U.S. policies.
Last July, Bey teamed with the human rights group Reprieve to reenact in a mocking way a force-feeding such as the ones endured by hunger strikes jailed in Guantanamo Bay.
In the graphic video, Bey can be seen begging his team to stop the demonstration and breaking down in tears.
By said that he had found a peace in South Africa that he couldn’t find in the country he once called home, Rolling Stone reported.
“I lived in Brooklyn 33 years of my life. I thought I’d be buried in that place. Around seven years ago, I was like, you know, ‘I gotta go, I gotta leave.’ It’s very hard to leave. And I lived in a lot of places. Central America. North America. Europe for a while.
“And I came to Cape Town in 2009, and it just hit me. I was like, ‘Yeah.’ I know when a good vibe gets to you. And, you know, I thought about this place every day from when I left. I was like, ‘I’m comin’ back.'”
“For a guy like me, who had five or six generations not just in America but in one town in America, to leave America, things gotta be not so good with America,” he added.
The respected hip hop head will still be seen in the upcoming movie, Life of Crime, a prequel of sorts to Jackie Brown.
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