Photos by Demi Richardson (@DemiRiches)
On Friday night, the artist formerly known as Mos Def, descended upon Chicago for a live performance at the Metro Theater. The show, VIP and general admission, sold out almost instantly, as most fans and potential concert goers believed Mos Def was banished from the United States all together.
Well, that’s obviously not true, as Mos is currently bouncing around the country doing a few select dates before heading back overseas (he reveals why he no longer lives in America here). So fans flocked to see what could be his last show in Chicago? While that’s probably unlikely, Mos always draws a crowd in the Chi, so the place was packed.
Malik Yusef and All Be Black opened up the evening and got the crowd warmed up for Yasiin’s takeover, which included the artist performing a what could be best described as a stream of consciousness set. As he told the crowd, “I’m not a robot,” so those expecting Mos to get up there and kick bars were sorely disappointed.
Yasiin’s set included dancing (lots of dancing), singing, and loose renditions of plenty of his fan favorites. I’ve seen a number of his shows over the past 15 years, and each one is different from the last — you really don’t know what to expect. He did come out to a stage littered in rose petals, which was unique to say the least.
We had photographer Demi Richardson in the house to snap a few flicks of the evening, which you can now see below (as well as some video). Hopefully, we see Yasiin again sometime soon.
Update: We’ve also included a recent interview Yasiin did with Beats by Dre where he discusses a number of intriguing subjects. It’s a must watch, and it’s now below.