In thinking about that Mos Def track post from yesterday, I realized that he often crosses Islam with Hip Hop both fiiguratively and literally. He says some pretty profound stuff in that track outright, but it gets even better when you think about his links between Hip Hop and Islam, and then re-listen to the track like this:

A lot of things have changed
A lot of things have not, mainly us
We gon’ get it together right? I believe that
Listen.. people be askin me all the time,
“Yo Mos, what’s gettin ready to happen with Islam?”
(Where do you think Islam is goin?)
I tell em, “You know what’s gonna happen with Islam?
Whatever’s happening with us”
If we smoked out, Islam is gonna be smoked out
If we doin alright, Islam is gonna be doin alright
People talk about Islam like it’s some giant livin in the hillside
comin down to visit the townspeople
We +are+ Islam
Me, you, everybody, we are Islam
So Islam is goin where we goin
So the next time you ask yourself where Islam is goin
ask yourself.. where am I goin? How am I doin?
Til you get a clear idea
So.. if Islam is about the people
and the.. Islam won’t get better until the people get better
then how do people get better? (Hmmmm…)
Well, from my understanding people get better
when they start to understand that, they are valuable
And they not valuable because they got a whole lot of money
or cause somebody, think they sexy
but they valuable caause they been created by God
And God, makes you valuable
And whether or not you, recognize that value is one thing
You got a lot of socities and governments
tryin to be God, wishin that they were God
They wanna create satellites and cameras everywhere
and make you think they got the all-seein eye
Eh.. I guess The Last Poets wasn’t, too far off
when they said that certain people got a God Complex
I believe it’s true
I don’t get phased out by none of that, none of that
helicopters, the TV screens, the newscasters, the..
satellite dishes.. they just, wishin
They can’t really never do that
When they tell me to fear they law
When they tell me to try to
have some fear in my heart behind the things that they do
This is what I think in my mind
And this is what I say to them
And this is what I’m sayin, to you check it