Shortly after he was allowed to leave South Africa and return to the states, Yasiin Bey (fka Mos Def) announced that he would be playing a final round of shows before retiring. His final U.S. shows will take place at the Apollo Theatre in New York City and the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. Bey also revealed that he would be dropping a collaborative project with Ferrari Sheppard under the moniker Dec 99th. The self-titled debut album will be released exclusively through TIDAL on December 9th.
It turns out that Yasiin Bey has much more material ready to be released before his retirement. During a pop-up radio installation called WNL Radio conceptualized by the designers of Public School New York for Art Basel Miami, Bey announced that he will be premiering songs from two additional album before the end of the year — including a collaborative project with famed producer Mannie Fresh.
“I will be premiering my new album, Negus In Natural Person, and me and Mannie Fresh’s project, which is called As Promised, at The Apollo on December 21,” Bey said. The Brooklyn rapper then previewed some of the new material live on the air. Listen to some of the clips below.
In a statement to OkayPlayer, Ferrari Sheppard says Bey will play at least "some songs off the album at least" during his last shows. "No release date for the albums," Sheppard reports. "They are complete.”