Yasiin Bey (formerly Mos Def), spoke to Audible for an interview published on Friday (July 7), and talked about the influence that early Hip-Hop had on his perspective, particularly as he was searching for artists he felt shared his world view.

“Watching the world just be on fire, you know,” he said. “Or at least, my community, with the crime and the drugs. And there was a very indifferent attitude towards what was happening to us, too — there was no telethons for crack babies. So I was like, this popular cultural narrative isn’t working for anybody, you know?"

He talked about how Common's debut spoke to him.

“So much got lost getting the game that it wasn’t working. So I started writing, just about what I was seeing, and about what I felt. And my brother, God bless him […] we used to watch TV. Video Music Box. And Common‘s ‘Easy’ came on from Can I Borrow A Dollar? And my brother was like, ‘We can do this!’ So he just started making connects with local talent shows. And a year or two later, lo and behold, I got the deal.”

He then talked about the influence De La Soul, who will be performing at this year's Rock The Bell's Festival, had on his life.

“As a teenager, though, it was a lot for me. Because at the time I was listening to just as much Miles Davis as I was Rakim and De La Soul. I was even interested in Jimi Hendrix, and Bad Brains, and all that shit. […] But thank God for De La Soul. Because, apart from them […] I just had a different expression, something different that I wanted to see that I wasn’t seeing.”

Yasiin's interview is part of Audible's celebration of 50 years of Hip-Hop, which also includes artist like Snoop Dogg and Lil Kim sharing their stories.