Dante Terrell Smith (born December 11, 1973 in Brooklyn, New York, United States), better known by the stage name Mos Def and Yasiin Bey, is a rapper and actor. He began rapping in a group called Urban Thermo Dynamics in 1994, and then formed the duo Black Star with Talib Kweli in 1998. As a solo artist he has released the albums Black on Both Sides in 1999, The New Danger in 2004, True Magic in 2006 and The Ecstatic in 2009. In regards to changing from Mos Def to Yasiin Bey, he announced the name change in 2011.