Yasiin Bey discography

The discography of Yasiin Bey (formerly known as Mos Def), an American rapper, consists of five solo studio albums, five collaborative studio albums, four compilation albums, one extended play, and 29 singles (11 as a featured artist). In 1994, Bey began his hip hop career in the underground rap group, UTD (Urban Thermo Dynamics), alongside his sibling group members DCQ and Ces, after which he pursued a solo career. In 1998, he made his mainstream debut on Rawkus Records in the duo Black Star, with rapper Talib Kweli. "Definition", the lead single from Black Star's self-titled debut album, reached No. 60 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 3 on the Hot Rap Singles chart.

In 1999, Yasiin Bey released his solo debut album Black on Both Sides, which was certified Gold in the US and featured the singles "Ms. Fat Booty", which reached No. 20 on the US Billboard Hot Rap Singles chart, and "Umi Says", which reached No. 60 on the UK Singles Chart. Bey performed on several compilations from Rawkus Records and other independent compilation albums. Among them was the single "Oh No" with Pharaohe Monch and Nate Dogg which reached No. 83 on the Hot 100 and No. 1 on the Hot Rap Singles. In 2001, his single "Jam on It" from Underground Airplay Version 1.0 reached No. 23 on the Hot Rap Tracks. In 2002, he appeared on the track "Brown Sugar (Extra Sweet)" on the soundtrack to the film Brown Sugar. Featuring Faith Evans, "Brown Sugar (Extra Sweet)" reached No. 95 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.

In 2004, Yasiin Bey released his second solo album The New Danger, in which he experimented with other genres such as rock and R&B. The single "Sex, Love & Money" reached No. 90 on the R&B chart. Later the same year saw the release of UTD album Manifest Destiny under the independent label Illsion Media, run by Bey's brother and fellow group member DCQ. The album featured a compilation of previously unreleased and re-released tracks recorded during the original UTD run. Bey's third solo album, Tru3 Magic, was released in 2006 to very little hype. Its single "Undeniable" charted only on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles Sales chart but was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance in 2007.

Yasiin Bey's fourth solo album The Ecstatic was released in 2009 on Downtown Records with distribution by Universal Records. His fifth album Negus was exclusively premiered during Art Basel in Hong Kong on March 29, 2019. According to a press release, it will never receive a physical or digital release but will be displayed at sound installations around the world.

In April 2022, a release date for the long-awaited Black Star project was officially announced. The album titled No Fear of Time was released via Luminary on May 3, 2022. In 2024, Bey announced an extended play Money Christmas, his first solo project in five years. It debuted on December 15 as a pay-per-view livestream on Bandcamp, and is set to release on March 15 the following year. Also, the same month the EP was released, Bey announced a new project with the Alchemist titled Forensics, which premiered on February 7 with a pay-per-view Bandcamp livestream, and it set to release on March 28.