Since announcing his retirement, Yasiin Bey has kept a relatively low-profile, in all facets of his public life. Then a few months later, the former Black Star member recanted on his word, by revealing that 2 more albums lied in the pipeline. The first was tentatively named Negus in Natural Person. The other was titled As Promised. Mos Def fans would have to wait another 2 years for the next development.
Musician and producer Steven Julien, from the group Funkineven, assumed the responsibility of sharing that news. According to a Tweet that he administered yesterday, Yasiin shortened the first of two projects to read as the following: Negus. There's a catch. Negus won't exactly be getting a conventional release. There will no Spotify upload or compact disc novelty in the product launch.
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Instead, Negus will be presented to live audiences as a new media installation, with Art Basel Hong Kong already pegged as the project's testing ground. An event was held in New York explaining Bey's manifesto. Writer Ann Binlot was in attendance. She noted that his intentions for the project are very much rooted in "society’s inability to focus on anything because of technology," thus explaining the purposely driven unconventional route that he's taken.