Backstage at Rock The Bells over the weekend Mos Def AKA Dante Smith AKA Dante Bezet AKA your favorite rapper turnt actor told Peter Rosenberg that he is retiring the name Mos Def as of the end of 2011 (somebody quick print some jerseys so we can retire the number!). Henceforth he would like to be referred to as Yasiin. Yassin (or Yassine–you can spell it pretty much how you like since it’s transliterated from the Arabic) is of course a distinguished muslim name which has Qu’ranic significance; the “Sura Yaseen” is the 36th sura of the Qu’ran which states the central arguments for the belief in Allah and is considered the ‘heart of the Qu’ran’. Some other notable things named Yasin: a rocket-propelled grenade, a valley in the Hindu Kush mountains and an ill cricket-player from Bangladesh. Just some fun facts.

props to MTV

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