Yasiin Bey is releasing his initial solo project in more than five years, featuring production from the iconic Large Professor.
The Christmas money features artwork created by Spanish-Moroccan artist Anuar Khalifi. Named “Osanta Bin Lyin,” the artwork enhances the Black Star MC’s daring political commentary by portraying the deceased 9/11 architect Osama bin Laden dressed as Santa Claus.
Similar to earlier projects, this initiative will not be launched via conventional platforms like streaming services.
On Sunday (December 15), the artist who was once known as Mos Def unveiled the project to fans through a livestream and announced it will soon be accessible on Bandcamp for $9.99. This week, those who paid to view the original stream will have access to video playback from the stream, which will also be available for purchase.
The content will additionally be issued on vinyl in the upcoming months.
A snippet of a track produced by Large Professor, titled “Condition of Terms,” is available for listening on the second slide below.
Although Money Christmas will bring an end to a lack of new solo music from Yasiin Bey, thankfully it seems that another dry period won’t follow.
A press release states that the project is “the first in a series of future releases designed to closely connect the acquisition of music with the artwork and accompanying video, fostering a deeper and more imaginative connection with fans.”
Bey is familiar with unconventional promotions, having launched his 2019 album Negus solely as an auditory experience in museums globally.
The 28-minute, eight-track project, not yet released for sale, aimed to “recognize the significance of Hip Hop as a core American art form […] free from the distractions of technology.”
Likewise, Black Star’s 2022 album No Fear of Time — the duo’s first complete project in more than twenty years — conveyed its own message about the significance of art by being first launched solely via the podcast network Luminary (which featured Bey, Talib Kweli, and Dave Chappelle’s The Midnight Miracle program).
The album produced by Madlib came out in physical formats earlier this year, with some of the proceeds directed towards global relief initiatives.
