Mos Def - Ms. Fat Booty [Explicit]

What this video is

Released August 2, 1999 on Rawkus Records as the lead single from Mos Def's debut solo album Black on Both Sides, 'Ms. Fat Booty' arrived at the apex of New York's underground hip-hop renaissance. Rawkus — operating as an independent label out of Manhattan — had become the standard-bearer for lyric-first, sample-heavy hip-hop as a counter-response to the commercialization of rap in the late 1990s. The video's…

Why it matters

A landmark of late-golden-age storytelling rap, 'Ms. Fat Booty' exemplifies the narrative-driven, soul-interpolating style that defined Rawkus-era hip-hop. Its music video, with its street-realist aesthetic and fast-cut intimacy, is a primary visual document of New York underground hip-hop…