San Francisco Blog

The Mighty Mos Def is coming to Oakland. And he's playing a jazz club. Tickets are now on sale for Mos' upcoming three-night stint at Yoshi's Oakland location April 14-16. As a press release noted, the rapper-turned-thesbian is coming off of critically-acclaimed performances at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center, and will be previewing selections from his fourth album, tentatively-titled The Ectastic.

While many hip-hop fans have seen Mos in various incarnations over the years--his 1999 NYE performance at the Justice League is the stuff of legend, and he's played the Bay Area frequently of late--the Yoshi's dates promise to be something special, and not just because tix are $55 apiece. Backing up the eclectic emcee will be a full-fledged live band--Robert Glasper on piano and keyboards, Stephen Brunner on bass, and Chris Dave on drums--whose credits include Erkyah Badu, Suicidal Tendencies, Christian McBride, and Pat Methany. Which means listeners can expect to hear something in-between highly-technical jazz fusion, Afro-soul, and full-on SoCal thrash-punk. Sounds about right.