Dante Terrell Smith (born December 11, 1973 in Brooklyn, New York, United States), better known by the stage name Mos Def, is a Grammy Award-nominated rapper, an actor and a poet. He also goes by the aliases Mighty Mos Def, The Freaky Night Watchman, Boogie Man, Black Dante and Pretty Flaco. He began rapping in a group called Urban Thermo Dynamics in 1994, and then formed the duo Black Star with Talib Kweli in 1998.