YASIIN BEY NAMES THE NEW GUARD: SALIMATA, SAMARA CYN, EARL, MIKE

Backstage at a stadium in Türkiye. Ye just performed for 118,000 people. Yasiin Bey is standing nearby, and PlaqueBoyMax has a camera. What happened next was not a promo run. It was not a rollout. It was one artist, built in Brooklyn, born in 1973, who spent 30 years earning the right to say a name — saying five of them. Yasiin Bey, formerly known as Mos Def, showed love to hip-hop's next generation when he spoke with PlaqueBoyMax at Ye's Türkiye show. "I strive to stay connected to all of the great young people that's out. Shoutout to SALIMATA, Samara Cyn, Earl Sweatshirt, MIKE, and Sideshow." Five names. No features pending. No deals being announced. Just a man who has been paying attention. ## Bey's List Is Not Random — It's a Syllabus The moment turned into something much bigger than a viral stream clip when Bey pushed a wider message alongside his shoutouts: Black artists need to study Black art. Yasiin Bey pushed for a wider education — painters, writers, architects, history, and the full creative language of Black expression. That framing matters. He did not say "these are the hottest right now." He said he strives to stay *connected*. That is a different verb. Connection implies ongoing study, not passive discovery. Every artist on his list operates inside a tradition Bey has spent his career defending: craft over commerce, form over formula, longevity over moment. Bey's argument extended even to art you don't necessarily understand: "Artists in general, but Black artists particularly, need to do their homework about Black art." He has been saying this for years, in different rooms, to different people. The difference is that this time, the room was a Ye stadium show in Türkiye, and PlaqueBoyMax had a camera. ## Earl Sweatshirt and MIKE: The 33-Track Answer to the Question Bey Was Asking Earl Sweatshirt and MIKE released their double album POMPEII // UTILITY on April 3, 2026, via 10k Global, Tan Cressida, and Surf Gang Records. It is a double album consisting of two solo projects — Pompeii by MIKE and Utility by Sweatshirt — fully produced by New York collective Surf Gang. The album contains thirty-three tracks, with fifteen from MIKE and eighteen from Earl Sweatshirt. That is not a casual drop. That is a statement about how much these two have to say. The lineage between them started before any album. Earl and MIKE's connection began when mutual friend and rapper Wiki introduced MIKE's music to him in 2016, and after listening to MIKE's track "40 Stops," Earl purchased his debut project Longest Day for $45 on Bandcamp. Forty-five dollars. An act of curiosity that became a decade of creative co-authorship. In 2017, a then-18-year-old MIKE revealed to Pitchfork his connection with Earl Sweatshirt: "He was my favorite rapper for a very long time, and I used to study his form. He influenced me so much." Study. The same word Bey used backstage in Türkiye. That is not coincidence. That is lineage operating correctly. MIKE and Earl Sweatshirt have become two of the underground's most dominant voices, sharing remarkably similar signatures: their beats sound as though they're actively dissolving, and both rap from the back of their throats, softening consonants until verses resemble elliptical tone poems. ## Samara Cyn in 2025: The Credentials That Made Bey Pay Attention Samara Cyn is not a newcomer who got lucky with a single. She is an artist who has been building a resume that would make most veterans nervous. Samara Cyn was the lone female rapper in the 2025 XXL Freshmen class. She released her debut EP, The Drive Home, in 2024, and was promptly signed by hip-hop legends Erykah Badu and Lauryn Hill. Two of the most discerning women in the history of Black music. Both said yes. At the 2025 South by Southwest festival, Cyn won the Grulke Prize for Developing U.S. Act. Then she went on the road. She supported Smino's Kountry Kousins Tour across 30 North American cities and performed with Nas on the Illmatic 30th anniversary London tour and joined Lauryn Hill at Miami's Jazz in the Gardens Festival. Her second EP, Backroads, released on June 20, 2025, was ranked as the 6th best EP of 2025 by Spin, a top 10 EP of 2025 by Hypebeast, and the 14th best rap album of 2025 by Billboard. That last placement is the one that matters most. Ranked alongside full rap albums on Billboard's year-end list. As an EP. Bey naming her is not charity. It is pattern recognition. ## SALIMATA, Sideshow, and the Bed-Stuy to Brooklyn Continuum Bey Grew Up Inside Bey is from Brooklyn. Yasiin Bey was born Dante Terrell Smith on December 11, 1973, in Brooklyn, New York City. He did not leave that geography when he became famous. He carried it. SALIMATA is a rapper, model, and creative hailing from Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, whose disciplined yet raw approach to music is shaped by her environment. Bed-Stuy to Bed-Stuy. Bey recognizing SALIMATA is not just taste. It is a borough passing something forward. SALIMATA's video for her song "Moonlight" caught Billboard's attention, and her project The Happening drew praise for its songwriting and versatility. This is the part most outlets miss when they cover a shoutout like this. Bey did not name five artists who sound like him. He named five artists who are doing what he argued for: building craft with intentionality, studying the form, respecting the tradition while refusing to be trapped by it. ## What Bey's Advice About Longevity Actually Means for These Five Artists As Mos Def, Bey became one of the defining voices of conscious and alternative hip-hop through Black Star with Talib Kweli and his classic solo debut Black on Both Sides. His career has always blended rap, theater, activism, film, and cultural commentary, making him an artist who has never treated hip-hop as only entertainment. In September 2011, Bey announced he legally changed his name to Yasiin Bey, retiring his Mos Def moniker. He told a reporter: "I began to fear that Mos Def was being treated as a product, not a person." That fear is the most important thing he said backstage in Türkiye, even if he never said those exact words again. Every artist on his list is navigating the same trap. The industry wants to consume them quickly, extract the most marketable version, and move on. Bey's advice — study Black art in all its forms, not just what is trending in your algorithm — is a direct counter-move to that machine. Bey has been explicit about what happens without that foundation: "Paying people part of a penny for their music. Those motherf***ers are cold-blooded, man. The music industry of now makes the one I started out in seem charitable. It's completely exploitative." He is not warning these artists as a formality. He is warning them because he lived the alternative. Earl Sweatshirt already understands this. MIKE said it plainly in a 2026 interview: "You don't have to pretend you've got it all figured out. You just have to keep figuring it out. That's what gives you longevity." Longevity. The same word Bey has been chasing since 1999. The same word these five artists are now carrying. Samara Cyn has the triple co-sign. SALIMATA has the borough. Earl and MIKE have the 33-track proof. Sideshow is building. And Yasiin Bey, backstage at the largest concert in Turkish history, pointed at all five and said: these are the ones who get it. The question is whether the industry will let them stay that way.