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Mos Def is reportedly making a documentary about Death with Damon Dash. Why did they choose such a morbid subject? Well, in this instance Mos Def considers Death a good thing. Death is an obscure, all Black, proto-punk band that formed in 1971.

How obscure is Death? This year Drag City released …For The Whole World To See by Death. Only 500 copies were released of this album in 1974 on Tryangle Records and was distributed at garage shows for free after a record deal with Clive Davis fell through when the legendary record executive asked that the band change its name.

In 2002 an obscure punk band compilation included one of those songs and got the ball rolling to get to this release in 2009 and the documentary.

This marks the second project Mos Def will be doing with Roc-A-Fella Records founder Damon Dash. In case you didn’t know the first is a new album called BlacRoc, which will feature a vast amount of artists, including Mos Def, collaborating with rock/blues group, The Black Keys.

Mos Def told Filter:

“It’s going to be great. These dudes were pre-Sex Pistols, pre-Bad Brains, pre-all that sh%t, and nobody knows them. I don’t understand how the whole world could forget them.”

Music video directors Coodie and Chike have signed on to direct the documentary that is already being filmed. You may remember Coodie and Chike for the music videos “Through The Wire” for Kanye West and “Ghetto Rock” for Mos Def.

All these years later the newly reunited Death is on their first U.S. tour ever. Interested in hearing Death? Click on their myspace page link Death’s official myspace