Teedra Moses

Teedra Moses was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana to a gospel singing mother, Shirley Moses. She later moved to Los Angeles, California with her mother and three siblings after her parents' separation.

Prior to becoming a recording artist, Moses worked with her best friend Nonja McKenzie as an assistant wardrobe stylist for artists such as Will Smith, Kelis, R. Kelly, and No Doubt. Never once approaching any of the clients, it wasn’t until after the death of her mother that Moses decided to follow her heart and begin making music.

Following this epiphany, Moses teamed up with producer, Paul Poli and signed with the then Number 1 Indie Record Label, TVT Records, in 2002, to release her debut album Complex Simplicity in August 2004. Complex Simplicity included fourteen tracks all self-penned by Moses with dominant production by Poli; which lead to the well deserved executive production credit by both Moses & Poli. With TVT Records now defunct, Moses never had the opportunity to commercially release a sophomore album. Although still most notably known for the “critically acclaimed”album Complex Simplicity which spawned records such as Be Your Girl, Backstroke and Take Me featuring Raphael Saadiq, Teedra Moses has released three independent, all-original “Mixtapes”for fans of her music.

In addition to executive producing and penning all the lyrics on her own project, Moses has written songs for other artists including Christina Milian, Mary J. Blige, Macy Gray, and a host of others. As a Grammy-Nominated Songwriter and BMI Songwriter of the year, for 2 consecutive years, Teedra Moses has used music to inspire others for over 10 years. Moses is currently on “Family Ties”from Rick Ross’Hood Billionaire album as well as the ambiance vocals on Rick Ross’ previous projects “Nobody”featuring Diddy and French Montana from the Mastermind album, and “Amsterdam”from one of the most anticipated albums of 2012, Rick Ross’God Forgives I Don’t. In addition, Moses is featured on and co-wrote three songs from SelfMade, the Maybach Music Compilation released in 2011, as well as Big Boi of Outkast “Turn Me On,”featured on and co-wrote two songs from Raphael Saadiq's 2004 album Ray Ray, "Chic" and "I Want You Back". Her songs have been showcased in the Logo series Noah's Arc as well as in the HBO hit show Entourage, movies such as Never Die Alone, Beauty Shop, Be Cool and The Skinny.

With over 10 years of live performance, selling out intimate venues around the world, and a stream of mixtapes, Moses is riding high on only her second commercial release in a decade. Cognac & Conversations released August 7, 2015 debuted at number 5 on iTunes R&B charts and number 7 on Billboard R&B charts. Moses is currently on a US Tour with Grammy Award winning R& B crooner, Anthony Hamilton.

During the early 2000s, Yasiin Bey simultaneously worked on several movies and the Black Jack Johnson Project with several iconic black musicians: keyboardist Bernie Worrell (Parliament/Funkadelic), guitarist Dr. Know (Bad Brains), drummer Will Calhoun (Living Colour), and bassist Doug Wimbish (the Sugarhill Gang, Grandmaster Flash, Living Colour). This project aimed to reclaim rock music, especially the rap-rock hybrid. What made the Black Jack Johnson band so anticipated was not so much the super group roster of musicians or even Yasiin Bey himself, but rather the lack of black rock bands. Following the demise of Living Colour, there were few, if any, that had attained substantial success. Yasiin Bey hoped to infuse the rock world with his all-black band, and during the early 2000s, he performed several small shows with his band around the New York area. In October 2004, he finally delivered a second solo album, The New Danger, which involved Black Jack Johnson on a few tracks.

Two years later, after a few more acting roles -- including the Golden Globe-winning Lackawanna Blues and the Emmy-winning Something the Lord Made, Yasiin Bey released his third solo album, True Magic (2006). The disc came with no artwork and was sold in a clear plastic case. Its single, "Undeniable," did manage to grab a Grammy nomination for Best Rap Solo Performance. He began to use his platform more for political purposes and forward thought, protesting in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the Jena Six incident in 2007 drew more attention his way. The Ecstatic, released on the Universal-distributed Downtown label, followed in June 2009 and is the most recent album he released.