Apparently I'm out of the hip-hop loop. Who's deaf? Mos Def. I suppose I could have researched, but I made a conscious decision not to. The people I know who knew of him gave him rave reviews so I decided to just go with it. Besides, he's really cute! The funny thing is, after I made that decision, I kept hearing little bits and pieces of who he was. In fact, right before I left for the venue I realized I'd seen him in a movie ("Pieces of April") as the boyfriend of Katie Holmes.

This was certainly like no other discussion I'd been to. When I walked in, the auditorium was cranking loud with hip-hop music, people were clapping in time and dancing to the "Cha-Cha Slide." (I asked the kid behind me.) It felt more like a party, or an intro to clubbing. The most active were a few rows of younger kids, brought in by the Boys and Girls Club, according to Jason, the guy lucky enough to sit next to the question-asker. He told me about the U of R's role in fostering entrepreneurship in its programs, entrepreneurship here meaning "creating value of all kinds." It was actually quite an interesting discussion, the whole "creating value" by looking "outside the box" and combining different interests to come up with new approaches. Which was nice, considering 40 minutes after it was supposed to begin, an announcement was made that Mos Def was in the house. But that may have been a rumor.

After waiting a while longer -- all the while the music playing and kids dancing -- I went out and made a few calls, did some date arranging, etc. Whatever I could think to do while stranded at a college campus awaiting an event.

Exactly one hour and 10 minutes after the planned start time, water was placed on the table on stage. I saw this as a good sign. It was also announced that "the curfew" would be extended for the younger members. Meanwhile, the music was still entertaining the crowd, and I now think all meetings should begin this way. When have you ever witnessed people being held up for over an hour, and not only not bitching and whining, but enjoying themselves!?

Mos Def hit the stage at 8:58, just two minutes shy of an hour and a half late. Apparently he missed his first flight and the second was delayed. The night before was his birthday, so I think we should forgive him. And he more than made up for it with what he gave to the audience -- valuable advice.

The first bit was spent with his mother, Sheron Umi Smith, getting a truncated version of her work managing young Def, and then going on to create her own career. She stressed how she believes that kids know their passion at a young age and how we should nurture that. All the while Def sat peacefully sipping water.

The moderator (Bakari Kitwana) then turned his attention to Def, asking him about his appearance on Bill Maher's show. I wasn't familiar with that, but I liked how Def gave kudos to Maher for having people on his show whose opinions he may not agree with.  As for his favorite film role, he mentioned "Something the Lord Made," but was quick to point out that he doesn't like to put them in a comparative context. Ultimately, he said you have to stand by whatever you do.

His most important point to me was -- to steal a phrase -- just do it. He explained how most successful people didn't start out to make money, but just did what they did because it was their passion. That overnight successes happen over 15 years. That it's important to create your environment inside yourself, and that will attract what you need. And what you know gets activated by those new situations.

As for Napster and the whole "how do you make money from something after it has been free" scene, he says he's still trying to work it out himself. Changing a "real estate" biz to a "signal-based" biz is not so easy. He did say that rather than try to make friends with the new technology, the music industry blew it up. He equated the internet to Frankenstein, but with an intelligent vocabulary. In other words, it's not gonna just take orders.

When asked what effects he thought business had on artists, he said people in any business begin to work within the structure of what is expected of them, forgetting what it is they want. They may be going along fine, but inside they sense that they are not getting their full experience. Artists need to resist this and know that the business doesn't exist without them. "Artists create the dream for a society," he said.

The ending Q&A was made up of mostly people pushing their wares. When one young man asked for just five minutes of his time to pitch his music, Def said, a bit exasperated, "It doesn't work like that!" He went on to say that his five minutes wouldn't do anything. That it's only one in a billion people that get famous by someone else plugging them. That he, and most people in his business, were not in a place to do that for anyone else. What really matters is your perception of yourself. Just do it.

Next up: Model trains at Edgerton Community Center.