Whether he means to dominate lightweight flyboys and grimacing pranksters or not, when YAS speaks, the current American hip hop landscape looks awfully shallow. How could it not? YAS, real name Yaser Bakhtiari, is a meticulously articulated social conscience in modern Iran. In country with a long history of erudite poetry, hip hop was seen as doggerel, a corrupting mongrel influence, and worse. YAS became a one-man force to liberate the country of its stringent censorship laws through sheer perseverance and to win people to the cause with lyrical skill.