Mos Def is that kind of artist for whom you cancel whatever plans you’ve made to listen to him. On my way to the O2 Kentish Town, I encountered many friends asking where I was going the same jaw dropped expression took their faces. R.I.P.The doors opened at 7:00pm for the retirement of one of the greatest Hip Hop artists of all time.Review: Atmosphere, “To All My Friends, Blood Makes The Blade Holy” posted on September 9, 2010.The Plug One Q&A: Flying Lotus posted on June 10, 2008.Superlists!: Top Ten Femcees posted on March 24, 2009.Digable Planets fracture, cancel tour posted on March 22, 2009.The ten most popular indie-rap artists… posted on January 11, 2011.VH1 Soul is dead, long live Centric posted on March 29, 2010.He truly earns the title of The Ecstatic. From comparing himself to Sugar Ray and Muhammad Ali on â€œPretty Dancer,â€ to dropping adlibs over Muldrowâ€™s vocals on â€œRosesâ€ like a dancehall chatterer, Mos Def weaves and bobs like a champion boxer working the ring, creating eclectic sounds that deserve and rewards repeated listens. Mos Def soaks it all up, reverting to the hungry rhyme-spitter of years past instead of the wealthy rapper-actor hyphenate heâ€™s now become.Īs Mos Def unfurls each song, he offers little in the way of memorable hooks or choruses. Noâ€™s Oxperiment) â€œPriorityâ€ finds newcomer Preservation weaving a dramatic medley of strings and bass drums. Oh No loops an electric guitar solo for â€œSupermagicâ€ (recycled from his 2007 album Dr. Flash of Ed Banger Records infamy and even the late master James â€œJ Dillaâ€ Yancey contribute grainy sample-filled beats, bringing Mosâ€™ ideas into focus. Brothers Madlib and Oh No, French producer Mr. But this time, he recruits producers capable of keeping pace with him. Yes, itâ€™s a typically eccentric tour de force from Mos Def. He observes Arabian women deep in prayer while traveling overseas on â€œThe Embassy,â€ and raps a tribute en espaÃ±ol to the Third World on â€œNo Hay Nada Mas.â€ Mos and Rickâ€™s Q-Tip-and-Phife-like collabo gives way to â€œPriority,â€ where Mos calls himself â€œThe gingerbread the slave master canâ€™t catch.â€ (Get that?) Childhood fables aside, one of his most endearing traits is his empathy with impoverished people around the world.

â€œI speak it so clearly sometimes yâ€™all donâ€™t hear me,â€ he raps in a determined voice on â€œAuditorium,â€ just before Slick Rick, inspired by producer Madlibâ€™s medley of â€œMiddle Eastern instruments,â€ appears spins a surreal tale of traveling through war-torn Iraq. On his fourth album The Ecstatic, Mos Def declares himself as the MC who flows â€œgreatest like the Greater Lakes,â€ and revels in the power of his words. Heard today, The New Danger sounds less a schizophrenic mess of cryptic freestyles and black rock than a courageous, even visionary preview of the future soul movement now led by Sa-Ra Creative Partners, Georgia Anne Muldrow and others. Fat Bootyâ€ and the hard-charging hardcore punk quotations on â€œRock & Roll.â€ But subsequent albums like 2003â€™s The New Danger and 2007â€™s True Magic found him struggling to synthesize his varying interests into cohesive statements. 1999â€™s Black on Both Sides diverged wonderfully between the DJ Premier-assisted throwback charm of â€œMs. The problem is that Mos Defâ€™s considerable ambitions often obscure his talents. He may be one of the few rappers that actually deserve the â€œconsciousâ€ sobriquet. His blend of deft rhymes, melodic harmonizing and spoken-word poetry into spirit-lifting, conscious-raising music is indelibly unique. Since bursting out of Brooklyn in 1996 through standout cameos on De La Soulâ€™s â€œStakes is Highâ€ remix and Bush Babees â€œThe Love Song,â€ mighty Mos has redefined hip hop artistry.

Whatâ€™s it like to be ahead of your time? Ask Mos Def. It is no longer available on the website, so I decided to re-post it here.) ( Note: This review was originally posted on before the company was liquidated and sold to new owners.

Mos def the ecstatic review