Yet with additional production contributions from the likes of The Neptunes’ Chad Hugo, Preservation, Mr. The scrappy, patchwork nature of The Ecstatic makes it fit comfortably with anything in the Stones Throw discography (although it’s on Downtown), and much of this is thanks to producers (and Stones Throw representatives) Oh No and Madlib, each of whom contributes a handful of beats here. In fact, the finished product does go in seemingly a dozen or so different directions, but most importantly, each track carries the distinction of being vibrant, artfully executed hip-hop. With different, but equally brilliant singles revealing three vastly different styles, Mos Def could have gone in any number of directions with The Ecstatic. In just three songs, Mos Def’s The Ecstatic was already standing firm in four-star territory. Already two for two, Mos Def raised expectations to an all time high with the third single released from The Ecstatic, “Casa Bey.” Having already taken two completely different sonic directions with the prior two singles, Mos Def veered down a third path with this track, playfully proclaiming “ I’ve been born to be what I am/ a bright light from a different star” over a Banda Black Rio psych-funk-samba sample. That was just the beginning a few months later he dropped “Quiet Dog,” a minimal high-speed lyrical Calisthenics exercise incorporating elements of “Rapper’s Delight” over furious handclaps and police sirens. Flash, Mos Def delivers the kind of impassioned, intense flow not heard since he outshined Kanye West on “Two Words.” Over a synth-laden production by Ed Banger alum Mr. Yet when Mos Def debuted single “Life In Marvelous Times” at the tail end of 2008, he finally unleashed the kind of fiery, inspired sound everyone knew he was capable of. Regardless of Mos Def’s lack of focus, or even interest, he showed flashes of brilliance on his last two uneven albums, and spit fire when making guest appearances on albums by Kanye West and Talib Kweli, the one rhyme partner that always manages to bring out the best in the Brooklyn emcee. And 2006’s True Magic, with a few tracks being notable exceptions, just sounded deflated and uninspired the fact that it didn’t even have any cover art should give some kind of indication of how slapped-together the whole project seemed. His follow-up to debut Black On Both Sides, 2004’s The New Danger, wasn’t exactly a hip-hop album, though it did contain rapping. Yet hip-hop hasn’t been high on Mos Def’s priority list, in spite of it being the area where Mos shines brightest.
Mos def the ecstatic original artwork full#
“Twilight Speedball” posits the rapper’s flow as a drug, full of “bad news and good dope.” and despite invoking Obama on “History,” Mos trades rhymes with old partner Talib Kweli, powerfully asserting that the present remains tense - and hope still has a lot of work to do.Mos Def has kept busier than most in the past decade, having mainly bolstered his acting resume with numerous high profile roles ranging from The Italian Job to Be Kind Rewind, while making appearances on “Real Time With Bill Maher” in his spare time.
“Wahid” continues the Near Eastern theme as Mos lyrically collapses the inner city and the battlefield, two places where guns and bulletproof vests proliferate. While he professes to send his message to the “penthouse, pavement, and curb,” it’s the grimy, not glossy, that dominates here.
Despite estimable acting chops ( The Woodsman, Something the Lord Made), the former Black Star co-captain is among our greatest MCs, and The Ecstatic is easily his finest full-length since Black on Both Sides, his 1999 solo debut.įirst single “Life in Marvelous Times” builds a furious narrative - moving from the rapper’s project upbringing to the present, where wonders and terrors abound - over an epic, sticky synth beat (from Ed Banger producer Mr.
Within a few verses of thunderous lead-off track “Supermagic,” underpinned by a righteous sample of Turkish psych songstress Selda Bagcan, “Cherokee chief rocka” Mos Def more than makes amends for three years away from hip-hop, not to mention his disastrous 2006 Geffen swan song, True Magic.
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