Rating:
Genre:
Rap
Release Date: 06/09/2009
During the first several years of the 2000s, it wasn't unreasonable to want
Mos Def, one of the most dazzling living MCs, to make a rap album. After he released 2006's
True Magic, his first all-rap release in seven years -- following the back-to-back instant classics
Black Star and
Black on Both Sides -- it was easier to understand why he had been devoting much more time to acting and diversions like
The New Danger. It was evident that he was not inspired, no doubt prompting a fair portion of his followers to think, "OK, maybe we should have been more specific: please make a
good rap album." On
The Ecstatic, it's not as if
Mos Def makes a full return to the lucid/bug-eyed rhymes heard on decade-old cuts like
"Hater Players" and
"Hip Hop." Instead, he comes up with a mind-bending, low-key triumph, the kind of magnetic album that takes around a dozen spins to completely unpack. Oscillating between cerebral gibberish and seemingly nonchalant, off-the-cuff boasts, it's obvious that
Mos Def is back to enjoying his trade. For those who are deeply into the
Stones Throw label, the album won't take quite as long to process. Some of the productions from brothers
Madlib and
Oh No were pulled from their instrumental releases, including a pair from the India-themed installments of the
Beat Konducta series. Altogether, they provide much of the album's dusty off-centeredness; even though
"Supermagic" has
Mos Def at his most energized and alert, its needling psychedelic guitars and sweeping Bollywood drama are transportive. Combined with backdrops from
Georgia Anne Muldrow,
Preservation,
the Neptunes'
Chad Hugo, and the
Ed Banger label's
Mr. Flash, the album is a gumbo that adds juicy dub thwacks, regal synthetic horns, tangled piano vamps, dashes of spiritual jazz, and rolling Afro-beat, almost all of which is cloaked in light reverb. Though there are highlights throughout, two of the most notable tracks are at the very end:
"History," where
Talib Kweli joins in over a wistful
J Dilla beat, and
"Casa Bey," where a playful
Mos Def somehow keeps up with
Banda Black Rio's deliriously frantic samba funk.
~Andy Kellman, All Music Guide
;)
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