CD Review: Mos Def - The Ecstatic
Tuesday June 9, 2009
Despite being one of the brightest MCs in the game, Mos Def has done little to fortify his discography. The two albums that followed up his classic debut left fans exasperated. In fact, he didn't even bother to include an album cover with his last CD, True Magic, an album that was supposedly rushed out to fulfill label obligations.
Fast forward to 2009. Mos Def is inspired again, and it truly shows on The Ecstatic.
Album art © Downtown Recordings
Comments
Great album, great review, nuff said.
…thanks for the review – I gave the album a once over and cast it aside, read your review (noticing the 4 stars you awarded), gave it a few more listens and am now kicking myself for almost missing out on something special!!
^^It’s definitely a grower. It’ll take at least half a dozen spins to fully unpack.
I ALWAYS look forward to your reviews on my fav artists and albums I buy. Yes I still by new albums from stores. I completely agree that this one is a grower, and you need to listen to a handful of times to really hear everything.
My buddy and I both thought it seemed like the sum of New Danger+True Magic; much more musically sounding. Still very MOS, still very funky and as progressive as hip hop can be. Same buddy is also a b-boy of sorts and said that the beats and production felt much more dance/b-boy friendly, which I thought was interesting.
Still, my biggest issue with Mos is his singing, or rather his “vibing out to his own beats.” Not really saying anything, just “la la la” kind of stuff. This is also my biggest issue with his live performances.
New Danger was the first Mos Def album I heard, and it was the album that really made me a fan, so its always been a bit puzzling when most refer to that as his “weakest” album. I still can’t say anybody else in hip hop sounds the way Mos Def does.