Malcolm X’s concluding comments in his speech at the Oxford Union debate of 1964- “You’re living at a time of extremism, a time of revolution, a time when there’s got to be a change. People in power have misused it, and now there has to be a change and a better world has to be built and the only way it’s going to be built is with extreme methods...” is used on opening track Supermagic. Its prescience forms the basis by which the rest of Mos Def’s fourth album The Ecstatic is defined by.
The Brooklyn rapper’s prowess as a political poet shines through on Auditorium featuring Slick Rick, Wahid and The Embassy. Domestic issues are also tackled, like on the melancholic Workers Comp which addresses the nation’s unemployment epidemic.
Mos Def’s subsequent two albums following his seminal debut Black On Both Sides (’99), divided and disappointed critics and fans alike. The ambitious The New Danger (’04) incorporated rock and blues but with questionable results. True Magic (’06) saw Mos returning to his roots but the straight-up hip-hop the album dispensed was uninspired, widely seen as an offering necessary to appease the dissent the previous album had produced. The Ecstatic strikes a perfect compromise between the two. Although hip-hop lives and breathes in every track, Mos experiments with a myriad of sounds and styles from minimalist percussion syncopations (Quiet Dog) to full blown modern production grandeur (Life In Marvellous Times) but it always works.
Hip-hop album of the year? You bet. Pretty Flaco’s baaack!Back
The Brooklyn rapper’s prowess as a political poet shines through on Auditorium featuring Slick Rick, Wahid and The Embassy. Domestic issues are also tackled, like on the melancholic Workers Comp which addresses the nation’s unemployment epidemic.
Mos Def’s subsequent two albums following his seminal debut Black On Both Sides (’99), divided and disappointed critics and fans alike. The ambitious The New Danger (’04) incorporated rock and blues but with questionable results. True Magic (’06) saw Mos returning to his roots but the straight-up hip-hop the album dispensed was uninspired, widely seen as an offering necessary to appease the dissent the previous album had produced. The Ecstatic strikes a perfect compromise between the two. Although hip-hop lives and breathes in every track, Mos experiments with a myriad of sounds and styles from minimalist percussion syncopations (Quiet Dog) to full blown modern production grandeur (Life In Marvellous Times) but it always works.
Hip-hop album of the year? You bet. Pretty Flaco’s baaack!Back
