SS Music Review: Mos Def - The Ecstatic

Black Jack Johnson N.Y.C., R-O-C-K-I-N-G Sun and the moon, earths, stars, and planets Before song done y'all goin' all understand it


I'll be honest, I was pretty damn excited about this album. Multiple sources touted it as "his best album since Black on Both sides" and some suggested it was possibly even better than that classic LP. The whole thing plays out like a live show, and much of it I am 95% sure I saw at Rock the Bells last summer. Mos really hits his stride in track 3 produced by the highly underrated Madlib (if you don't have Liberation which him and Kweli put out for free on the web a couple years back, get it) featuring Slick Rick the Ruler. For 5 or 6 tracks Mos is in the zone (and put me there with him. I think I got popped by a big brother speeding camera I slow down for every day on the way to work. Fuck those things.) and the rim looks like an ocean, runners, fadeaways, long threes, to the rim with the contact AND ONE! ONIONS! But then like any hot shooter Mos cools off and the album rolls slowly around the world for another 5 or 6 tracks until Kweli (with an assist from J Dilla, RIP) brings him back to Brooklyn for the last two tracks (dear Jackal please give us another Blackstar album STAT!). I can see why the album received such high praise, it has a ton of what white people love about Mos Def. However Hipsters should never talk about hip hop and although Black Dante is more worldly now he's at his best when he's has Bed-Stuy locked firmly in his scope. There wasn't enough of that for my taste.

All in all it's a good offering, but really only slightly better than True Magic which me and six other OJs (Original Jackals) bought. All in all I give it 3.75 howls out of 5 with the reservation to raise it to 4 with another couple of listens.

As this review will most certainly be picked up by the AP and find its way to Mos I have a simple message for the great musician and good MC (certainly not stronger than Kweli and Slick Rick which he knows and recognizes which I do appreciate) -> You got Bed-Stuy in ya belly, Brooklyn in ya bones, stay on NYC Hip Hop and leave hipster bullshit alone!

Much love Mos. Peace.

This music review is the definitive review of this album. It is not opinion, it is fact. Any disagreement with this review is not a reflection of the author but a confirmation of the ignorance of the person with the dissenting opinion. One.