Mos Def – The Ecstatic (6-9-2009)

Posted on Jul 14 in Reviewsby adminPrint

As an artist who released his last album with no cover art and no promotion Mos Def is obviously no stranger to unconventional marketing. His latest album he plans to give away for free as long as fans purchase a t-shirt. Outside of his often witty sales strategies Mos Def has come to be one of the most well renowned underground MCs to ever grace hip hop. From 1998’s Black Star album with Talib Kweli to his numerous roles in various movies plus his multiple appearances on The Dave Chappelle Show, Mos Def is now much more than an underground MC. With The Ecstatic Mos Def is planning to show the rest of the world exactly why.

The album’s initial offering, “Supermagic” will appease some but it’s the encore Neptunes produced “Twilite Speedball” that will be a consensus favorite. Madlib weaves some interesting pre-dated horns on the Slick Rick guested “Auditorium.” Though both efforts are rather short Mos still manages to hit you over the head with some food for thought on the Madlib produced “Wahid” as well as the Preservation produced “Priority.” The Mr. Flash produced “The Embassy” proves to be yet another short yet very effective offering on this album.

Mos proceeds to spit in all Spanish on the relaxing Preservation engineered “No Hay Nada Mas.” On the Mr. Flash produced “Worker’s Comp.” Mos makes some quick analogies between the jacked up job market and jacked up relationships. Things tend to get a little more spiritual on the likes of “Revelations” as well as the Georgia Anne Muldrow” produced and assisted “Roses.” The highlight of the album might be one of the last offerings in the J. Dilla helmed and Talib Kweli assisted “History.”

Throughout The Ecstatic Mos Def again shows exactly why he is often referred to as one of the greatest underground MCs of all time. Actually he shows just why he is the greatest and most renowned underground artist of all time. He weaves through each track with the delicacy that an elderly lady would on a sacred quilt. He sprinkles in whole tracks worth of useful and energizing information as he teaches something on just about every song. Politics, wars, drugs, and the economy are the main topics here. With the way the world is turning these days it’s about time an artist spends an entire album speaking on the reality!

VERDICT – 16 / 20
LYRICS: 4
PRODUCTION: 4
DELIVERY: 4
CONSISTENCY: 4