One imagines they may have taken a leaf out of The 50th Law, the hip-hop entrepreneur book penned by 50 Cent and business strategist Robert Greene. But as the recession continues to bite, artists have been forced to develop more creative business models – like Mos Def, who decided to promote his album The Ecstatic in June by selling T-shirts which featured a unique code to enable fans to download the album for free. This feels indulgent without MD being committed to any of his whims, and that exposes Mos Def as an artist that no longer seems to know what he wants to do.It's no secret that DIY is the current business mantra within hip-hop circles, with old-guard rappers like Jay-Z steadily shaping up their empires by cutting out the middlemen and a cornucopia of newbies (Kid Cudi, Asher Roth, Drake) developing 101 ways to get the most mileage out of the internet. But the most important aspect of any piece of music is, to quote the legendary Michael Jackson (rest in peace), the way it makes you FEEL. It is still an album with various merits, not to mention certain songs that are astonishing – and he will always be a talented MC (something he rededicates himself to here, to an extent). A genuine “return-to-form” shouldn’t describe a small handful of songs, and the rest of it is more a continuation of the form he has displayed this decade. Here, the first half is curious but pretty wicked – the second half is just plain head-scratching, with at least six or seven inoffensive songs that weigh “The Ecstatic” down. Of course, that isn’t the actual sequence of the album, but strangely enough, it highlighted that trying to listen to the whole album was a chore – usually, 45 minute LP’s fly by pace at a furious pace. Schulman, what a prick!”) the addictive mismatching of “The Embassy” and the usual wickedness of a J Dilla beat on “History.” Finally, the funk of “Casa Bey” rounds of a bewitching sequence that, unfortunately, the rest of this short sixteen track album can’t hope to match. Next, the barnstorming melodrama of “Life In Marvelous Times” (“Mr. “Auditorium” featuring SLICK RICK came up first, an early contender for song of the year. Apple must be getting a bit too clever, because iTunes decided to randomly sequence the songs in order of quality. So how helpful did the shuffle test prove to be? Very. Fine, he might still stray on “The Ecstatic” but it feels more restrained, and thankfully the album clocks in at only 45 minutes. Part of the problem with his diminishing relationship with hip hop fans is his insistence on half-singing: but listeners generally want you to COMMIT to whatever you choose, so either sing properly, even if you’re shit (“Umi Says”), or not at all (“Beef”). Secondly, at least Mos is taking his rhymes a bit more seriously, and, depending on your POV, he doesn’t sing too much. There are a couple of initial pointers to take away from “The Ecstatic” – the first being that Def has tried to release an album with a “global” feel to it, so be prepared for samples galore from Indian and Arabic music, trips to South America, Europe and, occasionally, the USA. It hasn’t really worked out that well, though, has it? This year has reached the halfway point, and it all seemed so promising. For him to be still rated so highly is somewhat miraculous, especially when combined with his continued assault on Hollywood. Yes, he released a classic, but in the next decade, his second album was somewhat overrated and his third was so poor, it almost rendered him simply over as a hip hop entity. For what it is worth, it took me a long time to digest “Black On Both Sides” – although, over the course of a year, friends continually rammed it down my eardrums, I was too taken with Common’s “Like Water For Chocolate” which was released just a few months after BOBS. If it drastically improves or reduces your listening experience, then you will find out the truth about what you REALLY THINK about the LP, not what you HOPED it would be.Īnd that is what I needed to do with “The Ecstatic” – Mos Def’s latest “return-to-form” comeback. Press the “Shuffle” button, and see what happens. It doesn’t always work, but it is an interesting acid test for certain bodies of work. There is a very valuable little trick – sorry, “method” – that I occasionally deploy if I’m undecided about an album.
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