Most Definitely

The first time I came into contact with Mos Def (apart from just, y'know, knowing his name) was when he was horribly miscast as Ford Prefect in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy film. When I heard of his involvement, I pretty much resigned myself to the film being rubbish. It's very rare that a famous rap singer (you know the rap singers?) makes a blockbuster film better. However, to his credit, when I watched the film I realised that it wasn't him that ruined it. In the absence of Douglas Adams, the Hitchhiker's Guide has lost it's most important component. But that's another kettle of fish entirely. Since then, I've been impressed with his acting (notably in 'Be Kind Rewind') and have cast my ear across his music from time to time. Having liked it, and heard good things about his new record, 'The Ecstatic', I decided to pick up a copy and give it a go.

Woah.

I was expecting good things, but by the end of the first track it was quickly dawning on me that this was not just a polished hip hop album. Within a minute of opening, we've already had Martin Luther King, Indian and rock/metal musical influences and some pretty awesome vocal harmony. Now, I do not intend to give a track-by-track rundown, nor pick out a list of my favourite bits, because that's not really what the album sparked in me. What struck me about this album was how much it stands out from the crowd. This is hip hop in the same league as Outkast (quoted on the second track) and Roots Manuva. A lot of rap is essentially just lyrics, with rehashed or just plain stolen beats underneath, often just plain loops. I'm not saying that's a bad thing, not at all, but it is true. This, however, is one of the most musically accomplished hip hop records I've heard in as long as I can remember - and like Roots or Outkast, it has individuality. It feels like it's leading the way. There are almost none of the genre clichés that infect most popular rap music, and it never feels stagnant. Each tune has distinct sounds, with elements of so many styles of music that it would be pointless to list them. It feels like a rich display of culture and, maybe most importantly, it feels authored.

And that's the bit that got me hooked. Like the first time I listened to 2001 by Dre, listening to this album really made me feel like I was listening to a piece of music that was born of the vision of one man. Now, I've not read up on Mos Def, I don't know how he writes and records, but this feels to me like an album made in his image, pregnant with his ideas (the references to birth in the last paragraph were accidental. Could this be an expression of my subconscious, linked to the fact that I really want children? Hmm).

All this is a bit of a futile exercise, if you're reading this then what you should really do is just go listen to it. Trying to articulate how The Ecstatic made me feel is a bit like trying to explain why everyone on the face of the planet should take 35 minutes out of their life to sit down in a darkened room and listen to In Rainbows. You can't explain it. You just have to go and do it. So, I implore you to open up this link in Spotify:

Mos Def - The Ecstatic

And give it a go. And if you haven't got Spotify, then you're an idiot - get it now and your life will be better (I mean that, and cannot stress it enough). And if you don't like me using 'rap' and 'hip hop' as synonyms, then feel free to post comments, which I will duly ignore. And the same goes for anyone who wants to tell me I shouldn't start sentences with 'and'. And the new Noah and the Whale album just came on. And it sounds pretty good...

db