Kanye, Common, Outkast and on and on, they all did it: fucked up,
went way out with an album and didn’t recover (at least not fully). Mos
Def came close with his last release, The New Danger,
experimenting with rock (Common) and making things needlessly busy
(West). But unlike Common and Kanye, Mos Def has returned to form.
The Ecstatic opens with the bold, off-balance “Supermagic,” but
it really gets going with the rattling-snare-and-vibes-led “Twilite
Speedball.” It’s full-on from there, picking up his Black Star cohort
Talib Kweli, a Slick Rick-sounding rapper named The Ruler and keeping
it real simple en route to brilliance.
This article appears in Jul 30 – Aug 5, 2009.