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The radio is everywhere and everybody, so let’s get the vibration going out.
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If “Life in Marvelous Times” can’t get on the radio, then I don’t need to be on the radio. The Ecstatic‘s first single, “Life in Marvelous Times,” might be the most powerful and accessible song you’ve ever recorded - from storytelling to production - yet it’s not even being played on local New York radio. Whether rapping en español, airlifting Slick Rick’s “Children’s Story” into the Iraq War, or toasting a J Dilla beat with Black Star comrade Talib Kweli, Mos Def spits a call to prayer and party and bullshit with a fiery commitment unheard since Black on Both Sides, his late-’90s solo debut. He’s also just recorded the best hip-hop album of 2009 thus far - The Ecstatic, featuring kinetic, panoramic, global-pop production from Madlib, Oh No, Georgia Anne Muldrow, and French electro maven Mr. He’s a Broadway and Hollywood actor of subtly complex gifts ( Topdog/Underdog, The Woodsman, Something the Lord Made) a fearless, if egocentric, tester of musical boundaries, often to the detriment of his own career (2004’s dodgy rap-rock hybrid The New Danger, 2006’s patchy contract-breaker True Magic) a pesky political provocateur and a glib propagator of conspiracies and legends (yes on Bigfoot, no on the moon landings!). But the Brooklyn-born MC, 35, is a knottier figure than such hail-fellow appearances imply. This past May, he led me on a four-hour interview ramble around Manhattan’s SoHo and West Village, stopping into bodegas and smoke shops, greeting fans, giving hugs and pounds, posing for cellphone photos, like the hip-hop ambassador of some conscious-rap dream sequence. The concert courted much anticipation in music circles, and while Mos Def was charming, witty and at times breathtaking – the rapper ultimately under-delivered on his reputation as a rap legend.Dante “Mos Def” Smith walks the walk and talks the talk - literally. Mos had the last laugh with the unruly fan, but at the expense of the wider crowd. But as the wait lengthened and the house lights eventually came on, excitement turned to disappointment. When the rapper finally left the stage, fans were begging for an encore. Mos Def was ever the gentleman and dealt with the fan firmly but politely, however he appeared distracted and more irritable in the songs following the confrontation. Mos rapping the whole song DJ free, whilst drumming, was truly inspired.īut while the brief interlude left fans salivating for more Mos magic, an unscheduled break – due to a drunken fan hurling abuse – left a sour taste in the mouths of both fans and performer. The man is a true performer, and managed to easily hold the crowd’s attention through a lengthy and energetic drum solo which effortlessly merged into the percussive-heavy ‘Quiet Dog Bite Hard’. New tracks like ‘Twilight Speedball’ and ‘Life in Marvelous Times’ were still a delight and definitely showed off the rapper’s verbal dexterity, but one never quite felt the rapper delivered on his legendary reputation as a lyrical heavyweight.Ī highlight of the night was when Mos took to an empty drum kit to the side of the stage. But given Mos Def has only once visited New Zealand before, back in 2006, he had to expect fans old and new to be expecting a heavy portion of the classics. Yet he only gifted the crowd three songs from the album, instead stubbornly favouring his latest effort The Ecstatic for the majority of the set.Īdmittedly, the name of the tour was “The Ecstatic” so it would be naïve to expect a performance made up of songs released more than a decade ago. Black on Both Sides, the New York rapper’s debut album, is considered an essential album in any hip-hop head’s collection. But not the album most people came to hear. Mos crooned, Mos danced, Mos did five minute drum solos… but did Mos rap? The set to follow wouldn’t much resemble a typical rap gig either. Mos Def could have walked straight out of 1920s Brooklyn, greeting the crowd in a pressed shirt and braces, accompanied by beige slacks that rode up the ankle to clearly reveal his black and white swinger shoes. He certainly wasn’t dressed like a rapper when he strutted on stage at the Auckland Powerstation last night.