Mos Returns to Roots on ‘Ecstatic’
Similar to other aspects of life, within the hip-hop world, a rapper’s first impression means the world. That’s why the debut album is the quintessential album of an artist’s career. After all, if your first album isn’t up to par, who’s to say you’re going to get a second chance? Chances are you’ll be dropped in the blink of an eye. But, if you’re one of the few artists who can actually pull off a masterpiece of an album the first time around, all is not well. Just ask Nas and Jay-Z, both artists achieved overwhelming critical success with their first albums, and have been criticized for not recreating the magic in their preceding albums. Now Mos Def represents a unique situation due to the fact that he has not one, but two classic debut albums to live up to, Black on Both Sides & Mos Def and Talib Kweli Presents Blackstar. While 2004’s The New Danger didn’t live up to expectations, it showed Mos experimenting and expanding his horizons into the Rock world. 2007’s Tru3 Magic featured an unfocused Mos that was clearly focused more on his film career than his hip-hop career.
It’s now 2009 and the boogeyman has dropped his forth-solo album, The Ecstatic. From the title alone, you can tell that Def is attempting to bring back the lyrics, and he doesn’t disappoint. Continue reading
