True Magic

by

Mos Def

Edit

Mos Def loves hip hop. This is made fully apparent by the way in which he has chosen to present his newest venture 'True Magic'. Having taken a 180 degree about-face to the overly hyped slickness of the concept album 'The New Danger', Mos has decided this time around to revisit hip hop in its truest most sincere essence. I suppose you could call this one a concept album as well but this time the concept is, in his own words, 'simple and plain'.

The seemingly mishmashed chaotic nature of the songs and their arrangement is intentional: if it reminds you a little bit of an underground mixtape then Mr. Mos has accomplished a large part of his task. Mos Def, being the hip hop aficionado that he is, knows full well the fact that the underground mixtape is really the only place left where you'll find emcees spitting for the sake of spitting (and of course for some street cred) and not solely for the cash money; it's where the unadulterated true magic of hip-hop-as-art-form still maintains. And he captures the spirit of the mixtape in all its glory w/ the rapid-fire spontanaeity and excitement; most of the songs overlap and production quality seems inconsistent w/ each track. You don't quite know what to expect next -- which is where much of the excitent of listening to this album comes from -- yet as a whole it's cohesive, all held together by one thing: dopeness.

I wouldn't be surprised if even the date of this album's release coincided with this concept. In sharp contrast to the previous release, this one seemed to drop from nowhere with almost no fanfare or anticipation (save the early online leakage).

And make no mistake, the lack of elaborate cover art design is just as much a part of the magic as the music itself. Mos wants us listeners to get to the nitty gritty of this record: there's nothing else for us to focus on but the beats and the rhyme skills -- no slick packaging to gawk at, no longwinded liner notes to distract us from even one line of what the man's saying.

Another well known hip hop artist whom I equally respect has recently deemed hip hop dead. I was almost ready to agree. But it looks like the mighty Mos Def has once again come back right on time to show us that the opposite is actually true: it's black beating heart is very much alive and well, pumping in every stereo that runs 'True Magic'.

Let me preface this by saying I'm a huge Mos Def fan... Brought all his other albums, seen him in concert; in my opinion he's one of the best MC's out there today. Black on both Sides is legendary material. That's why I'm so disappointed in this album. I agree with one of the other reviewers, this sounds like filler material. It might be better than a lot of the crap on the radio nowadays, but it isn't up to par when compared to his previous work. Even the production sounds a little off. I don't know if he's getting 5 stars from some people based on reputation, but I've listened to his album over and over and still can't get into it. It's so frustrating cause Mos is so talented; what happened to the Mos that could break off a rhyme so drop and precise that it's mind blowing. He isn't on here. Please Mos give me something I can feel! Giving him 3 stars cause I have too much respect for him to give him anything lower... even though in this case it might deserving .