The Ecstatic
Mos Def’s new record, The Ecstatic, is the best mainstream hip-hop record since Kanye’s Graduation. But where Kanye’s record soared on an upbeat, up-to-minute mix of disco, dance, and pop influences, Mos Def draws from classic rap beats and various strains of world music. It’s a backpacker’s masterpiece.
“Casa Bey” isn’t the album’s best track — I’d go with the loopy “Quiet Dog Bite Hard” — but it’s still pretty solid. And Mos Def, as always, makes an intriguing hip-hop character.
Mos Def – "Casa Bey" – The Ecstatic – 6.9.09
Since we’re on the topic, I’m convinced that Mos Def has a huge amount of mostly overlooked potential as an actor. He’s done some great work so far — his wavering off-kilter timing was the best thing about The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, and his mumbling, slouching detective shtick in The Woodsman was chilling and eerie — but no one’s quite figured out how to use him in a way that really sticks. Given the right director, someone who really understands actors (P.T. Anderson, maybe? Soderbergh?), I’m nearly certain he could turn in a really iconic performance.
He performed ably as a paralyzed man who could only blink on an episode of House.
— Conor Friedersdorf · Jun 20, 05:32 PM · #
“Where’s Marlowe?” isn’t what I’d call a great movie—I rented it mainly for the rare chance to see Miguel Ferrer in a leading role—but it was where I realized that Mos Def was a potentially great actor. Worth watching, if you’re a fan.
— Jesse Fuchs · Jun 20, 06:08 PM · #
Conor,
He was good in that role on Bill Maher, too.
Beyond that, I couldn’t agree more on his large-screen potential. There’s something about him that makes you want to keep watching him.
— pc · Jun 20, 07:05 PM · #
An interesting test of the great-actor hypothesis is his turn in the B. Willis vehicle 16 Blocks. Through the first third or half of the movie, I was thinking, this is an accomplished but irritating performance. Then I ended up not really thinking about it at all but finding it quite witty and moving. That transition made me think that this guy is the real thing.
— Matt Feeney · Jun 20, 07:41 PM · #
I’d add that he took what should have been the worst character of an otherwise forgettable movie (16 Blocks) and turned it into something remarkably real and memorable.
— Tom Meyer · Jun 20, 08:40 PM · #
Do you find that your tastes match Pitchfork Review’s perfectly or just 99% of the time?
— Criminally Bulgur · Jun 20, 08:44 PM · #
Criminally — I do mean it. I tend to like about 75% of what the Fork recommends. But I also really like a lot of stuff they don’t recommend. But yes, my taste matches the Fork’s reasonably well.
— Peter Suderman · Jun 20, 10:30 PM · #
heck, he was even good in the totally silly Be Kind Rewind
— eric k · Jun 21, 12:40 AM · #
Mos Def should focus on acting, since his music is even more boring now than the first time I heard it, a quarter of a century ago.
— Webster · Jun 21, 12:42 PM · #
Sigh. I love TAS, I really do. But the bitter old man in me — which is to say, basically, me — has a hell of a time staying quiet when the hipsterism bubbleheads to the surface. So I try not to read those posts. And yet, predictably, whwen Ali Akbar Khan passes away, here comes Suderman weighing the merits of “Mos Def.” Memo to Wayne Shorter, Jim Hall, et al.: try not to kick it when the “Dirty Projectors” are releasing some miraculous oeuvre.
— Sanjay · Jun 21, 03:30 PM · #
Where’s my fucking coffee, bitch.
— Tony Comstock · Jun 21, 03:55 PM · #
I think I’m the only one of everyone I know who liked HHTTG – one of the more memorable moviegoing experiences I’ve had. It’s almost like it was uncool to like it (I realize that could be paranoid).
Couldn’t agree more about Mos Def…
— Steve C · Jun 21, 04:34 PM · #
“And yet, predictably, whwen Ali Akbar Khan passes away, here comes Suderman weighing the merits of ‘Mos Def.’
I know. As soon as I heard that Ali Akbar Khan died, I thought to myself, sure as the day is long, Peter Suderman is going to come along and start talking about Mos Def. In fact, the worst thing about working with Peter at Culture11 was his habit of using the deaths of classical musicians from India as prompts to talk about American hip hop.
— Conor Friedersdorf · Jun 21, 07:21 PM · #
The real reason for Culture11’s demise, finally revealed!
— Tony Comstock · Jun 21, 08:23 PM · #
Now, now, Tony, I’m still travelling, and trust me, you don’t want to be travelling as much as or to as objectionable places as I’m doing. Sucks. I’m drinking swill myself for the moment.
Yes, Conor, I’m expecting some goddam YouTube artist to crop up for TAS when Laurie Anderson’s Homeland is finally released….
— Sanjay · Jun 21, 10:32 PM · #
Anti-hipster is the new-hipster.
— cw · Jun 22, 02:28 PM · #
You northerners are silly people.
— Sargent · Jun 22, 03:27 PM · #
You southerners are racist hillbillies (joke).
— cw · Jun 22, 05:35 PM · #
Touche!
— Sargent · Jun 22, 07:25 PM · #