Damn I was actually going to buy tickets for this joint! Though Doom was probably never planning on showing up, the thought of Mos getting onstage with a would-be idol of his . . . the nerd in me was looking forward to it. Since it’s been on my mind, I’ll do like my Height Five Seven sister and post some Doom lyrics for ya’ll. “It ain’t nuthin’ like a fistful a cash/or a blissful of the hash/that twist like a mustache/from end to end spreadin’ like a rash/talkin’ through your walkman or at your disco bash . . .”
” . . . cocoa butter on a very ashy day fam/raybans out on the islands of cayman/or i break it down for the layman/ban de soleil for the san tropez”
Back from when he was still MF, from the oft overlooked MM . . . Leftovers.
Two new albums just dropped, from two of my favorite artists. One dead, one alive. One a beat legend, the other a rap genius. Mos Def’s latest release, The Ecstatic, comes after several years of subpar musical work (not hating, just saying that nothing compared to Black on Both Sides). As I mentioned in my earlier post, I had a feeling this was going to be a new era for the Brooklyn-hearted Dante Smith, and I was actually even a little surprised at just how good it was. While singing rappers have generally become a hackneyed phenom, Mos does it with style, grace and swagger. “Workers Comp”, “Roses” feat. Georgia Anne Muldrow, Auditorium (w/ Slick Rick!) and the J Dilla-sampled “History” (feat. Talib Kweli) all make my current playlist. And speaking of J Dilla, the late James Yancey just dropped Jay Stay Paid, a compilation of sorts. The record is a little less than cohesive and not exactly new (how could it be?), but nonetheless a Dilla beat is a Dilla beat, and a Dilla album is a Dilla album, and I’m very pleased to hear Blu on “Smoke”, Doom on “Firewood and Drumsticks” and li’l bro Illa J on “See That Boy Fly”. Hit up Amazon for the Mos and the J Deezy, and holler at me in the comments with your own thoughts. Until then, Detroit in this bitch, Brooklyn in this bitch.
Photo: Chris Saunders
Mos Def’s Black on Both Sides is one of my favorite albums of all time. When it dropped I was in high school, and I had never even been to Brooklyn. Since then, I’ve enjoyed seeing Mos Def get his actor on in weird movies like Be Kind Rewind and Hitchhiker’s Guide to [...]
Masked supervillain rapper Doom made a lot of hip-hop nerds happy when he released Born Like This last month. Besides changing his name, the metal-faced character has stayed pretty consistent through the years and continues to kill it with the new Bukowski-influenced album full of dope guest appearances. In addition to Ghostface and Raekwon, Atlanta [...]
