Watching asphalt and observing the SabbathĬreates an ecstatic and there you have it. Some survive, others never rise from the ashes. That's when you gotta fly by night to save the day. Mean streets, even when it's free it ain't cheap. The number rolls, the Song of Songs, the book of dreams.Įnds don't meet where the arms can't reach. While they steady sizing every inch about you. You can watch them scowl, feel them prowl They fix a sharp gaze on you when you pass byĪnd if you care to stand, you can see 'em cry, The windows on the av' look like sad eyes. Flash on “Life in Marvelous Times.” The record on its own has nothing wrong with it, and it spotlights one of Mos’s strongest verses. Noticeable deviations from the organically developed sound hurt the album, but the only major sin is committed by Mr. Stones Throw artists have often successfully experimented with this jumbled style of making songs and it seems that the brothers Otis and Michael do well fitting The Ecstatic in the same mold. Even in individual songs Mos and his producers toy with the tension between chaotic and ordered styles, such as on Madlib’s “Pretty Dancer,” or his brother Oh No’s “ Pistola,” where Mos spits sharp verses in between drowsy choruses. For every Madlib track with its layered samples, imported instruments, and unhinged song structure, there’s a beat from Preservation that condenses every sound tight and focused. Mos’s light touch in choosing features really leaves listeners with the feeling that the album is well-rounded, bringing just enough distinct flavor to keep the album sounding fresh.Īnother way the album succeeds as a unified whole is in its balance between extremes. The two guest spots Mos picked for the album are perfect – Talib Kweli steps in later to do justice to the label “Black Star reunion” – and the Ruler’s lines, describing the feeling of alienation of a U.S. His first track “Auditorium” begins with Middle Eastern strings slinking under Mos’s laid back flow, fading in and then returning for a verse from Slick Rick. With the momentum built, the next producer to step in is Madlib, the star player on the Stones Throw Record label and the man who could be considered the musical foundation of this album. This track folds into Chad Hugo’s menacing “Twilight Speedball,” complete with bellowing horns and tip-toeing xylophone. The album explodes open with “ Supermagic,” an Oh No-produced track laced with wailing guitars and women’s voices that sound like they come from a Bollywood musical. Instead, this album’s perspective is set on descriptions of American cities and foreign lands without providing explicit political messages. What seems to annoy critics most about this album is that Mos neglected to satisfy the listeners looking for something politically charged. This album has a unique, experimental sound, borrowing heavily from Mediterranean and Middle Eastern influences, it sports a shortened roster of producers – seven producers spread over sixteen tracks and five of them produce at least two tracks – and Mos’s more concentrated lines leave it a focused effort. The fact that one of its biggest stars was allowing his creativity to run his rap career off its rails suggested that, despite its positives, alternative hip-hop lacked the consistent appeal of commercial rap.įor those that followed Mos Def’s career, The Ecstatic should seem like the album Mos Def has wanted to make for almost a decade. The two releases after his solo debut showed Black Dante indulging in the worst, most extreme of his experimental tendencies, and lacked the passionate delivery of his early work. If everyone could have just forgotten about the years between the release of Mos Def’s acclaimed Black on Both Sides and the release of The Ecstatic – a period that saw the flops The New Danger and True Magic – Mos, and “alternative” hip-hop, might have been better for it. Thanks everyone who took the time to read our work- Pete D Due to various reasons, this blog has lost its steam and Get Legs is folding. ![]() Just so everyone knows, this will be the last post here.
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