![]() ![]() The Mos Def "A Tribe Called Quest" song, which is what I call this Ali- Shaheed Muhammad track. Well, it worked for Pharoahe, but not so much for The Cosby Mysteries's Mos Def. I guess he thought he was doing these two underground artists a favor. I always thought it weird that Busta Rhymes made it a point to appear on both Mos Def's and Pharoahe Monch's respective debut albums, especially since they were marketed together. Maybe some speed would help my attention span a little, but I doubt it. I remember liking this back in the day, but listening to it today, it's actually very dull. Mos also recorded a sequel featuring, of all people, Ghostface Killah: sadly, that song isn't that great. I've always kind of liked this Ayatollah-produced song, possibly because I remember the girl in its accompanying video being pretty cute, but I haven't seen the video in several years, so I may be mixing up my video chicks. I would have selected something, I don't know, better as the first real song on my debut album, regardless if Diamond D had a hand in its production. He does spit a short verse toward the end, though. Mos Def samples Fela Kuti's "Fear Not For Man" for a rap album intro that's about four minutes too long. The critics were kind, for the most part, but Mos Def would soon move on to Hollywood, and now only seems to focus on musical appearances of the cameo nature his own solo albums are only sporadically released, and the fans that Black On Both Sides earned him seem to be slipping out of his grasp as each year passes.Īt least there's always "Drunk & Hot Girls". Rawkus was so delighted with the finished disc that they built a marketing campaign around the release of both Mos Def's album and the debut solo disc from Organized Konfusion's Pharoahe Monch, Internal Affairs, which were released a week apart.īlack On Both Sides sold well enough to earn a gold plaque from the RIAA, and even scored some airplay on MTV. ![]() He appealed to both the underground and the mainstream by securing representatives from both parties to make contributions, and even decided to sing on more than a few tracks (fans of the Black Star album won't be surprised by that last statement). Although Mos Def had recorded songs prior to the Black Star project (and was even part of a group or two that released albums independently), this was his first solo album where he could do whatever he wanted, musically, and he took advantage of his situation by delivering an album that can only be classified as " mostly hip-hop". Around this time, Rawkus Records decided to invest some money into Mos and Kweli individually: Kweli went back to his friend, producer Hi- Tek, to put together a project for their duo, Reflection Eternal, while Mos Def decided to go for dolo.īlack On Both Sides is the final product. The year 1999 was such a time, as Mos found himself riding a wave of critical (if not commercial) success, triggered by his Black Star collaborative effort with fellow hip hop stalwart Talib Kweli, creatively titled Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star, probably because some rock group had already taken the Black Star name (the same thing happened to failed rap supergroup The Firm). He may be best known as an actor today, starring in films like Be Kind Rewind (which was not a very good movie at all, although I will concede that the overall message was touching, and the ' Sweded' films were mostly pretty funny), but there was once a time when Dante Smith, pornographically known as Mos Def, was focused on his music. ![]()
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