Mos Def

Man, has Mos Def come a long way from "Big Brother Beat" (which he performed with De La Soul on their 1996 album, Stakes is High) and The Cosby Msyteries, a short-lived Bill Cosby TV show that Def appeared on when he was starting out as an actor in the mid-'90s. Since that time, Def has gone from being one-third of the Rawkus conscious rappers Black Star to becoming one of the most talented cats in the arts -- any arts. This unbelievable follow-up to Def's landmark 1999 release Black on Both Sides finds Def embedding head-bobbing bounce-hop like "Champion Requiem" and "Close Edge" -- a tune he performed in a car with Dave Chappelle on the comedian's hilarious show -- firmly in the rap community's head.

But unlike almost every rapper on MTV or BET, Def is no one-trick pony. On The New Danger, he also constructs some serious cage-rattling psychedelic rap-rock with his band Black Jack Johnson, which features bassist Doug Wimbish and drummer Will Calhoun from Living Colour, guitarist Dr. Know from Bad Brains, and world-beating keyboardist Bernie Worrell from P-Funk. (Somewhere, Ice-T's Body Count is rotating in its music history dustbin). Although some are tripping on the seemingly incomplete tunes laid down by Black Jack Johnson, anyone with a smattering of P-Funk knowledge will understand that the phat-ass riffs laid down "Freaky Black" and "Ghetto Rock" are all about the sticky grooves that Clinton and company used to turn out like so many disciples. Which is another way of saying that fans of P-Funk's extended jams like "The Goose" and "P.E. Squad/DooDoo Chasers" will feel right at home here.

Sure, Black on Both Sides raised expectations on Def to incredible heights, but this album is far from its sequel. It’s a fully intact tangential cousin to Black that should be required listening for every jackass spinning anything by one-shotters like 50 Cent, Chingy and whatever other crap is pumping on Rap City. Buy it now. -- Scott Thill, Morphizm.com

When it takes you five years to follow up a debut of near-landmark stature, you're setting yourself up for failure. Mos Def's second solo album is not disastrous, but it's a sprawling, overambitious mess. A handful of songs from this 75-minute affair feature Black Jack Johnson, the rock band Mos set up with some very respected musicians: bassist Doug Wimbish (Sugar Hill house band, Living Colour), drummer Will Calhoun (Living Colour), guitarist Dr. Know (Bad Brains), and keyboardist Bernie Worrell (Parliament/Funkadelic). Unsurprisingly, the hottest moments tend to come when Mos sticks to what he does best. One slight exception to this is "Modern Marvel," a nine-minute suite smeared with a series of Marvin Gaye samples. Mos sings in whispers (he makes Pharrell sound like Luther, but he has the required spirit), momentum floats in as easy as a light breeze, and then the MC shifts into goose pimple-raising mode. Throughout the whole thing, his conviction is apparent. ~ Andy Kellman, All Music Guide