Mos Def - The Ecstatic

From Red and Meth to Cube and Common, Hollywood has sanded the edges away from too many MCs who've dared to court her over the years. Proving a rare exception to the rule, seasoned actor Mos Def takes us back to the source with The Ecstatic, a record that doesn’t depend on Scott Storch and auto-tune when rhymes go bad. Instead, Mos reels his listener in by layering succinct polemics over Neptunes-crafted boom bap and brass-led symphonies while selfless sermons are rasped atop vibrant soul-jazz numbers. Whether it’s down to the thrill of sharing the silver screen with Bill Bailey and Bruce Willis or bouncing ideas around the studio with Slick Rick (killing us softly as ‘The Ruler’ on Auditorium) and Madlib (better synchronising cuts from his Beat Konducta in India volumes with Mos's endearingly smooth flow), not since his Rawkus days of Black on Both Sides has Mos Def sounded quite this hungry.