The Ecstatic

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Average Customer Rating:	4.0
Release Date:	2009-06-09
Publisher:	Downtown
Artist:	Mos Def
Track 1:	Supermagic
Track 2:	Twilite Speedball
Track 3:	Auditorium
Track 4:	Wahid
Track 5:	Priority
Track 6:	Quiet Dog Bite Hard
Track 7:	Life in Marvelous Times
Track 8:	The Embassy
Track 9:	No Hay Nada Mas
Track 10:	Pistola
Track 11:	Pretty Dancer
Track 12:	Workers Comp
Track 13:	Revelations
Track 14:	Roses
Track 15:	History
Track 16:	Casa Bey
Weight:	0.2 pounds

Product Categories

East Coast; Experimental Rap; Pop Rap; Gift Ideas for Music Lovers; CD Album; Main Albums; All product; Music

Product description

Newly signed to DOWNTOWN RECORDS, 'The Ecstatic' is most MOSDEF's 4th album after groundbreaking efforts like 1999's 'Black On Both Sides'and is his most innovative yet. The list of producers is astounding MAD LIB,CHAD HUGO (N.E.R.D.), GEORGIA ANNE

Customer reviews

« 4.5 stars - The Ecstatic »

A great comeback to the likeable Mos Def. I have to admit, his previous work, True Magic and The New Danger were mediocre at best and to be honest I was not expecting much, but WOW! I don't go crazy for post 2000s albums, but I was impressed with Mos Def's efforts with this one. I loved the production work along with Mos Def's crazy wordplay. I ranked this as the second best album of 2009, falling behind Only Built 4 Cuban Linx... Pt. 2. Maybe I'm being a little bias, due to being a Wu-head, but I kid you not, this album great. If you MF Doom, J-Dilla and Madlib, you will like this.

Rating: (5 out of 5) @ 2010-08-12

« Revelatory »

I couldn't wait till this album dropped. I went to the record store to get it the day I thought it was supposed to be released, but apparently it had been pushed back. I then went on with life and forgot about it.

That was a mistake. I should have tracked this till the exact second it was released. The music is fantastic. The rhymes are fantastic. Hell, the album art is fantastic. I love this album.

With that being said, it will not be to everyone's satisfaction. Lil Wayne fans may be confused by the musicality expressed here. There are no repetitive bass and synth beats here. Instead, the Ecstatic is populated with off- kilter horn stabs, Middle Eastern flourishes, intelligent samples (Malcom X makes an appearance), and pulsating rhythms that make you want to everything from jumping up and dancing to sitting back and thinking about life.

Overall, Mos Def really decided to push the form here. He is one of the few MCs out there really trying to mesh the rhymes with the beats. Too often I feel that most in the game just try to pick up the best beat they can get a hold of and spit anything over it (again, see Lil Wayne here, what the hell is he saying?). Mos Def is really working to make hip hop a cohesive art form, and for that he can't get enough praise.

Cuts: Supermagic, Twilight Speedball, Auditorium (Slick Rick in effect), Priority, Quiet Dog Bite Hard, Life In Marvelous Times, The Embassy, Workers Comp., Roses, History (Black Star reunion - Hi- Tek)

Rating: (5 out of 5) @ 2010-08-04

« I'm just not impressed »

I am a Mos Def fan. But this CD sounds like left over beats from Black Jack Johnson Project. The lyrical flow is there as always, but it's nothing new. I expect Black Dante to bring something fresh, and it didn't deliver. Of course, it's better than 95% of the hip hop CDs out there so I guess I'm just putting too high of a standard on him. Buy it. You won't be too sorry.

Rating: (4 out of 5) @ 2010-06-22

« And it keeps growing... »

This is a repeat listen album. I have to admit I passed it off as mediocre when I listened to it for the first time. It took a good couple spoonfuls before it hit me, and once you're open to this album the hits go straight to the stomach.

There is NOTHING a hip-hop lover cannnot adore about this album.
Musically? The arrangements are complex and amazingly sophisticated. No one song sounds like the other, but the album isn't too experimental to feel scattered or messy. Maybe only "Life in Marvelous Times" and "History" feel like they don't belong but that might just be me, and the songs are too good for anyone to be upset. Great beats and a wonderful variety of tempo and feel to each song.

Lyrically? "I speak it so clearly sometimes yall don't hear me" seems to be the overall theme of the album. On the surface it sounds almost relaxed, and I've heard a couple people say (to my shock and disbelief) that it sounds like he freestyled the whole album. When you truly listen, and I mean closed eyes and boppin head listen, you realize the mastery it takes to develop ideas and themes the way Mos does. I could talk about this for hours but if you don't believe me, Pistola, History, and Revelations deserve your full ear. And although I mostly can't stand rappers who do nothing but preach, I admired how Mos handles spiritual and political conduct without shoving it down your ears. True vet.

Content? YOU WILL NOT FIND CLUB HITS ON THIS ALBUM. Politics as it relates to the struggles of today's common man and personal growth are prevalent topics. It's a 'this is what's really going on' album. Still doesn't mean you can't enjoy dancing to Quiet Dog, Pretty Dancer, and Casa Bey...

Flow? It's a very familiar Mos, and while it may be a more serious tone than past albums, you still hear the energy in his voice where it's appropriate. It's a formula that needs no tweaking, and in my opinion if it ain't broke don't fix it. Only surprise comes in when he starts rapping in spanish...which in my opinion is just so freeking cool. Such a chill badass.

Guest appearances? Not too many, but then again random artists featured on every single song always annoyed me. The most substantive appearances are in the actual production of the songs, and the exclusivity makes it all the more Def. He didn't compromise quality for quantity, and to me it feels more intimate that way.

I could go on forever...but this has become a hands-down favorite of mine. If you're still on the fence, I promise it will grow on you. My only complaint is that by the time you start to fully enjoy the song, it ends! But then again short albums always prompted guiltless playbacks =]...

Rating: (5 out of 5) @ 2010-06-06

« Mos Def's "The Ecstatic" gets the seal of approval »

After a three year hiatus, Mos Def released his new album in 2009. "The Ecstatic" is his first effort on the indie label Downtown Records, which is also home to Gnarls Barkley and Santigold. This album is also his first to not carry a Parental Advisory sticker, as there is no profane language to be found anywhere. Unlike most of his albums in the past that reflected his eclecticism, this album is a straight-up hip hop record with the production being handled primarily by Preservation, Madlib and Madlib's younger brother Oh No. There are no instrumental songs, no rock songs and he barely even sings. In fact, on the song "Roses", Georgia Anne Muldrow does most of the singing. On the J. Dilla produced "History", he is joined by fellow Black Star member Talib Kweli giving way to a possible Black Star reunion. The Neptunes, who previously produced "Murder Of A Teenage Life" on 2006's "True Magic" return for the foot-stomper "Twilite Speedball". The long-absent Slick Rick steals the show with his cameo on the album's best song "Auditorium". Mos even tries his hand at performing an entire song in Spanish on "No Hay Nada Mas" and closes the album with "Casa Bey" which is also the lead off single. Although this is a great album, it's also pretty short being that quite a bit of songs are around the two minute range. Still in all, it's worth checking out for anyone who thought Mos let movies and the Hollywood scene get to him.

Rating: (5 out of 5) @ 2010-05-17

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