Mos Def- Black on Both Sides

Picture your author at the turn of the century. Tight cornrows, giant stones in my ears, and a white on white Ecko tracksuit. High level balling. I’m standing at the back stand of the music store in the mall, where you would find me pricing factory fresh compact discs next a large Orange Julius. Scanning the manifest, Mos Def’s Black on Both Sides glistens like a tear falling from the face of a heartbroken virgin. Looking back, I did not make many good decisions during the inferno of my pubescence, however, buying this album stands as one of the best choices I’ve ever made. This album is a masterpiece. Let’s walk through the beginning, only to whet your appetite, to inspire you to stop what you’re doing, and submit to 71 minutes and 21 seconds of golden era hip-hop perfection.

Fear Not of Men:
Begins with a prayer, continues into a manifesto of ethos, meanders into Brooklyn bred boom bap, and pre-heats the fever with the first of many verses pulled from pure metanoia:

All over the world hearts pound with the rhythm
Fear not of men because men must die
Mind over matter and soul before flesh
Angels hold a pen keep a record in time

Ouf.

Hip Hop:

A true master soars on eagle wings to assess the game in an incredible essay on the state of things. His last bars are as concise as they are profound:

Hip Hop will simply amaze you, praise you, pay you

Do whatever you say do, but, black, it can't save you

A+ Work.

Love:

From the student to the teacher. This song blew my young mind wide open to the multifaceted and omnipresent power of love. Mos speaks to the love of craft, of God, of his parents, of his city, of his planet. Here taste this:

Is this the pain of too much tenderness

To make me nod my head in reverence?

Should I visit this place in remembrance?

Or build landmarks here as evidence?

Nighttime, spirit shook my temperament

To write rhymes that portray this sentiment

We live the now for the promise of the infinite

He also quotes Rakim in the chorus, respect due to the true master.

Ms Fat Booty:

Perfect narrative hip-hop storytelling. Mos recounts the tale of a love affair that arced through his year like an electrical surge:

In she came with the same type game

The type of girl giving out the fake cell phone and name

Big fame, she like cats with big things

Jewels chipped, money clip, phone flip, the six range

I seen her on the Ave, spotted her more than once

Ass so fat that you could see it from the front

The perfect introduction seducing you into a taut tale of his romantic encounter. The ambiguous ending leaves no question as to the outcome but leaves the thought lingering like the memory of a love lost.

See me now?

Mos Def’s Black on Both Sides is a perfect hip hop album.

An incredible journey sitting on the centre altar of a temple outside of time and space.

It changed me, as a gift from the divine is wont to do, go listen now.