Contest: Win A Copy Of Mos Def’s The Ecstatic + Limited Edition Poster
- story THE FADER
The world has waited on the Mighty Mos for what seems like an eternity now. Sure, True Magic dropped in ‘06, but we couldn’t even tell if it was really out or just a figment of Mos’ imagination. And since then he’s been pretty hard to find outside of streetwear conventions. Surprisingly though, The Ecstatic, which drops today, once again presents Mos as the rapper’s rapper who shattered brain-spaces with Black On Both Sides, strengthening his case for inclusion at the top of the oh so trendy rapper rankings cluttering up the blogosphere. Hearing is believing, however, so we’re giving away a copy of the The Ecstatic along with a limited edition album poster. All you have to do is send your name and address in an email with Mos Def as the subject to contests@thefader.com to get the Mos you’ve been missing.
Video/Freeload: Mos Def, “Casa Bey”
- story THE FADER
Out of everything we’ve heard from Mos’ The Ecstatic, “Casa Bey” is definitely the mos(t) lo-fi of the bunch, co-produced by Mos himself and his sometime tour DJ Preservation. We watched this video about a month ago at his label’s office and our first reaction was that if text actually came out of your mouth when you talked the skies of New York City would be blackened with “fucking assholes.” So we’re pretty glad that this process is confined to this well-executed clip directed by Coodie and Chike.
Freeload: Mos Def, “Quiet Dog”
- story THE FADER
We remain optimistic that The Ecstatic will be released despite there being no evidence to support that optimism other than leaks and live versions of songs from it. This is the latest one, which according to an ad in our new issue is the second single after “Life In Marvelous Times”, and it’s pretty good, though we can’t remember the last time radio played a song whose chorus was a lightly pedaled bass drum and a whispered “simmer down now.” Prove us wrong, Hot 97.
Download: Mos Def, “Quiet Dog”
Freeload: Mos Def, “Life in Marvelous Times”
- story THE FADER
Several weeks ago—pre-Obama, pre-Rahm, pre-(potentially)Hillary, pre-Change.gov—RCRD LBL debuted a stream of Mos Def’s new single, and, at the time, it did nothing to alleviate our anxiety over the politrickery going down around this country. In fact, we found ourselves spewing all kinds of wacky conspiracy theories that day, probably in no small part inspired by Mos. But now that we’ve settled ourselves a little bit, this song has taken on a new purpose: It’s our new theme song for complaining specifically about New York’s budget deficit! YAY!
Download: Mos Def, “Life in Marvelous Times” (via RCRD LBL)
Audio: Mos Def, “Life in Marvelous Times”
- story THE FADER
Mos Def has always been a big part of FADER history—he even sat on the FADER Ford—so we have been anxiously awaiting his new album The Ecstatic on Downtown Records since we heard about him signing. RCRD LBL is now streaming the first single from that album, and, unsurprisingly, Mos sounds fired up by current events, rapping and singing his particular brand of existential angst. What is surprising is how Mr Flash’s beat sounds like the theme to Spy Hunter or something. Not that that’s bad, we loved that game like a brother.
Stream: Mos Def, “Life in Marvelous Times”
Photo: FADER/Cornerstone 150 Jumpoff
- story THE FADER
Last night we all had a lot of fun. After admiring the Ford Focus (with FADER decals!) out front of the Bowery Ballroom, we went inside and responsibly drank Pepsi, even more responsibly drank some Bud Select. Then we moved on to drinking straight SoCo, at which our responsibility was truly tested. After composing ourselves, we swooped upstairs to watch White Williams, lost our shit times a million to Justice (distinguished FADER editors were stage diving!) and then reminisced with Mos Def. In between sets, we went wild for Tony Touch and DJ Enuff, and somehow ended up at home, where we showered and came to work. Check for the epic photos after the jump. Prediction for parties in 2008: TRUST FALLS.
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posted on Dec 11, 2007 in MUSIC NEWS tags Dj Enuff, hip hop, Justice, Mos Def, MUSIC-NEWS, rock, Tony Touch, White Williams
