Dear Mos Def,

The next record (if there is one), better be good!

Mos Def at Sala Bikini BCN Nov. 30th:

I have to admit walking into this concert I felt skeptical…. Hip-hop shows are a gamble. Don’t get me wrong I love hip-hop, its just live hip-hop often falls flat. The sound is so highly produced, I find myself missing the layered vocals, the effects. Add to that the fact that ‘turntableism” seems to be dead(ish) and Mos’s mp3, started skipping in the first five minutes. (wack)

Also energy wise, it hard for a MC to compete with a live band. You can go the route of imagine Living Legends, who have eight rappers on stage at once, towels in hand, all the MC’s rapping along to all the lyrics! Fun but not terribly focused.

With that in mind, as I walked into the very packed Sala Bikini, looked at bare stage with two forlorn looking DJ tables set up, I thought to myself, this is gonna be boring.

My expectations, mind you were already kinda low. Like where has Mos been? Granted seeing him in “The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy” and looking forward to the upcoming, Michel Gondry film, “Be Kind, Please Rewind” is super cool, but where are the songs? The follow up to Ms. Fat Booty, or Definition?

Since Mos’s seminal solo release, 99’s Black on Both Sides, Mos seems to be kinda lost musically. Black on Both Sides was mind you an important record, one of the few in my mind that bridged New York’s conscious (native tongues roots), with just enough jiggy goodness to be a fun record. With hits and a message, it was a great balance, Ms. Fat Booty to this day gets the girls all excited, Umi says, still makes you feel nostalgic. It was good, Mos was good and cool and charismatic, (face it Talib Qwali is kinda boring, Mos was the chosen one!)

Since Black on Both Sides, he’s released three records, The New Danger, True Magic and what appears to be a mix tape? Mos Definite. I don’t know what to say, The New Danger saw Mos trying to possibly invigorate the rap scene, by making a rock record, sounded kinda great on paper? The problem, it didn’t sound good, it didn’t resonate at all. You have to give him props for trying but no go.

The next record, True Magic, was so quietly released, so sparsely packaged, so poorly mixed even! It gave the impression that no one really cared, not even Mos. The mixtape, seems ok, but Mos rapping over the beat of Common’s “The Corner’ it not the comeback necessary in this case.

So where does that leave us? Oh yeah, back at the concert, I was feeling like “mehhh this is probably gonna suck”. Mos takes the stage, all alone, with his DJ’s looking as bored as fuck! He seems to be in good spirits, he opens up with some of his new stuff, which sounds fine, not amazing, not terrible. The crowd mostly because Barcelona has the most receptive crowd... BCN gets crazy for every show! It’s a good look!

From there it goes like this, Mos just has to throw out a little love and the crowd goes wild. This warms him up, his face starts to sparkle, he gets excited, and then drops a new track, which he quite proudly announces is produced by Madlib. The crowd responds, the tracks sound decent. From here, possibly running out of material he feels like playing, Mos starts kinda acting like a he’s hosting a party, playing and rapping over other people’s beats, Kanye West, Tribe, Gregory Issacs. It’s weird granted but its fun. The crowd is having fun, Mos is very apparently having fun, even the DJ’s look a little more animated. Then wrapping it up, Mos (FINALLY) pulls out the hits, and performs with all the charisma and talent, which made him so amazing in the first place.

And then crowd leaves happy! Satisfied! Which for a hip hop show is a big deal. So the what’s the point of all this rambling? Here’s the thing, I was pretty much ready to quit Mos Def, I had stored him away in the cabinet where washed up rappers with acting careers go. But after seeing this show, I feel hopeful, hopeful that Mos still gives a shit about rap, that people still give a shit about him, and lastly, that it is possible, maybe, maybe the next record is gonna be good! And we can welcome back the Mos we have all been missing since 99. Only time will tell, and we are waiting patiently.

-Wendy.