![]() ![]() Mos Def's singing on tracks like "Climb" and "Umi Says" is a bit hard to stomach, too. If you don't like Tribe-style laidback beats, you may have a more difficult time getting into this. True, Black on Both Sides isn't flawless. Inspiring, no? The current state of punk and independent rock could stand to learn a thing or two from this man. The man does it all- addressing serious socio-political issues while remaining positive and affirmative from start to finish. When was the last time you heard an MC drop a line like, "Mind over matter and soul before flesh"? When was the last time you heard somebody rap about the global economic and environmental consequences of first-world corporate waste and subsequent aquatic pollution? When was the last time you heard a hip-hopper sing competently over a phat-ass beat about the white appropriation of black art forms? Or end a song appropriately with a Bad Brains-influenced rockout, where both the drums and bass are played by the same guy? With artists like this finally getting the respect they deserve, we could be entering a new era of hip-hop. ![]() If you didn't, it's clearly time to put Ol' Dirty on that shelf reserved for insane, materialist misogynists, and repent. If you heard Def's previous outings with Black Star, you probably saw this coming. Nigga") has hip-hop seen an MC as intelligent, as lyrically proficient, and as baby-butt smooth as Mos Def. Not since the emergence of A Tribe Called Quest and Q-Tip (who makes a brief guest appearance here on Mr. Such is the story with hip-hop's messiah of '99, Mos Def, and his solo debut, Black on Both Sides.īut, in a sea of lousy, burnt-out critics, why should you believe me? For starters, nobody serviced me to write this. But every once in a while, an album will make its way through reviewer after reviewer, deservedly earning absurdly high marks with nary a scratch. This goes a long way toward explaining the large majority of popular culture. Slimy publicist types that aren't afraid to trade a little fellatio for a winning review. Recklessly irresponsible critics whose ideas of "good" and "bad" have been irreparably damaged by years of exposure to loads and loads of shitty music.Ģ. Watch Joey’s cover of “UMI Says” up top, and check out his interview with Triple J below.1. “We have blocks emotionally, spiritually, mentally and this song just feels like a moment in Mos Def’s life where a block was lifted for him, you know what I’m saying? Because sometimes we feel like we need permission to share our light.” Whether he spoke to his homie and went to the studio that same day or he went the next day or the week after, either way, you can tell that moment resonated with him deeply and it opened him up.” ![]() Joey continued: “I think it’s one of those songs that immediately follows the experience that inspired it. This was a song that truly just felt, you know what I’m saying? And that’s probably what I admired about it the most.” ![]() As an artist I can tell this was a song that wasn’t written. “I feel like I could almost relate to what Mos Def is speaking on. “It’s such a spiritual connection that I have to this song,” he shared. In a post-performance interview, Joey revealed the track is “one of my favorite songs of all time.” Joey Badass covered Mos Def’s “UMI Says” in the latest edition of Australian radio station Triple J’s Like a Version series.īacked by a live band featuring rising Zimbabwe-born, Melbourne-based singer KYE, the Brooklyn rapper delivered a smooth cover of the classic ballad, which originally appeared on Mos Def’s 1999 solo debut Black On Both Sides. ![]()
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