Mos Def

Mos Def's sophomore album, The New Danger, is remarkably different from his 1999 bow, Black on Both Sides.That memorable debut possessed literate rhymes delivered with razor-sharp timing; The New Dangerrelies on smart scat rap leisurely doled out. Black on Both Sidesoffered late-'90s boom bap and neo-soul; The New Dangerindulges in Black Rock Coalition grunge and Ghostface Killah-styled soul loops. Black on Both Sideswas a hallmark of indie rap heroics; The New Dangeris pure black bohemianism, one of a growing canon built on Outkast's Stankonia.

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More About

• Mos Def
• Ghostface Killah
• Marvin Gaye
• Hip-Hop and Rap
• Conscious Rap

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The New Dangeris more than just Mos Def bugging out in a studio. "The Easy Spell" is hard, freaky funk courtesy of his hard-rock side project, Black Jack Johnson, while "Sunshine" is a psychedelic roots winner produced by Kanye West. Then there's the nine-minute opus "Modern Marvel" in which Mos Def builds to an epiphany over a reverberating sample of Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On": "If Marvin was alive now/Wow, what would I say to him/Global imprisonment, sickness, indifference/When he said, 'Save the babies,' was we listening?"

It's a testament to Mos Def's power as a conceptualist that he comes close to articulating his vision. Yet, barring moments of clarity such as "Modern Marvel," many songs just meander into rambling, freestyle-like raps. On "Life Is Real," he tailors a host of rhymes around the same end words, rapping "My whole life is real/Morning, noon, and night is real/When I spit, what I write is real." The effect would be kinetic if he were flowing on a hit such as Busta Rhymes' "Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Can See." But the music pleases sporadically, too often mimicking Mos Def's own vocal wanderings. The New Dangerseems perfect for a year filled with interesting, occasionally awe-inspiring albums that don't really work as a whole, from the Fiery Furnaces' Blueberry Boatto the Roots' The Tipping Point. Of course, it's those brief, brilliant sparks that everyone remembers and make Mos Def's vacillations worth listening to. -- Mosi Reeves