No's Oxperiment, while Madlib incorporated samples from his Beat Konducta in India (2007) record. For The Ecstatic, Oh No reused some of his productions from his 2007 album Dr. Flash, Oh No, Madlib, and Preservation, who previously produced some of True Magic 's songs. The songs "Twilight Speedball", "No Hay Nada Mas", and "Roses" were partially recorded at Hovercraft Studios in Virginia Beach, Someothaship Connect in Los Angeles, and New York City's Downtown Music Studios. Mos Def recorded most of the album in sessions at the Record Plant in Los Angeles. Īfter his tenure on Geffen ended, Mos Def signed a record deal with the independent label Downtown Records and proceeded to record The Ecstatic as his first album for the label. To me the job of an artist is to provide a useful and intelligent vocabulary for the world to be able to articulate feelings they experience every day.
I hate certain conditions that are inflicted upon the people-and they're helpless with it. It's more than the people that they are, it's the condition that they represent. You have to experience life, make observations, ask questions. I'm not trying to manipulate people's thoughts or sentiments. Speaking with Spank Rock for Interview magazine, Mos Def expressed a jadedness with the commodifying aspect of the hip hop industry and elucidated his artistic goals at the time: The quality of the album, along with his repeated ventures away from recording hip hop, left "some fans wondering if Mos Def's acting accomplishments were finally affecting his music", PopMatters critic Quentin B. In 2006, his third album True Magic was released haphazardly by Geffen Records to fulfill a contractual obligation while he was devoting more time to his acting career. However, it struggled to reach mainstream audiences beyond Mos Def's fan base and led the already disillusioned rapper further away from the music industry, resulting in less recorded work from him over subsequent years.īy the mid 2000s, Mos Def had established himself as one of hip hop music's leading auteurs with records that sold millions of copies while realizing a pan-African worldview, although the rapper grew increasingly wary of the music industry. Some publications ranked it among the greatest albums of the 2000s decade, including The Times at number 30. As his DJ on the tour, Preservation began to develop remixes of the album's songs, which he later released on the remix album The REcstatic in 2013.Ī widespread critical success, The Ecstatic was viewed as a return to form for Mos Def and one of the best albums from 2009, with reviewers applauding its exuberant musical feel, adventurous creative range, and shrewd lyrical performances. To further support the album, Mos Def embarked on an international tour with concerts in North America, Japan, Australia, and the United Kingdom between August 2009 and April 2010.
#Mos def the ecstatic code#
Its sales benefited from its presence on Internet blogs and the release of a T-shirt illustrating the record's packaging alongside a label printed with a code redeemable for a free download of the album. The Ecstatic charted at number nine on the Billboard 200 in its first week of release and eventually sold 168,000 copies. For the album's front cover, a still from Charles Burnett's 1978 film Killer of Sheep was reproduced in red tint. Mos Def titled the album after one of his favorite novels, Victor LaValle's The Ecstatic (2002), believing its titular phrase evoked his singular musical vision.
Its loosely structured, lightly reverbed songs use unconventional time signatures and samples taken from a variety of international musical styles, including Afrobeat, soul, Eurodance, jazz, reggae, Latin, and Middle Eastern music. Mos Def's raps about global politics, love, war, spirituality, and social conditions are informed by the zeitgeist of the late 2000s, Black internationalism, and Pan-Islamic ideas, incorporating a number of Islamic references throughout the album. The work of Stones Throw rapper MF Doom was also cited by Mos Def as an influence, while singer Georgia Anne Muldrow, formerly of the record label, performed as one of the album's few guest vocalists, along with rappers Slick Rick and Talib Kweli.ĭescribed by music journalists as a conscious and alternative hip hop record, The Ecstatic features an eccentric, internationalist quality. Flash, Oh No, and Madlib, with the latter two reusing instrumentals they had produced on Stones Throw Records. He worked with producers such as Preservation, Mr. After venturing further away from hip hop with an acting career and two poorly received albums, Mos Def signed a recording contract with Downtown and recorded The Ecstatic primarily at the Record Plant in Los Angeles. The Ecstatic is the fourth album by American rapper Mos Def, released on June 9, 2009, by the independent record label Downtown Records.
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