The Ecstatic

Track by Track
Mos Def – The Ecstatic
Article: Zilla Rocca
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If you are reading your first Track by Track here on istandardproducers.com, then there are a few things you must know.

#1 The writers here at istandardproducers.com focus mostly on the beats … obviously – hence the name “PRODUCERS” in iStandardProducers.com… however we are still reviewing the record as a whole.

#2 EVERY track gets equal shine…

Mos Def’s first album in 3 years, The Ecstatic, is internationally known. You’ll probably never hear a major label rapper get beats from underground titans like Madlib, J Dilla, and Oh No and pilfering their crates for grooves chopped up in India, Africa, Turkey, and Brazil. Definitely the best album of Mos Def’s career next to his debut Black on Both Sides, The Ecstatic offers production that is challenging, funky, dark, weird, and fresh all at once. Let’s look at each track now.

1. “Supermagic” produced by Oh No

Opening a major label album with an excerpt from Malcolm X in 2009 = big cajones! Movie clips of dialogue have appeared less and less on rap albums. Sure it’s expensive to clear, but GODDAMN! The segue from Detroit Red to Oh No’s “Supermagic” (previously released as “Heavy” from Oh No’s 2007 instrumental release Dr. No’s Oxperiment via Stones Throw) is jarring and really sets off the album as an eclectic mix of third world indie fire power. The Turkish psychedelic guitars are dirty as dish water. The drums are buried in the mix, allowing Mos Def’s energetic and aggressive cadences to remain central. The bridge at 1:21 is cinematic. I can hear Hov letting that bitch breathe. The first track should always punch the listener in the mouth, and Oh No’s production has you spitting up teeth in two and a half minutes.
2. “Twilite Speedball” produced by Chad Hugo

Chad Hugo of the Neptunes has been incredibly quiet the past few years. Outside of production for Kenna, I’ve always wondered how exactly Hugo would respond on his own without Skateboard P in the studio. “Twilite Speedball” is the answer, a moody and looming monster of a track that wouldn’t sound out of place on a Ludacris or Clipse album. The heavy horn stabs are offset by a stuttering guitar lick that remind me of vintage RZA. The drum brushes are panned to give you a sense of soft rhythm while the track is stomping a mud hole in your ears. Some spare xylophones are sprinkled during the verses to contrast those horns. Mos Def caters his flow to each segment of the track expertly. A great album cut from a guy who’s still cashing those “Give it To Me” royalties.
3. “Auditorium” produced by Madlib featuring Slick Rick

First appearing on Madlib’s Beat Konducta in India album as “Movie Finale,” the track “Auditorium” is sequenced like a straight beat jack, which it inevitably is: intro, 32 bars, same intro, 32 bars, fade out. Madlib is a producer’s producer who has mastered just about every genre of black music since 1998, but he’s at his best when provided funky head nodders like “Auditorium,” a beat built around cinematic Indian strings, a simple kick and snap loop with a spacey bass line. More film dialogue pops up at 3:28 to complete the cinematic cipher. “Auditorium” sounds like it could’ve dropped in the heyday of Rawkus circa 1999 and fits in perfectly with the rest of the album.
4. “Wahid” produced by Madlib

“Wahid” is a newer Madlib invasion with his signature compressed lo-fi drums matched with a swooping Indian string movement. Clocking in at on 1:40, it’s more of an interlude with some hard drum fills sprinkled throughout for impact.

5. “Priority” produced by Preservation

The warm piano loop hooked up by Preservation, who really makes a name for himself on this album, takes us out of the movie theater from “Auditorium” and “Wahid” and back on the stoop with some warm trumpets and unquantized drums that feel like seven o’clock on a night in July. The sliding tambourine slithers in and out of the mix to give it a more loose, live feel. Another interlude at just under 2 minutes that sets up the center piece of The Ecstatic, “Quiet Dog Bite Hard”.

6. “Quiet Dog Bite Hard” produced by Preservation

“Quiet Dog” leaked earlier this year and sounds just as funky now. After an excerpt from Fela Kuti, Preservation freaks an African rhythm to devastating results. The booming 808’s provide that bang for the trunk. It feels like King Kong’s doing the two step. The combination of wood blocks and handclaps give the track a sublime organic feel. The tempo is faster, but the breaks give us some time to “simmer down” with some shakers. A very stripped down track that I couldn’t imagine anyone but Mos Def rocking to. I think Mos will be performing this alongside his classics like “Umi Says” and “Ms. Fat Booty” for a long time. QUIET DOG BITE HARD, LET’S ROCK!

7. “Life in Marvelous Times” produced by Mr. Flash

The biggest production on the album, “Life in Marvelous Times” could house Young Jeezy if Mos Def ever moved out of the booth. The massive, shiny drums are built for an arena. Mr. Flash provides a dark synth banger that sonically sounds out of place on the album. Conceptually, Mos pulls in the reins to keep the themes focused: the world we live in could be much better. But it will get better. Mr. Flash deserves kudos for an arrangement that is unpredictable, especially with the gladiator horns and extended outro.

8. “The Embassy” produced by Mr. Flash

I’m going to go out on a limb and say that Mr. Flash is not from the United States. The range he shows from “Life in Marvelous Times” to “The Embassy” is shocking. “The Embassy” abandons the contemporary style of the previous track and pulls us into the gutters of India with hectic percussions and a melody that would make Punjambi MC jealous. The intro and outro loops are straight up funk. This track is a mess in terms of arrangement—nothing segues in smoothly. It’s all a shock to the listener. Amazingly, The Ecstatic is built on moments like this and glides along comfortably.

9. “No Hay Nada Mas” produced by Preservation

A gorgeous chopped guitar sample by Preservation pulls the listener into a champagne room in Barcelona. The drums keep the track moving. This is the type of sample Alchemist would freak into something dark and slamming and Premier would make into a somber banger. Preservation chooses to create a mood piece that Mos uses as a canvas to sing and rhyme in Spanish for the duration.

10. “Pistola” produced by Oh No

Oh No flips a Billy Wooten sample from The Funky 16 Corners into a dope, gliding track reminiscent of “Brooklyn” from Mos’ first album Black on Both Sides. This is the type of track hip hop heads begs to hear Nas rhyme on every album. The hook is built on skittering cymbals and Roy Ayers-like xylophones—very jazzy. The verse is just some raw b-boy shit that carries the torch for Oh No and Madlib’s notorious overcompressed and dirty sound.

11. “Pretty Dancer” produced by Madlib

“Pretty Dancer” reminds me of the African funk/rock sound of Mos’ second album, the uneven The New Danger. Madlib makes his second to last appearance on the album with a thumping, bass heavy beat. The sparse instrumentation once again lets Mos’ vocals take the lead. The guitar samples at 2:34 give the track a sense of urgency and the drums never let up.

12. “Workers Comp” produced by Mr. Flash

A more conventional banger by Mr. Flash that would fit perfectly in M.O.P.’s catalogue. Plodding guitars and keys ride along at a BPM most frequently used by Just Blaze for full effect. The drum fills at 1:00 are a great little touch to a track where Mos sings and rhymes equally long. It’s very melodic, yet some of Mos’ harmonies take shine away from the beat. I’d love to hear this as a straight instrumental.

13. “Revelations” produced by Madlib

“Revelations” was first heard as an interlude on Madvillainy 2: The Madlib Remix. Thankfully, the Mighty Mos rescued it from oblivion and spit one of the most thought provoking and funny verses of the year. “Revelations” finds Madlib in full-on Beat Konducta mode. Industry producers beware: this is not for you. The creepy sound effects, the classics drops (“Louder!”), the menacing and gritty bass line that is thicker than crosstown beef. The flutes and kalimbas hop in and out, sounding like the theme music for a villain tying a damsel in distress to train tracks in a forgotten ‘60s cartoon. This is one of my favorite productions of the year.

14. “Roses” produced by and featuring Georgia Ann Muldrow

My least favorite song on the album. Georgia Ann Muldrow is another Stones Throw fam-a-lam who gets much deserved major label shine via The Ecstatic. She’s a damn fine producer and singer on her albums, but “Roses” is just too stale for my tastes. It sounds like a throwaway from an old Erykah Badu album. Live instrumentation meets the drum machine and synthesizer, but doesn’t leave a mark. I did like the piano solo at 2:46 though.

15. “History” produced by J Dilla featuring Talib Kweli

J Dilla gets another placement, and hip hop is better for it. Speaking objectively though, this is an underwhelming track from the Grandmaster of the Hand Clap. Luckily, Black Star reunite and handle business. Lesser MC’s on a beat this ho-hum would get the fast forward treatment. This is a definitely a case of the MCs making the track. “History” sounds like an outtake from the seminal classic Donuts when Dilla was freaking his collection of ‘45s like no other, and it is one of the newer Dilla tracks that hasn’t been floating around the internet for 2 years. I was expecting something more memorable from three giants though.

16. “Casa Bey” produced by Mos Def & Preservation

The second single from the album, “Casa Bey” is a reworking of Banda Black Rio’s “Casa Forte” with dizzying results. Mos and Preservation show their phenomenal chemistry by collabing on this production. A lot of people will tell you to hire musicians to interpolate sample sources, or add modern sounds to your samples for punch. “Casa Bey” is an example of a tireless groove that needs no outside brush-ups to rock! Kudos to Mos Def for adapting to various changes in time signatures with verses, bridges, and hooks that hover along the full-out funk blitz. Ending the album with a live band bodymover like “Casa Bey” was a brilliant move considering the chaotic randomness of the album sequencing. The piano outro at 3:53 is fantastic as well. Another future Mos Def classic he’ll be performing live for a loooooong time.

Overall, The Ecstatic is a whirlwind of beats from across the globe. Long-time fans of Mos Def should really enjoy the album, and fans of world music while be chomping at the bit to hear how some of the most talented (Madlib, Oh No) and lesser known producers (Preservation, Mr. Flash) go to work on records usually not chopped up for rap albums.

Rating: 4 out of 5

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This entry was posted on Friday, June 19th, 2009 at 12:55 am and is filed under Track-By-Track Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.