& Rakim’s “I Know You Got Soul,” as he testifies to being consumed by his passion to create, chronicling how he first fell in love with the music during an era when few considered that hip-hop would have a lasting legacy. Over a piano loop of Bill Evans’ “I Love You Porgy,” Mos pays homage to classic tracks like Eric B. Meanwhile, “Love” is Mos’ love letter to the art of emceeing. Mos also stresses how the music is not created in a vacuum, but rather it’s shaped by the environment in which it’s created. He outlines the art form’s evolution, explaining how emcees can construct their rhymes, and breaking down the cyclical nature of popularity within the music. The Diamond D-produced “Hip-Hop” plays like a journal recounting the important components of the culture, each one integral to its development. Mos begins Black On Both Sides by speaking extensively about his love for the music. His drive to create and inspire is impressive, and it resulted in an album that still holds up today. He tackles both the macro and micro, educating the listeners about global shortages while also chasing the fine shorty who lives up the block. Clocking in at over 70 minutes, it sometimes feels overlong and in need of focus, but when it’s on point, it’s better than many of the releases of its era.
Black On Both Sides seemed to point to a trajectory where what he could achieve as an artist had no ceiling.īlack On Both Sides is a sprawling undertaking that matches Mos Def’s aspirations. He possessed the lyrical skills and limitless charisma. He was not only a skilled emcee, but a skilled vocalist as well, capable of crooning melodic verses as well as he could deliver potent rhymes. I’ve written before that during this period of time it appears that Mos Def was going to end up as one of the greatest hip-hop artists of all-time. Mos eventually formed the hip-hop super duo Black Star with fellow BK resident Talib Kweli, and released their debut album Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star in 1998.
He soon became one of the cornerstones of Rawkus Records, a Manhattan-based independent label that was becoming synonymous with non-mainstream hip-hop. As the decade progressed, the Brooklyn native made appearances on records by De La Soul and began establishing a presence in New York’s thriving underground scene. Mos Def first began to attract a following in the mid ’90s as a member of Urban Thermo Dynamics, along with his brother and sister. With Black On Both Sides, his debut album, he decides to set trends rather than follow them. He continues, “So the next time you ask yourself where hip-hop is going ask yourself: where am I going? How am I doing?” While Mos implores his audience to be proactive in helping hip-hop music put its best foot forward, he himself is ready to lead by example. Mos Def speaks these words on “Fear Not Of Man,” the intro to Black On Both Sides, and they resonate as powerfully now as they did 20 years ago, when the album was first released. Yasiin Bey), perfectly illustrates how questions about the “state” of hip-hop are so often misguided. This statement, made by Dante “Mos Def” Smith (a.k.a. “People talk about hip-hop like it's some giant living in the hillside, coming down to visit the townspeople. Happy 20th Anniversary to Mos Def’s debut solo album Black On Both Sides, originally released October 12, 1999.
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