my mom, 5 years ago

fear not of man by mos def

i'd heard of mos def, but hadn't ever heard him until i browsed through my mom's cd collection. my mom seemed to date black guys exclusively for years. i'd only been back in town for a couple of years, after having been in college and living out of state for a few more years. after getting my own apartment, i'd often visit my mom's place in northside and download music from the post-napster site. i can't even remember the name of it. it was better than napster, but not as good as the torrent file sharing site oink. [audiogalaxy!!] anyway, i digress, i'm getting off topic. i had heard great things about mos def, and his collaboration with talib kweli, as black star, but, again, i'd never heard him. [except for his appearance on de la soul's "stakes is high(1996)" song [big brother beat]. no doubt through the influence of a past boyfriend, my mom had 'black on both sides', mos' first proper solo album. it's pretty fucking good, and i've always liked the first track best, the first track on the album.

the song starts out with mos talking about the current (1999) state of hip hop, over nice, laid back, beats. even thought the chorus beat doesn't drop until 3 minutes in, the song is great. it has a good summertime feel. the beat and mos' delivery is extrememly catchy, a bit preachy and positive, but it doesn't get in the way of the song; it's so fun and life affirming. and i don't mean life affirming because of the socio-topical-godtalk lyrics. the beat and mos' attitude make you wanna move, make you fucking happy, the lyrics, nothing else, matters. i don't fucking dance unless i'm wasted (in public), but this does it for me.

enjoy

and buy mos' good stuff. he's had some shitty stuff, including some really really fucking shitty hard rock rap album, but some shit is awesome. kisses and night night my beloved listerreaders.

xo