True Magic [PA]

Performer: Mos Def
Producer: Pharrell Williams; Kanye West; Rich Harrison
Distributor: Universal Distribution

Notes: Those who've seen his stage show know that Mos Def works from inspiration, going with the music wherever it takes him. Throughout his recording career--from his status as one of the brightest stars in the original Rawkus line-up, to his classic teaming with Talib Kweli as the duo Black Star, to his genre-transcending solo albums--Mos Def has utilized his own diverse musical tastes to produced an equally diverse sound. In the past he's built on rock (like the Red Hot Chili Peppers' "Under The Bridge") and soul recordings, and put post-modern spins on classic hip-hop beats and rhymes, taking them and making them his own. On his highly anticipated third solo album, TRU3 MAGIC, Mos Def works in the same vein as always, staying true to his tastes and simply doing what he feels (which could really result in just about anything). Whether he's spitting and whistling over the classic GZA "Liquid Swords" beat on "Crime & Medicine," rap/singing over the JBs-esque jam session "Sun, Moon, Stars," channeling Living Colour's Cory Glover for the frenzied hard-rock howl of "U R the One," or reworking timelessly quotable verses from Run-DMC and Smooth Bee, it's all hip-hop and it's pure Mos Def.

Like many rappers, New York underground hip-hop hero Mos Def was first heard on guest appearances with other artists, in this case Da Bush Babees and De La Soul. It was his 1998 collaboration with the like-minded Talib Kweli in the duo Black Star that brought him fame, however. A subsequent solo album full of similarly progressive tracks was well received, but it was Mos Def's film roles in the late '90s/early '00s (THE ITALIAN JOB, BAMBOOZLED, BROWN SUGAR, etc.) that heightened the forward-looking rapper's profile even further.

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