Mos Def's The Ecstatic Tour with Erykah Badu and Jay Electronica
September 4, 2009, Paramount Theater
Better Than: Hip-Hop Karaoke Night.
"No disrespect to any dudes who rap. But I'm a bad motherfucker."
Thus spake Mos Def.
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EKAphotography copyright 2009. all rights reserved
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The MC: Mos Def
The Brooklyn MC (and occasional big screen actor) wasn't just bamboozling the Oakland crowd who poured into the Paramount on a night halfway between summer and fall. Def really
is a bad motherfucker - not bad meaning bad, but bad meaning good.
Talent-wise, he's been in the upper echelon of hip-hop artists for well over a decade, since first being introduced to the world by
De La Soul on their
Stakes is High album, 14 years ago. His 1998 solo debut
Black on Both Sides is an acknowledged classic, though his recorded output over the last ten years has been somewhat sparse, with just two albums (
The New Danger and
True Magic) released prior to his 2009 offering,
The Ecstatic.
At this point, Mos is pretty much the consummate MC. He backed up his
braggadocio with a set which featured a dynamic stage presence, plenty
of verbal gymnastics, and even entered Michael Jackson territory at one
point, as Mos followed up a passable rendition of "Billie Jean" with a
moonwalking glide across the Paramount stage.
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EKAphotography copyright 2009. all rights reserved
