Mos def - the ecstatic zip

It was clear from 1998’s Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star that Mos Def had great potential. But it was Black on Both Sides—released the following year—that proved he was a once-in-a-generation talent.

The title of his debut solo album is a bit of an undersell: After all, there are more than two sides to blackness, and Mos Def, who’d later take the name Yasiin Bey, disambiguates Black identity spherically and expansively, using a range of diasporic, emotional, and musical varieties for his mosaic.

Black on Both Sides feels as premeditated and directional as any rap album ever; nearly every song has a specific theme, message, or topic.

Mos def debut album

“Mr. N***a” illustrates racist discrimination through a series of vignettes; “Mathematics” cleverly uses a series of statistics to snipe through social issues; and “New World Water” dives into the politics and health risks of water scarcity.

Even the more straightforward bar-fests feel intentional. “Hip Hop”