“True Magic” by Mos Def was released, but then it was pulled back from the shelves to be reworked.
The album was released under the radar on Dec. 29, earlier than Geffen Records would have liked, in order to combat Internet piracy. Some of the songs from the record surfaced on the Internet in early December.
Because of the rush, the album suffers from a sense of urgency. The songs, many of which are still great on their own, feel like they were thrown together with no real cohesiveness.
The album is the sum of all its parts, and there were many factors that kept this record from being what it could have been. Neither party, Def nor Geffen, put their all into the making of this album. This is the third and final album Def must make for them under this contract, and it shows.
But, there are still a lot of great songs on “Magic” that make this album worth picking up.
“Undeniable” has already been nominated for a Grammy, and is the song that re-establishes him as a talented wordsmith.
“Dollar Day” is his homage to the victims of Hurricane Katrina and how they were forgotten. “That mister President is a natural ass, he out treating niggas worse than they treat the trash,” speaks volumes to what went wrong there. The song had been on the Internet for about a year already but is now finding its way onto a CD.
He also takes on the violent life of the ghetto with “Murder of a Teenage Life.”
But he knows how to wind it down and make a smooth song. The last track on the album, “Lifetime,” shows his harmony. Some people may prefer Def to keep to rapping, but he can carry a tune and it is nice to see him branch out from the norm.
The album has some great songs, but should be considered a work in progress. Geffen Records has decided to pull it from the store shelves only to be re-released in the spring. There they will redo the artwork because there isn’t any now. The CD case is clear with no booklet to accompany it. Also, they plan to reshuffle the track list.
Who knows if it’s going to make “True Magic” any better. But it should help that they plan on taking more time with it.
Hold onto the first release if you have it, it should be a collector’s item. If you have not bought a copy yet, pick it up if you can, or maybe just wait till spring. Either way, it should be in any hip-hop fan’s collection.
Juan Sanchez Jr. can be reached at [email protected].
