Rating: NNNN
Anyone who was disappointed (or straight baffled) by Mos Def’s last album, the defiantly rocked-out The New Danger, can breathe a sigh of relief. For the most part, the Brooklyn-bred rapper/Bruce Willis co-star has said adios to his Black Jack Johnson persona, U-turning to a more familiar hiphop feel for his third record. Still, True Magic is loose enough to find the MC delving deeper into Umi Says soul territory. Def’s crooning over GZA’s Liquid Swords, as he did in concert a couple of summers ago, doesn’t sound at all out of place. A Wu-Tangy darkness permeates the whole album, which is cluttered with gems both musical (live sax and jazz flute) and lyrical. A heated Mos breaks down Katrina on Dollar Day: ‘It’s enough to make you holla out / like where the fuck is Sir Bono and his famous friends now? / Don’t get it twisted man, I dig U2 / but if you ain’t about the ghetto, then fuck you too.’
