Mos Def

The New Danger, Island, £12.99

Is Mos Def too talented for his own good? Is it possible to convince as a pioneering rapper while also starring in West End plays and pursuing an A-list Hollywood acting career? The thinking man's Will Smith appears to believe so.

Yet many of Mos Def's hardcore fans will baulk at this, his second solo LP, precisely because it bursts at the seams with all the qualities – invention, ambition, élan – that are supposedly lacking in modern hip-hop. For some, the dizzying mixture of genres will prove a little overwhelming, as improvised jazz, hip-hop, boogie-woogie blues, rap-rock and soul all compete for air-time.

The results, however, are startling and beautiful. A dreamy Marvin Gaye-inspired groove (Modern Marvel) sits easily between punchy volleys of pared-down hip-hop, exultant 1970s trumpet licks and even a bluesy bar room toe-tapper. Only Mos Def's continued championing of that most uneasy of musical hybrids, rap-rock, rings slightly hollow.

The New Danger may ultimately fall short of greatness, but it deserves generous applause for such lofty ambition.
-Andrew Pettie


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Raphael Saadiq

Ray Ray, Pookie, £13.99


Raphael Saadiq's original surname was the infinitely less exotic Wiggins, but that didn't stop the R&B singer, writer and producer hitting the big time in the late 1980s with the swingbeat trio Tony! Toni! Toné!, followed by the R&B supergroup Lucy Pearl, which he formed with members of En Vogue and A Tribe Called Quest.

After 20 years in the business, Ray Ray is only Saadiq's second solo album, and is a little patchier than you'd expect from a man who's worked with the likes of Angie Stone and Erykah Badu. It gets off to a wobbly start with a cringeworthy blaxploitation sketch, but mellows into smooth adult soul with the high-voiced Prince pastiche I Know Shuggie Otis. He only hits his stride, though, with the excellent penultimate track Grown Folks.

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Ali Shaheed Muhammad

Shaheedullah and Stereotypes, Penalty, £13.99

It's more than 20 years since the first hip-hop records were made. The early pioneers of the style that has gone on to dominate global music are now pushing middle-age: a parallel with rock and roll would be the Beatles or the Stones looking round to find it's suddenly the mid-1980s.


If any hip-hop act merits comparison with those two bands, it's New York foursome A Tribe Called Quest, who for 10 years following their debut in 1989 relentlessly stretched the creative possibilities of this apparently simple form. The group's musical driving force was Ali Shaheed Muhammad. This is his first solo album, and it's an outstanding piece of work.

Four-times Grammy nominated – he has worked with Angie Stone and D'Angelo among others – Muhammad is a producer and songwriter with a palette that goes way beyond the boom-bap of the average rap track. One of the joys of Shaheedullah and Stereotypes is its diversity: at its best, the album has the stylistic breadth of a good Stevie Wonder album.

A Tribe Called Quest mixed jazz and rap with consummate skill, and Muhammad has continued where he left off. The 17 tracks here are steeped in the syncopations of the '40s and '50s, while still feeling unmistakably fresh.

Now 33, Muhammad seems to have lost none of his playful way with rhythm, often allowing tracks to slip slightly behind the beat as he mixes together live instrumentation and computer loops. This gives the whole affair a lovely loping, off-kilter feel.

A battalion of singers and MCs adds lyrical flavour, sliding effortlessly from tough funk, through soulful romantic laments and party floor-fillers. "Shaheedullah" means "witness of God", but there is no heavy-handed Muslim proselytising to mar the warm, sophisticated sound-world that this gifted musical survivor weaves together. On this evidence, the form that was once written off as a fad is now easing into a rich and fertile maturity.
-Tom Horan


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