{"id":39924,"date":"2006-09-07T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2006-09-07T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/black-on-both-sides\/"},"modified":"2006-09-07T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2006-09-07T00:00:00","slug":"black-on-both-sides","status":"publish","type":"review","link":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/reviews\/black-on-both-sides\/","title":{"rendered":"Black On Both Sides"},"content":{"rendered":"

Black On Both Sides<\/i> can be best described as a manifesto. Mos Def crams so many concepts and genres into his 70-minute opus, yet the album remains uncluttered and breezy, despite its double-album length. The topics for Black On Both Sides<\/em> are familiar: the potential demise of hip-hop, infighting among emcees and the state of hip-hop, yet Def lays out answers so clear and simple, it\u2019s amazing that other artists hadn\u2019t come to the same conclusion. <\/p>\n

\u201cSo next time you ask \u2026 where hip hop is going, ask yourself ‘where am I going?’ — and you\u2019ll get a clear idea,\u201d kicks off the lead track \u201cFear Not Of Man.\u201d <\/p>\n

A drinking buddy of mine pointed out that one thing two seemingly polarizing genres, country and rap, share is the ability of their artists to produce genuinely good actors. For Mos Def, he has not only gave strong performances in movies (Bamboozled<\/i> and Monster\u2019s Ball<\/i>), he also conquered the theatre stage with the Pulitzer Prize-winning Topdog\/Underdog<\/em>. His discipline in selecting roles best suited for him was evident throughout Black On Both Sides<\/i>. The neo-soul \u201cLove\u201d and \u201cSpeed Law\u201d make great use of Def\u2019s nasal delivery. The guest performances, kept to a minimum with Q-Tip and Busta Rhymes making appearances, genuinely enhance the songs rather than just add star power to an album. <\/p>\n

Lyric-wise, Black On Both Sides<\/i> is an album that will have you nodding your head even if you don\u2019t buy into some of Def\u2019s more provocative songs.\u00a0 \u201cElvis Presley ain\u2019t got no soul (hell no) \u2026 You may dig the on the Rolling Stones, but they ain\u2019t come up with that shit on their own\u2026\u201d Def sings on the rasta-turned-thrasher rave-up \u201cRock N Roll.\u201d True, Presley and the Stones took liberties, but originals like\u00a0Chuck Berry and Little Richard had their influences as well. Still, years before it was the norm to dis Fred Durst, Def lashes out \u201cI ain\u2019t trying to diss, but I don\u2019t be trying to f**k with Limp Bizkit.\u201d <\/p>\n

Like The Roots and Blackalicious, Def\u2019s music is known more for its message than hooks. However, Black On Both Sides<\/i> is arguably the most accessible album of the \u201ccerebral rap\u201d genre. The hooks on \u201cKnow That\u201d and \u201cHip Hop\u201d are so dang catchy that it’s criminal these songs didn\u2019t become radio classics. <\/p>\n

Black On Both Sides<\/i> is a definite love letter to <\/state><\/place>New York. Along with frequently name-dropping some of Def\u2019s beloved <\/state><\/place>New York peers, the inside of the CD displays a beautiful skyline of <\/city><\/place>New York City, complete with the iconic <\/place><\/placename>Twin <\/placetype>Towers. Def would take years to make his second album, The New Danger<\/i>, an album that was more confrontational than Black On Both Sides<\/i>, but was regarded as a artistic and commercial disappointment. Even if The New Danger<\/i> steers Def into a career in theatre or movies, his debut album has already cemented his status as a hip-hop innovator. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":28471,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[7800],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-39924","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-mos-def","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39924","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39924"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/39924\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28471"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39924"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=39924"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=39924"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}