Articles tagged "mos def"

Music Feature

Robert Glasper Loves the Groove

by Thomas Hauner

[27.Aug.09] :. On the eve of his third Blue Note release, Double Booked, jazz pianist Robert Glasper discusses his stylistic bifurcation, MC skills, and -- inevitably -- Michael Jackson's legacy.

Recent features

Mixed Media

Mos Def and the Roots - “Casa Bey” (Live on Jimmy Fallon) (video)

by Sarah Zupko

[11.Jun.09] :. Mos Def joined up with the Roots for a live version of “Casa Bey” on Jimmy Fallon’s show this week. Andrew Martin says of Mos Def’s newest album, “The Ecstatic...

Mixed Media

Mixed Media

Mos Def - “Quiet Dog” (Live on Late Show With David Letterman) (video)

by Sarah Zupko

[9.Jun.09] :. Mos Def’s excellent new album dropped today and he ran through a smoking version of “Quiet Dog” last night on the Letterman show, rapping and drumming...

Mixed Media

Mixed Media

Mos Def - “Casa Bey” (MP3 / video)

by PopMatters Staff

[12.May.09] :. The video for Mos Def’s new single “Case Bey” has premiered on MySpace. The hip-hoppers long awaited new album The Ecstatic will finally see the light on day on 9...

Mixed Media

Short Ends and Leader

‘Next Day Air’ is Dead on Arrival

by Bill Gibron

[8.May.09] :. It’s no secret that most filmmakers have their muses, directors who came before them from whom they draw inspiration and ideas. While some consider it a complimentary homage, others argue that...

Short Ends and Leader

Film Review

Next Day Air

by Cynthia Fuchs

[8.May.09] :. For all its speed and commotion, Next Day Air is a movie you've seen before.

Recent Film reviews

Summer of Same: May 2009

by Bill Gibron

[27.Apr.09] :. May's titles include the fourth films in two aging franchises, more Pixar perfection, and the reboot of a TV series from 40 years ago. And they say there are no new ideas.

M. Ward, The Decemberists, Mos Def…

by PopMatters Staff

[16.Jan.09] :. M. Ward Never Had Nobody Like You [MP3] from Hold Time [17 February]       The Decemberists The Rake’s Song [MP3] from The Hazards of Love [24...

The New Classics - The 30 Best Films of 2008

by PopMatters Staff

[16.Jan.09] :. Unlike previous years, where classics came crawling out of the celluloid woodwork with regular reckless abandon, 2008 was more calm… and considered. That's not to say that choosing 30 top titles was hard. The difficulty in placing them in some manner of rank order suggests the actual depth of quality involved.

In Prison My Whole Life

by Cynthia Fuchs

[8.Dec.08] :. In Prison My Whole Life works through the contexts and details of Mumia Abu Jamal's experience, connecting it to other moments in recent American history.

Cadillac Records

by Cynthia Fuchs

[5.Dec.08] :. In the ambitious and cluttered Cadillac Records, Leonard Chess redistributes income among his artists, but the point is not lost on any of them that he decides who plays when and even how to play.

Be Kind Rewind

by Andrew Gilstrap

[19.Jun.08] :. Uneven and a little muddled, Be Kind Rewind might be a prime candidate for the very fan remixing it portrays.

Various Artists: Be Kind Rewind

by Evan Sawdey

[21.Mar.08] :. Sprawling, breezy lite-funk mixed with classics by Billy Preston and Booker T. & the MGs. Definitely worth rewinding.

Prince Among Slaves

by Cynthia Fuchs

[4.Feb.08] :. Prince Among Slaves establishes its focus -- on the contrast between slavery, as barbaric idea and industry, and one individual's integrity and strength of will.

Dave Chappelles Block Party (2006)

by Dante A. Ciampaglia

[3.Mar.06] :. Block Party sustains a balance between good-natured light-heartedness social commentary.

16 Blocks (2006)

by Cynthia Fuchs

[3.Mar.06] :. Richard Donner's latest buddy-action flick is thick with wrong decisions.

Black Star (Mos Def and Talib Kweli): 28 November 2005 - Washington, DC

by Wills Glasspiegel

[1.Dec.05] :. What do you do when the mold that breaks the mold needs breaking?

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (2005)

by Cynthia Fuchs

[10.Oct.05] :. For all its possibilities -- and its crazily pleasant animations --the movie takes a more or less conventional narrative shape.

Freestyle: The Art of Rhyme (2004)

by Cynthia Fuchs

[3.Jun.05] :. The very process of documenting freestyle is at once contradictory and ambitious, futile and crucial.

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (2005)

by Cynthia Fuchs

[29.Apr.05] :. Ford Prefect (Mos Def) wanders into the film of Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, a little late, and in no hurry.

The Woodsman (2004)

by Cynthia Fuchs

[14.Apr.05] :. Director Kassell says, 'There's Kyra Sedgwick beating the shit out of Carlos Leon. I love this scene.'"

The Woodsman (2004)

by Cynthia Fuchs

[6.Jan.05] :. Walter (Kevin Bacon) lives in a world perpetually gray.

Mos Def: The New Danger

by Dave Heaton

[28.Oct.04] :. Mos Def's desire to expand the boundaries of hip-hop is admirable, but The New Danger too often feels like it's taking hip-hop backwards, not forwards.

The Italian Job (2003)

by Cynthia Fuchs

[29.Aug.03] :. As soon as John utters the words 'last job' to his darling girl, his fate (like the film's) is sealed.

The Italian Job (2003)

by Cynthia Fuchs

[29.May.03] :. As soon as John utters the words 'last job' to his darling girl, his fate (like the film's) is sealed.

Brown Sugar (2002)

by Cynthia Fuchs

[10.Oct.02] :. Brown Sugar can blur lines between mainstream and margin, mix up the spirits, just as hip-hop -- so-called real hip-hop but also, in its way, brashly commercial hip-hop -- has always done.

Audiotistic: Mos Def + Talib Kweli + The Roots + Outkast

by J. Victoria Sanders

[24.Apr.02] :. Audiotistic isn't/wasn't meant to be purely hip-hop, though. Billed as the Future Sound Festival in Southern Cali, it's typically been a cutting edge sort of venue with electronica and house at the center of its agenda.

Showtime (2002)

by Cynthia Fuchs

[14.Mar.02] :. The trouble with 'Showtime' is that it never lets up on its self-congratulatory wink-winking.

Monster’s Ball (2001)

by Cynthia Fuchs

'Monster's Ball' leans heavily on Southern Gothic torment and metaphor, as well as bizarre, if historically framed, circumstances.

Bamboozled (2000)

by Cynthia Fuchs

Messy, outrageous, and mostly brilliant, 'Bamboozled' is bound to make trouble. And I can't think of a more important trouble to make.