Despite the fulsome praise heaped upon rapper Mos Def since he started his career back around 1996, this sold out concert was just about the dullest I’d been to in some time, and this is coming from someone who saw Tim Dog and Chubb Rock live in 1991 at the quarter-full Brixton Academy - just terrible.
Apart from being forty minutes late on stage after a predictable medley of post-1994 hip-hop classics, Mos Def stepped up in a blazer and smart trouser ensemble, and started things off with one of the tracks from his latest album 'The Ecstatic.' Rapping whilst simultaneously playing live drums was never going to be easy. It was an interesting experiment, but it didn’t come off; the reproduction of the tracks' electronic arrangements was out of synch with the live drumming and the rapping.
Mos tried to connect with the crowd in as charming a way possible, but for every album track played, intros of differing musical sounds and genres would be garbled up into some sort of melee of soul, reggae, funk, soundbite sample, movie theme tune and Arabic chant. The album tracks themselves, save for
‘Auditorium,’ were boring played live. Nothing wrong with a simple drum pattern, but the tracks’ shortcomings were soon laid bare, as the crowd simply stood there, politely, even sheep-like in their clapping, as even Mos couldn’t raise the energy level.
Things got worse with the obligatory Michael Jackson tribute, not once but four times, including a rendition of ‘Billie Jean’ and the reggae cover of 'The Girl is Mine.’ Mos’ moonwalk got a big applause, but it was a cheap gimmick and detracted from Mos’ extensive catalogue, which he didn’t seem to want to speak for itself. Any fan of Michael Jackson is sad that he’s passed away, but the tributes from rappers at live shows are fast becoming a lazy way to fill in time.
I saw people leaving the gig well before lights up and I kept looking at my watch, willing the whole thing to end. As talented as he is on record, Mos Def disappeared up his own backside this time around. Pretentious, puzzling, possibly courageous, but the end result was a pile of mud thrown to a wall, with very little of it sticking or being enjoyed.
