Mos Def has always been more artist than musician. From his career as a Hip Hop MC, to his foray into acting, he has always attempted to push the boundaries, challenge our senses and stimulate thought.

His his first solo album Black On Both Sides (2002) suggested that he wanted to be more than an MC. He wanted to create good music that was unfettered by traditional genre tags. His subsequent albums The New Danger, (2004) and True Magic (2006), built on this concept and showed it's evolution and growth.The Ecstatic is the perfection of it.

There are times when an artist can be so focused on being creative, that they forget about being good and make it difficult for others to understand their work. This album is art that can be easily understood.

The introduction "Supermagic" prepares you for lift off. As the speech about creating change fades out, pulse racing electric guitar riffs fade in and immediately grab your attention. The album keeps pace and then slowly takes it down a notch with the cinematic "Auditorium" which has a classic verse from Slick Rick. It pick up again with the piano heavy "Priority" being the highlight of this segment. "No Hay Nada Mas" comes soon after and completely changes the tone of the album, as Mos delivers the entire song in Spanish with a flow that would make most Reggaeton artists jealous. It returns to brisk pace and traverses, Reggae, Hip Hop, Jazz and more. It winds down "History" which is the second to last track on the project and features Talib Kweli. This is probably Mos at his best as him and Kweli offer up a verse a piece that leaves you wondering when they're going to make another album together.

This is Mos Def's best project to date, an instant classic, the flaws are minimal or non-existent. Mos sounds very comfortable all through out, the production is phenomenal, the lyrics are always there and the replay value is ridiculously high. Even though this album leaked on the internet before it's release I have a feeling that most that did download it will be picking up a copy anyway.