Mos Def - Shepherds Bush Empire 23.11.07

Here's my review of Mos Def at Shepherds Bush Empire last Friday. It appears in today's Independent newspaper.

Mos Def, Shepherds Bush Empire, London
four stars

The last decade has been thoroughly depressing for fans of "conscious" hip-hop. The mainstream has been taken over by cartoon rappers celebrating gangsta life, bling and strip clubs, while using hip-hop to sell, sell, sell: energy drinks, clothes, ringtones.

For some, Mos Def is the last great hope. He makes thought-provoking hip-hop soul, he's articulate (he recently interviewed Al Gore), and he was apprenticed with the revered conscious-rap collective Native Tongues (De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest, The Jungle Brothers). He's also a talented actor who's as comfortable treading the boards (the Pulitzer Prize-winning Broadway play Topdog/Underdog) as on the silver screen (The Woodsman, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy).

The Clash's "London Calling" signals his entrance, and he opens with the nightmarish "The Boogie Man Song". He's soon rapping over a Bollywood score given a bumping hip-hop makeover by the maverick producer Madlib. Mos Def's easy flow deftly darts between mesmerising strings, offering a compelling glimpse of hip-hop's possibilities as Noughties Brooklyn meets Seventies Bombay.

Mos Def is diminutive and unassuming in a T-shirt, jeans and shaved head, with a simple two-DJ set-up. Any doubts that his almost mumbling rapping and gentle singing might be unintelligible prove unfounded. He's enthusiastic, charismatic and you can hear every syllable. He's made an effort to connect with the audience, with "London Calling" and The Specials' "Ghost Town", and he covers grime rapper Kano's "London Town" as "Brooklyn Town". Kano himself appears, his ferocious, hyperactive rapping contrasting with Mos Def's languid drawl as each delivers the chorus to the other's hometown.

Mos Def freestyles and sings/talks/raps a cappella with such poise, grace and punch – recalling his early years in poetry slams – that raucous onlookers are stunned into silence. His extolling of hippie themes – peace, love, unity and community – is refreshing, though he avoids more confrontational tracks such as "Dollar Day" (about Hurricane Katrina) and "The Rape Over" (about the major record labels' pimping of hip-hop).

The chorus of his uplifting black power anthem "Umi Says" – "I ain't no perfect man, I'm trying to do the best that I can" – is a fitting finale: for fans of conscious rap, Mos Def's best has restored faith, hope and belief in hip-hop.