the best tracks from not the best albums of 2004

1. Mos Def feat. Minnesota - 'Grown Man Business (Fresh Vintage Bottles)'

Minnesota is a rapper and a producer - woah, that's mad, it's like being a player/manager or something! That kind of craziness is never going to catch on.

Anyway, this is refreshingly raw street shit, largely because it's someone other than Mos Def doing the talking for most of it and so you actually get a sense of menace. Don't get me wrong, I love Mos, but it's hard to accept him as a tough guy (maybe that's one of the reasons 'The Rape Over' falls flat) unless he has a lot of help. I fucking love the production on this one - I think Westwood's been playing it a lot this year as an instrumental, and it might be sampling some really well-known Isaac Hayes tune or something - point is, it's incredibly reminiscent of New York City, specifically Brooklyn... Mos acquits himself very well once it's time for his verse, actually: "son you know what it is, from the moment you come over the Bridge, and if you don't, ride with me: I'm-a show you some shit..." - okay, if I don't stop there I'll quote the whole verse and that would be kinda lame.

The point is, while there are moments on The New Danger where Mos' desire to experiment bear fruit ('Zimzallabim', 'Modern Marvel'), I can't help but feel that it would have been a better album had he included a little more proper hip hop, you know?

(Three other reasons why The New Danger is not in my favourite dozen albums of the year: 1. 'The Rape Over' - I can't decide whether this is a case of "I respect what he's trying to do here and although it doesn't stand up as a track, it's an interesting curio" or "Oh dear, what was he thinking?" - no, wait, I can decide. 2. 'Blue Black Jack' = unbelievably tedious blues shit. 3. How good could a smoochy r&b ballad called 'The Panties' sung by Mos Def possibly be? Yeah. Not very.)