This is what I like about Mos Def: He can't help but show his human practical side. Here he's telling people, "Don't be naieve, the World is big bad place full of desperate and dangerous people, it will take you down permanently if you're flashing expensive stuff around. You think you're big, but there is always someone bigger."
But the track on the album before this one, he's saying something close to "Come get me! I'll take you all!", perhaps out of frustration at the way things are. He might be scared, but he's not going down without a fight. It's human, it's honest, it's courageous, it's true, it's real.
On another level, I think he's grappling with his own ambitions: which way to go with his talent and music... either into the Ganster Rap bling'n'bang World, or somewhere else, and he's torn, because he knows he could do either really well and his ego is battling with his good sense looking for reconciliation. A common human problem, told honestly.
This is what I like about Mos Def: He can't help but show his human practical side. Here he's telling people, "Don't be naieve, the World is big bad place full of desperate and dangerous people, it will take you down permanently if you're flashing expensive stuff around. You think you're big, but there is always someone bigger."
But the track on the album before this one, he's saying something close to "Come get me! I'll take you all!", perhaps out of frustration at the way things are. He might be scared, but he's not going down without a fight. It's human, it's honest, it's courageous, it's true, it's real.
On another level, I think he's grappling with his own ambitions: which way to go with his talent and music... either into the Ganster Rap bling'n'bang World, or somewhere else, and he's torn, because he knows he could do either really well and his ego is battling with his good sense looking for reconciliation. A common human problem, told honestly.