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Mos Dub

Mos Dub
Mos Dub
(Online free download)
mosdub.com

Right, now I’m not a fan of mash-ups for the most part. Danger Mouse’s Grey Album wasn’t all that, Jaydiohead just made me want to bump straight up Dilla without Thom Yorke anywhere near it and Lush Life’s combination of the amazing Beach Boys with the anything-but-amazing Kanye West just made me sad. But there is finally a mash up album that I can actually enjoy and it really is a belter.

Max Tannone, the man behind the aforementioned Jaydiohead experiment has combined the vocals of Mos Def with a number of old dub tunes to great effect. Whether it’s the fact that the sunshine started peeking it’s head around the clouds the day I downloaded this or not, I don’t know, but this just gives my step a little bounce and even, dare I say it, makes me smile.

Taking in songs like Ms Fat Booty and putting nice vibesy guitar licks around them just works, it’s as simple as that. Oftentimes these mash ups just seem very contrived to me, whereby the producer has tried to just force the two songs into a marriage but without being able to give them a true vibe.

Mr Universe is a perfect example of why this album works. Hip hop scratching on the intro, a lilting guitar running throughout the entire track and Mos’ distinctive vocals running energetically around the whole thing. It’s not overbearing but it most definitely gets the summertime daydreams going.

The entire track can be streamed or downloaded here.

Is it worth it? Mos Def.

Abjekt.