"U R the One" is a lovelorn, confused wail- the grown continuation of his own "Ms.
Still, Mos Def is an engaging figure that has long radiated the charisma, if not the work ethic, to grab the mantle hanging above his head. But to include it on a proper album is a poor move. Messily rhyming in an odd twang over Juvenile side project UTP's "Nolia Clap", Mos received a pass for the song, as his heart is clearly in the right place (at least he dissed Bono), even if his ear seemed waterlogged. Also included is the much-maligned "Dollar Day (Surprise, Surprise)", his Hurricane Katrina missive released last year. Some tracks here would be decent fodder for a C-level mixtape, like "Crime & Medicine", a note-for-note remake of GZA's "Liquid Swords", minus the Genius' lyrical bite and intensity. "Murder of a Teenage Life" is turgid and off-key- death knells for a rhymer- while "Fake Bonanza" is the sort of aimless, generic production that gives boho rappers a bad name. The production doesn't help often, either. Take this nugget from "Undeniable", a song nominated for a Grammy this year, one presumes because Mos carries some sort of artistic clout: "These jokers don't want none/ And all the pretty mamis want some/ Tell 'em come." Thrilling. These songs feel blah-ed out, packed with idle rhymes that sound as if they've been sitting in a notebook that never should have been opened. Here, experimentation isn't even on the radar. Experimentation has been an organizing principle for Mos for some time, from the jagged riffs and polemics of "Rock N Roll" from his debut Black on Both Sides to the psych noodlings and bluesy crooning on his last album, the uneven and only slightly less calamitous The New Danger. Everything about this album is half-assed: From the bafflingly bare packaging to the at-times miserable mix, True Magic is a mess. Mos, who's best known now as an Emmy-nominated actor, or concurrently "that guy from the Denali commercial," seems to have lost any interest in a music career, at least one under Geffen's umbrella. It's been rumored that this is a deal-closer, the last album Mos owes Geffen Records, the label that inherited him when Rawkus Records folded in 2002 and was rolled into Interscope Records' vast empire.
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