40% of Americans own a cell phone
So they can hear everything that you say when you ain’t home
I guess Michael Jackson was right — “You Are Not Alone”
Rock your hardhat, black, ’cause you in the Terrordome
Full of hard n***as, large n***as, dice-tumblers
Young teens and prison greens facing life numbers
Crack mothers, crack babies and AIDS patients
Young bloods can’t spell but they could rock you in PlayStation
This New Math is whippin’ motherfuckers’ ass
You wanna know how to rhyme you better learn how to add
It’s mathematics
(“Mathematics”)

18 years ago today, veteran Brooklyn, NYC emcee Mos Def (who currently goes by the name Yasiin Bey) released his fantastic debut  solo album Black On Both Sides on Rawkus Records. At the time, Rawkus had previously already built up a strong reputation in the underground for dope, soulful and organic hip hop and had just signed a major-label distribution deal with Priority Records. With this exposure (which actually began one year earlier with Mos’ well-received collaborative project with fellow Brooklynite and conscious emcee Talib Kweli under the collective moniker Black Star), Black On Both Sides ended up being certified gold, likely on the strength of the lead single, “Ms. Fat Booty” (a wonderfully soulful Ayatollah-produced jam using a sample from the forgotten Aretha Franklin classic “One Step Ahead”).

As a whole, the album is ripe with lyrical and musical depth; Mos is a talented and thoughtful lyricist and he even sings on some tracks, and the production is a consistently pleasurable combination of eclectic samples and live instrumentation (for one of the best examples of the latter, peep the closing track “May-December”, an amazing instrumental jam featuring Mos playing vibraphones and bass alongside late jazz pianist and organist Weldon Irvine, who additionally performs on several other cuts and is also given a co-producer credit on “Climb”). Other notable cuts include the DJ Premier-laced banger “Mathematics” (a unique social commentary inspired by numerology), “Brooklyn” (a three-part tribute to Mos’ hometown, incorporating a couple beats originally made popular by fellow Brooklyn representatives Smif-N-Wessun and The Notorious B.I.G., respectively), the creative and always relevant racism-themed “Mr. N***a” (featuring Q-Tip of A Tribe Called Quest) and the other Ayatollah joint on here, “Know That” (a duet with aforementioned friend and Black Star counterpart Talib Kweli that is supported by a beautifully chopped Dionne Warwick sample).

In addition to Premo and Ayatollah, the impressive list of producers on Black On Both Sides also includes A Tribe Called Quest’s own Ali Shaheed Muhammad (“Got”), Diggin’ In The Crates core crew member Diamond D (“Hip Hop”), The Beatnuts’ own Psycho Les (on the brilliant back-to-back conceptual joints “New World Water” and “Rock N Roll”), the underrated 88-Keys (“Love”, “Speed Law” and the aforementioned “May-December”), Mr. Khaliyl (who laces the only other song with a guest rap appearance, the Busta Rhymes-assisted “Do It Now”) and even Mos himself (who is credited as a producer or co-producer on roughly half the songs, perhaps most notably on the album opener “Fear Not Of Man” and the uplifting second single “Umi Says”).

Black On Both Sides is absolutely one of the best hip hop releases of 1999 and an instant classic that bridges the gap between the underground and the mainstream. Exactly five years after it came out, Mos released his sophomore solo effort, The New Danger, which was far more polarizing to critics and audiences alike due to its unapologetic fearlessness and ambitious will to experiment further with other genres while still coming from a hip hop platform, long before artists like Kendrick Lamar and Childish Gambino would be praised for attempting something similar; The New Danger would ultimately earn Mos his second consecutive gold plaque.  Those who are more comfortable with a more straight-up hip hop approach, however, should stick with Black On Both Sides. Most definitely.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aO_yLfBPRh0?ecver=1]