Mos Def @ Pipeline Cafe

We'll admit, we were a bit skeptical about paying $46 to go see Mos Def at Pipeline Cafe this Friday. But after enjoying what just might have been the best concert of our admittedly empty concert life (we've only seen the Strokes and Kanye West,) we're pretty sure it was worth it.

Mos Def came on the stage at about 9 o'clock. After waiting in the front row for several hours, it felt like God himself beamed down to grace us with his presence, except God wore a really colorful hoodie, baggie board shorts, a ti leaf lei and has starred in multiple hit movies like "The Italian Job" or "Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy" and released several acclaimed albums like "Black on Both Sides" and "Mos Def and Talib Kweli are Black Star."

What made Mos really special was his versatility, smooth carefree demeanor, and a genuine ability to connect with the audience. Mos can go from a fun, shake-your-ass club hit like "Ms. Fat Booty," to the physchedelic yet undoubtedly hip-hop jam "Umi Says", to the keen, socially concious ballad like "Modern Marvel," which tastefully samples Marvin Gaye's classic "What's Going On?" He even played Black Star hit "Definition," doing the part of partner and our second favorite rapper Talib Kweli.

In between songs, he'd joke and display a genuine affability. When a girl threw flowers onto the stage, he set them up on the turntables and sarcastically cracked about how gangster that made him. Yet, my favorite part was after the end of "What's Going On," he spoke about proof of God lays in our music. Yet, Mos displayed a taste of nuance and humor, saying "science can explain a lot of things, but after a certain point, science needs to sit its ass down!"

The show lasted for nearly two hours and it seemed that no one--even Mos and his DJs--wanted the show to end. In fact, we think we saw him argue with the venue manager to play a few extra songs. With that sort of enthusiasm, how could one be disappointed? We certainly weren't. In fact, we think we found the one man who could bring down MC Rove (see below.)

UPDATE: We received a picture from a concert companion. We would give them proper credit and acknowledge them by name, if our English teacher allowed us to name real people from our school.