Mos Def

First he was an actor, then a rapper revamping tired rhyme schemes, and now Mos Def's balancing both like a modern day da Vinci. With so many role reversals to his credit, you'd think Mos Def wouldn't leave much of a mark on any medium. Apparently not: The Basics below are conscious hip-hop staples, including the playful and buoyant "Ms. Fat Booty," the disquieting and contemplative "UMI Says," and the hammering Blackstar standard "Definition."

The nine sprawling minutes of "Modern Marvel" (featuring lightly sweetened singing and many a Marvin Gaye sample) would be an absolute mess in the hands of most MCs. However, Mos Def has always exceeded expectations of what an MC can be, whether he's flipping the script on John Denver ("Travellin' Man," which slyly references "Leaving On a Jet Plane"), slow-roasting a rather dark slice of R&B ("Climb"), or bare-knuckle battling a horn section ("Sex, Love & Money").

Before Mos Def paired up perfectly with Talib Kweli in Black Star, he formed the family reunion project UTD, an underground rap trio featuring his brother DCQ and sister Ces. "My Kung-Fu" and "Victory" sound as if they were just rescued from an ancient record crate, predicting the Native Tongues movement and Mos Def's rap career in the process. The latter takes several random turns here, including guest spots alongside U.K. garage star Craig David, the legendary Isley Brothers, and glitch-hop producer Prefuse 73.

Mos Def has pushed buttons, both creatively and lyrically, ever since he assimilated into the Native Tongues (De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest) scene of the early '90s: His first underground smash ("Universal Magnetic") was pure boom-bap for block parties, the socially conscious-but-still-banging Black Star predated the wildly popular solo careers of Mos and Talib Kweli, and his two solo albums gleefully reinterpreted rap-rock ("War," which features the Bad Brains/Living Colour/P-funk supergroup Black Jack Johnson), spare and spacey R&B reflections ("The Boogie Man Song," "UMI Says," "Climb"), and a fair share of hip-hop in which the beat is every bit as important as the message ("Mr. N***a," "Close Edge," "Do It Now").