Any record being released with a moderate amount of hype will almost invariably owe its success to one of three things:

1. Recklessly irresponsible critics whose ideas of "good" and "bad" have been irreparably damaged by years of exposure to loads and loads of shitty music.

2. Slimy publicist types that aren't afraid to trade a little fellatio for a winning review.

3. The protecting hand of Yahweh.

This goes a long way toward explaining the large majority of popular culture. But every once in a while, an album will make its way through reviewer after reviewer, deservedly earning absurdly high marks with nary a scratch. Such is the story with hip-hop's messiah of '99, Mos Def, and his solo debut, Black on Both Sides.

But, in a sea of lousy, burnt-out critics, why should you believe me? For starters, nobody serviced me to write this. Not since the emergence of A Tribe Called Quest and Q-Tip (who makes a brief guest appearance here on Mr. Nigga") has hip-hop seen an MC as intelligent, as lyrically proficient, and as baby-butt smooth as Mos Def.

If you heard Def's previous outings with Black Star, you probably saw this coming. If you didn't, it's clearly time to put Ol' Dirty on that shelf reserved for insane, materialist misogynists, and repent. With artists like this finally getting the respect they deserve, we could be entering a new era of hip-hop. Think about it. When was the last time you heard an MC drop a line like, "Mind over matter and soul before flesh"? When was the last time you heard somebody rap about the global economic and environmental consequences of first-world corporate waste and subsequent aquatic pollution? When was the last time you heard a hip-hopper sing competently over a phat-ass beat about the white appropriation of black art forms? Or end a song appropriately with a Bad Brains-influenced rockout, where both the drums and bass are played by the same guy?

Mos Def. The man does it all-- addressing serious socio-political issues while remaining positive and affirmative from start to finish. Inspiring, no? The current state of punk and independent rock could stand to learn a thing or two from this man.

True, Black on Both Sides isn't flawless. If you don't like Tribe-style laidback beats, you may have a more difficult time getting into this. Mos Def's singing on tracks like "Climb" and "Umi Says" is a bit hard to stomach, too. And then there's the matter of his sporadic introductory speeches, which occasionally sound like the pseudo-prophetic ramblings of a guy who might benefit from one less hit from the bong. But this, honestly, is nit-picking. Because when the beat drops and Def starts spitting his meticulously- crafted lyrics, you realize it's entirely possible that he truly is prophetic-- that he was meant to be kicking the rhymes, and that we were meant to listen.