Mos Def’s character outpaces material at House of Blues

Spencer Patterson

Monday, Feb. 14, 2005 | 8:17 a.m.

Then again, Mos Def is far from the typical rapper.

Near the end of his performance Friday night at the House of Blues at Mandalay Bay, the star MC halted his jazzy classic "Umi Says" after singing the opening line.

"That was in the wrong key," he explained, then belted out, "Figaro!" to the obvious surprise of many hip-hop heads in the crowd of 1,100.

Seconds later, "Umi Says" was restarted, with Mos' voice right on target.

For the cerebral 31-year-old native of Brooklyn, the technique was probably nothing unusual. Mos (born Dante Smith) might even shout "Figaro!" -- or something like it -- to prepare for a big scene in his flourishing film career.

These are good times for the once-struggling actor, who turned to music during the late 1990s when he found quality roles tough to come by.

Although Mos' half-decade hiatus from the recording studio confounded the hip-hop community, which had installed him as its brightest young star near the turn of the century, it ultimately worked out just as he'd hoped.

Mos' acclaimed work in two movies last year -- "The Woodsman" and HBO's "Something the Lord Made" -- has turned him into a hot Hollywood property.

But on Friday Mos demonstrated that his time in front of a camera has hardly dulled his ability to entertain onstage. Far from it, Mos furthered his reputation as one of the genre's top showmen, confidently engaging his fans for more than 90 minutes.

Mos sang, rapped, danced, joked and told stories, appearing quite comfortable in his new post as hip-hop Renaissance Man.

He descended to the floor and high-fived the front row. He performed spoken-word pieces. He covered material by rap luminaries the GZA and the Jungle Brothers, and added his own lyrical spin to Snoop Dogg's recent hit, "Drop It Like It's Hot."

Mos even acted out a quick football scene, tossing a fake pass, running across stage to catch it and then pretending to spike the ball.

"I love that," he said, laughing. "It's so bad to catch my own touchdown pass. I don't know where I got that."

Mos' material couldn't quite match his enthusiasm, however. That wasn't a complete surprise, given the half-baked nature of his latest album, last year's "The New Danger."

Five years in the making, the disc abandons the hip-hop promise of 1999 solo debut "Black on Both Sides" and 1998 "Black Star" collaboration with Talib Kweli for an odd blend of rap-rock and soul, with a few solid rap numbers mixed in.

It went over well with the crowd, but offered little sonically. Although Mos was flanked by a keyboardist and a DJ, most of his backing music sounded as if it was recorded.

Considering Mos' fondness for rock 'n' roll (members of Bad Brains and Living Colour played on "The New Danger"), a live band would have made a lot more sense. The bluesy guitar solos in "Blue Black Jack," for example, would have made far more impact had there actually been a guitar player present.

Predictably, most of Mos' best numbers were his oldies, "Definition," "Ms. Fat Booty" and the aforementioned "Umi Says" among them.

An unexpected encore -- which came after the House of Blues crew closed the curtain and flipped on the house music -- kicked off with the ill-chosen "The Rape Over."

The industry rant, modeled after Jay-Z's "The Takeover," contains lyrics that some reviews have labeled anti-Semitic and homophobic, and is rumored to have been deleted from future versions of "The New Danger."

Mos redeemed himself moments later, though, closing with a powerful rendition of emotional ballad "Modern Marvel."

"And it's so strong, so strong/It's like I'm dying," he crooned, his voice sounding a lot like Bob Marley's.

And then, appropriately, the actor-rapper said goodnight with a film reference, from 1988's "Coming to America."

"Sexual Chocolate has left the building!"