The New Danger is the second studio album by American rapper Mos Def, released on October 12, 2004, by Rawkus and Geffen Records. It is the follow-up to his breakthrough solo effort Black on Both Sides (1999), after which he devoted more time into his film and stage career.

Critical reception

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The New Danger received generally mixed reviews from critics; it holds an aggregate score of 59 out of 100 at Metacritic. Blender called it "mushily sentimental, self-righteously indignant and constantly in your face", In The New York Times, Kelefa Sanneh wrote that the record suffered from extended soul songs that meandered, dull rock songs, and some raps such as "The Rape Over" that were devoid of Mos Def's usual "warmth and wit". NME deemed some of the songs failed experiments but also highlighted "Boogie Man Song", "Modern Marvel", and "Champion Requiem" as more timeless material. LA Weekly included the track "Zimzallabim" in their list of "Ten Rap-Rock Songs That Are Actually Awesome".

Commercial performance

The New Danger was released by Geffen Records on October 12, 2004, in the United States and October 18 in the United Kingdom. It debuted at number five on the Billboard 200 in its first week, and by March 2014, it had sold 513,000 copies in the US. In August 2017, the album was certified gold by the RIAA, indicating sales and their equivalents—streams and track downloads—of 500,000 units in the U.S.

Track listing

Charts

{| class="wikitable"

!Chart (2004)

!Peak <br />position

|-

|Canadian Albums

|align="center"|12

|-

|Canadian R&B Albums

|style="text-align:center;"|20

|-

|French Albums Chart

|align="center"|103

|-

|Swiss Albums Chart

|align="center"|50

|-

|UK Albums Chart

|align="center"|56

|-

|US Billboard 200

|align="center"|5

|-

|US Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums

|align="center"|2

|-

|US Billboard Top Rap Albums

|align="center"|1

|}

;Singles

{| class="wikitable"

|-

!Year

!Title

|-

|rowspan=2|2004

|"Sex, Love & Money"

|-

|"Close Edge"

|}

Certifications

Personnel

  • Mos Def - vocals, piano (track 1), drums (tracks 1 and 16), guitar, bass and percussion (track 16)
  • Black Jack Johnson - House Band (feat. Will Calhoun - drums, Doug Wimbish - bass, Dr. Know - guitar and Bernie Worrell - keyboard)
  • Raphael Saadiq - guitar and bass (track 1)
  • Minnesota - producer
  • Easy Mo Bee - producer
  • Kanye West - producer
  • Shuggie Otis - guitar
  • L Mitchellon (?) - piano, organ
  • Warryn Campbell - producer
  • Psycho Les - producer
  • 88-Keys - producer

References

  • The New Danger at Discogs
  • Review and audio interview at Vibe