Let’s get the obvious part of this out of the way; I love this record. It has enchanted and ensnared me in its flanged hi-hat charms. If this record was a woman, I would be helpless at its feet, lovingly feeding it grapes off the vine and buying it fur coats, Fendi bags and diamond rings in a vain hope that showering it with bling-bling would prevent it from finding a suitor more worthy of its sultry charms. If I saw this record across a crowded airport terminal pulling out a pack of Virginia Slims, I would push a nun out of the way for a chance to offer it a light. I think it’s stunning piece of work. The odd thing is that I can’t really pinpoint why.
I’ve thought about this from several angles. At first I thought it was just the idea of a collaboration between Mos Def and Massive Attack that I found so appealing, but I really don’t own anything with Mos Def on it and, while the beat is alluring, it isn’t the best thing Massive Attack has ever written. I thought for a moment that it was the “Blade II” connection, but I bought the soundtrack before I saw the movie and was in love with this track from the first moment I heard it, unlike the rest of the soundtrack (which mostly works, but isn’t really anything that you haven’t heard before). It has taken several listens to realize that the thing that makes me nod my head when I play this song (like I am AT THIS VERY MOMENT) is the arrangement. The beat is sparse but layered, the synth fills have a very metallic-sounding filter put on them, Mos Def’s delivery manages to encapsulate urgency and languidness simultaneously and that breakdown in the middle is just genius. If this track isn’t used to promote the movie, the New Line Cinema PR department should lose their jobs.