"What is it like to be King...? When you're not still yet a man..."

This is great. This is the kind of "off the wall" improv work that makes Mos Def such a musical marvel.

He isn't totally coherent / probably didn't think about what he was going to do but... give a fuck, it's awesome / a cover of Michael Jackson done by trained musicians.

Mos Def recently took the stage at the Newport Jazz Festival, backed by his usual supporting cast of Chris “Daddy” Dave, Robert Glasper, Casey Benjamin, Derrick Hodge, a 5-piece strings section and a trio of horns, collectively, The Watermelon Syndicate. I was thrilled to see a hip-hop artist close out the first day of the prestigious jazz festival, really goes to show just how far hip-hop/jazz fusion has come. Mos and his band did a nice mix of his own songs (Casa Bey, Life in Marvelous Times, Umi Says) and covers from a variety of artists such as De La Soul, Eric Dolphy and John Coltrane. What really stood out was his cover of the late Michael Jackson’s Human Nature. It sounded beautiful with the strings, but wasnt a straight up cover as Mos sang different lyrics. Check it out after the jump, as well as his performance of Life In Marvelous Times.