Mos Def: The Ecstatic (2LP-translucent ruby red vinyl) [RHYMESAYERS]

Why you'll love it

Back in print after years out of circulation, as a 2LP on translucent ruby red vinyl in a matte gatefold with spot gloss. It debuted in the Billboard 200 top 10 and earned Grammy nominations for Best Rap Album and for "Casa Bey."

This edition

• 2026 reissue on Rhymesayers
• 2LP on translucent ruby red vinyl
• Matte gatefold jacket with spot gloss finish

About the album

For years The Ecstatic sat out of print on every physical format, which is a strange fate for one of the best rap albums of its era. That changed in August 2026, when yasiin bey (the artist formerly and forever known on this sleeve as Mos Def) teamed up with Rhymesayers and made it the first project of their new partnership, putting it back on shelves where it belongs.

It first came out on Downtown in June 2009, ten years after Black on Both Sides, and it's a restless, globe-trotting record with beats from Madlib, Oh No, J Dilla, Georgia Anne Muldrow, Mr. Flash and The Neptunes, plus Slick Rick and Talib Kweli dropping by. "Supermagic," "Quiet Dog Bite Hard" and "Casa Bey" are the obvious highlights, though the whole thing flows like a mixtape from a very well-travelled friend. It reached No. 9 on the Billboard 200 and No. 24 here in Canada, and Spin called it "the best hip-hop album of 2009 thus far" a few months in, then ranked it seventh at year's end. If you've only got Black Star on the shelf, this is the next one to get, and the ruby red pressing looks the part.

On Rhymesayers, a reissue of the 2009 album.