DJ Honda ft. Mos Def - Travellin' Man

"I'm travelling man. Moving through places, space and time"

Album: HII [2nd album]
Genre: Hip Hop, Conscious Hip Hop, East Coast Hip Hop
Album Release: March 24th 1998
Length: 3:16
Producer: DJ Honda
Vocalist: Mos Def [age 24]
Label: Relativity Records & Epic Records

Official Audio


DJ Honda Remix


Live in 2010

Charts, Streams & Sales

Spotify: 5,100,000 +
YouTube Music: 2,900,000 +

Credits

Details

• You have to get the bass to resonate just right to fully enjoy 'Travellin Man'. It's a quality listening experience when you nail it. When the bass is purring it mixes with the rapping to give the music a bounce that mimics movement. Listening to it makes you want to get up and, well, travel, as if the song's rippling with kinetic energy.
  
  Produced by the Japanese DJ Honda, the track gives Mos Def a platform to display his skills as both a rapper and a singer, two jobs he does well. If I was a frugal producer who wanted rapping on the verses and singing on the hook, instead of paying for two people, why not get one guy who's competent at both?
  
  The hook stands out as a reworking of 'Travelling Man' by Ricky Nelson, which is about a playboy who travels the world chasing women. The DJ Honda version is recognisable while being different enough to be its own thing. The new, updated lyrics are about a guy who has to travel for work but is looking forward to coming home to his lady. While Nelson's song is about the joys of philandering with a bevvy of beauties from locales far afield, Mos is rapping about his girl being mad that he's going on tour.
  
  The DJ Honda album came out a year and a half before Mos Def's debut solo effort 'Black on Both Sides' and is a preview of what the rapper could do when given a full track to really stretch himself. Mos Def had previously made music as a part of the groups Black Star, Medina Green and Urban Thurmo Dynamics. The latter group included his brother and sister but as time passed Mos felt he was ready to branch out on his own and Rawkus Records were willing to give him a push. It proved to be a wise decision as his album was one of the best received hip hop records of 1999.
  
  I never really pay close attention to the words in 'Travellin' Man'. For me, it's more about the way the rapping sounds on the beat, the rhyme schemes, the intonations in the flow and the energy of it. I know the call outs and rhyme words but never felt the need to take a deep dive into the lyrics. Many people don't like rappers who sing and normally I would agree, but I make an exception when it comes to Mos.
  
  The singing is good here. It stops things from getting too repetitive and feels nearly iconic. I love this track.
  
  
• The album was initially released in Japan during 1997 which was followed by a modified international release in 1998. The Mos Def song only appears on the international version.
  
  

  

  Mos Def and DJ Honda
  

  
  
  

Artwork