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: Over 5 million
YouTube Music: Over 2.5 million

Credits

Details

• To really enjoy 'Travellin' Man' you have to have the bass turned up load. The purring low end mixes with the vocals to creates a bouncing motion that mimics movement perfectly suited to a song about travelling. It's practically rippling with a kinetic energy you will miss when listening at low volumes.
  
  Produced by the Japanese DJ Honda, the track gave 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 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 travels 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, Mos is rapping about his girl being mad at him for going on tour.
  
  HII (1998), The DJ Honda album featuring 'Travellin' Man', released a year and a half before Mos Def's debut solo effort Black on Both Sides and, as such,  previews what he could do as a soloist. Mos Def had previously made music as a part of the groups Black Star, Medina Green, and Urban Thermo Dynamics. The latter group included his brother and sister as members, but as time passed, he was ready to branch out on his own. Rawkus Records pushed him in a wise move that produced 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 Def. 
  
  
• HII actually was actually released in Japan during 1997. The modified international version, that features 'Travellin Man'', came out in 1998.
  
  

  

  Mos Def and DJ Honda
  

  
  
  

Artwork