Mos Def's latest album The Ecstatic is a genuine return to form. Its bass-heavy rhythms are peppered with scattershot influences from jazz, Bollywood, samba and even psychedelia, providing a stunning backdrop for the Brooklyn-born rapper's loping lyrical style. Go out and get it now. Or if you prefer, stay in and download it. But definitely buy it because The Ecstatic being a big success may persuade Mos Def to focus on what he does best, which is making music. And, significantly, music's gain will also be cinema's gain.

Have you ever seen Mos Def act? I haven't, despite seeing several of his films. Or more accurately, I've never seen him perform in a way that enables me to suspend disbelief sufficiently to believe anything he says or does onscreen. So, in a sense, he's always acting - and it's impossible to ever forget it.