Black on Both Sides

The cover of Mos Def's solo debut is a tight close-up of his face in warm red and brown light, eyes looking straight into the camera, with nothing else in the frame beyond his name and the title in small type.

Released on 12 October 1999 on Rawkus, Black on Both Sides showed the Brooklyn rapper's range: he rapped, sang and played instruments, and moved from the street politics of "Mathematics" and "Hip Hop" to the soul of "Umi Says" and the rock of "Rock N Roll." It became a defining album of the conscious rap movement.

The face-only portrait matches the title, a statement of Black identity, and an artist who preferred to stand plainly in front of the listener. Mos Def later took the name Yasiin Bey, and the album remains his most celebrated work.