Talib Kweli has been in limbo between underground success and mainstream disappointment for the last few years. He is universally praised for his lyrical abilities but criticized for his attempts to cross over. In order to get his head right he took a few years off and now comes back with a new label imprint, an impressive roster of artists and a brand new album for our listening pleasure. How did the break affect him? Is he still concerned with trying to cross over and have that success? Does he answer any of the criticism? Let us find out.
Everything Man- The disc opens with a woman giving a spoken word piece on Talib Kweli. It is a gorgeous piece and sets up the disc pretty well. Underneath her vocals the beat slowly and quietly starts and builds until the beat takes over for her, sounding like a heart beat and the first thing we hear from Kweli is "They say you can't please everybody" and that seems to be the mantra of this whole album. He references Langston Hughes in his first actual rhyme and the laid back quiet beat really allows us to focus what he is saying and it worth listening. The song ends with people giving testimonials on when they first heard Talib. It is a great opening to an album. 4/5
NY Weather Report- This is a song about how tough New York is and using the weather as a metaphor. It is a pretty simple concept but it really works with Kweli. It helps knowing what he has gone through in the industry, as he assumes you do know, but since I do know, I didn't have any trouble. I enjoy the hook as it is not a sing-songy hook that infests so much of the music these days and the little scratches over the hook are very effective. He uses a lot of metaphors and punchlines in this song to get his point across and it seems as if the break was good to Kweli. He does use the word "Cracker" to describe the white man and that is a problem for me. Not that I am overly sensitive but for an emcee who preaches togetherness and whatnot it seems like a bad play to refer to the powerful white man as a "cracker." nonetheless it is a great song. 4/5
Hostile Gospel(part1)- Just Blaze kills this beat right here. He gives Kweli one dope gospel sounding beat. Right off the bat we know the mood of this song when Kweli starts his first verse off with "I call rappers baby seals cuz they clubbin to death." Kweli is obviously upset with the current state of ringtone hip-hop. He goes on to back up his point with a fiery verse with his signature multi-syllabic measure rap. No one crams more words into a bar of music quite like Kweli and while some times it does not work, here is it exactly what the song calls for. The hook is perfect for the song as a children's gospel choir seems to just be singing "Deliver us" as a plea to Kweli to take us away from the stupid rap songs infecting the radio. 5/5
Say Something- Kweli dares haters to talk about him because he ready with an all out verbal ass kicking here. Kweli has always been able to get down and dirty but usually he stays above it but here he gets down in the mud and is drilling bloggers, haters and bad rappers. The defiant hook could not be better and the beat is on fire. Will.I.Am, while being an awful rapper is really burning it up with production these days. Jean Grae(the first rapper on Kweli's label) comes by to show why the underground knows she is the hardest spitting female emcee alive. I just play this song over and over because I really like a more aggressive Kweli. 5/5
Country Cousins- I am not feeling the hook on this song and the beat was not something I enjoyed at first but grew on me, but I like the message of the song and Kweli's flow is ridiculous here as he kind of adopts a sped up version of that southern flow. Instead of focusing on the differences of regions in hip-hop this song celebrates the things in common and examines the differences as good things and how we need it all to function. U.G.K show up for a guest spot and like they usually do on guest appearances they come off pretty well. I am not sure I am ready to sit through an entire U.G.K album because Pimp C is one obnoxious dude and I am not fond of their typical stuff, but here it works very well. 4/5
Holy Moly- Pete Rock is back behind the boards on this one and he flips an Elton John song to make an ill sample and Kweli is again a beast here and even gets a bit political humor in as he says "I turn pages like Mark Foley." The song has no hook and is just 2 minutes of a verbal assault on wannabe Jay-z'Talib Kweli has been in limbo between underground success and mainstream disappointment for the last few years. He is universally praised for his lyrical abbilities but criticisized for his attempts to cross over. In order to get his head right he took a few years off and now comes back with a new label imprint, an impressive roster of artists and a brand new album for our listening pleasure. How did the break affect him? Is he still concerned with trying to cross over and have that success? Does he answer any of the criticism? Let us find out.
Everything Man- The disc opens with a woman giving a spoken word piece on Talib Kweli. It is a gorgeous piece and sets up the disc pretty well. Underneath her vocals the beat slowly and quietly starts and builds until the beat takes over for her, sounding like a heart beat and the first thing we hear from Kweli is "They say you can't please everybody" and that seems to be the mantra of this whole album. He references Langston Hughes in his first actual rhyme and the laid back quiet beat really allows us to focus what he is saying and it worth listening. The song ends with people giving testemonials on when they first heard Talib. It is a great opening to an album. 4/5
NY Weather Report- A song about how tough New York is and using the weather as a metaphor. It is a pretty simple concept but it really works with Kweli. It helps knowing what he has gone through in the industry, as he assumes you do know, but since I do know, I didn't have any trouble. I enjoy the hook as it is not a sing-songy hook that infests so much of the music these days and the little scratches over the hook are very effective. He uses a lot of metaphors and punchlines in this song to get his point across and it seems as if the break was good to Kweli. He does use the word "Cracker" to describe the white man and that is a problem for me. Not that I am overly sensitive but for an emcee who preaches togetherness and whatnot it seems like a bad play to refer to the powerful white man as a "cracker." nonetheless it is a great song. 4/5
Hostile Gospel(part1)- Just BLaze kills this beat right here. He gives Kweli one dope gospel sounding beat. Right off the bat we know the mood of this song when Kweli starts his first verse off with "I call rappers baby seals cuz they clubbin to death." Kweli is obviously upset with the current state of ringtone hip-hop. He goes on to back up his point with a firey verse with his signature multi-sylabbic measure rap. No one crams more words into a bar of music quite like Kweli and while some times it does not work, here is it exactly what the song calls for. The hook is perfect for the song as a children's gospel chior seems to just be singing "Deliver us" as a plea to Kweli to take us away from the stupid rap songs infecting the radio. 5/5
Say Something- Kweli dares haters to talk about him because he ready with an all out verbal ass kicking here. Kweli has always been able to get down and dirty but usually he stays above it but here he gets down in the mud and is drilling bloggers, haters and bad rappers. The defiant hook could not be better and the beat is on fire. Will.I.Am, while being an awful rapper is really burning it up with production these days. Jean Grae(the first rapper on Kweli's label) comes by to show why the underground knows she is the heardest spitting female emcee alive. I just play this song over and over because I really like a more aggresive Kweli. 5/5
Country Cousins- I am not feeling the hook on this song and the beat was not something I enjoyed at first but grew on me, but I like the message of the song and Kweli's flow is ridiculous here as he kind of adopts a sped up version of that southern flow. Instead of focusing on the differences of regions in hip-hop this song celebrates the things in common and examines the differences as good things and how we need it all to function. U.G.K show up for a guest spot and like they usually do on guest appearances they come off pretty well. I am not sure I am ready to sit through an entire U.G.K album because Pimp C is one obnoxious dude and I am not fond of their typical stuff, but here it works very well. 4/5
Holy Moly- Pete Rock is back behind the boards on this one and he flips an Elton John song to make an ill sample and Keli is again a beast here and even gets a bit political muhor in as he says "I turn pages like Mark Foley." The song has no hook and is just 2 minutes of a verbal assault on wannabe Jay-z's with fake Scott Storch beats and representing those hip-hop lost last year by saying "you still living through me." It is short and to the point and is a killer track. 5/5
Eat to live- This is the first song with a subject matter Talib is known for- The Struggle. The song is a story of a kid who doesn't have the money to buy food and eat. It also works as a metaphor for feeding the minds of the youth to keep a child learning and growing up. The song works on every level and Madlib gives Kweli the perfect somber beat on which to tell his story. The hook is depressing and educational, which it should be and the song shows why he usually raps about the struggle- he is so good at it. 5/5
In the Mood- Kanye West shows up as a rapper and producer here, but Kweli was not about to get upstaged because Kweli really makes this beat his as he rips the first verse hard. Kanye does hold his own pretty well with his verse, as he rides his own beat perfectly and he ends his verse with a repeated rhyme pattern elongating the rhyme for a few seconds which sounds kind of corny, but it works. The third verse is again about how rap is supposed to be and while it can come across heavy handed at times, Kweli's passion overshadows any heavy handed preaching when he proclaims that he "Plays like Iverson, hurt on both ankles." 4/5
Soon the new Day- This is the first song I don't love on the album. I am not sure Kweli and Norah Jones are a real good match. Jones sings a nice hook, but something just doesn't totally click for me. Talib's lyrics are nice here and the beat is ok, but it just sounds kind of lazy or forced maybe. I seriously cannot put my finger on it exactly but something here just doesn't work, like the pieces are all nice but they don't come together well. 2.5/5
Give 'em Hell- Religion raps can be a tricky thing. Some come off too preachy and then on the opposite end people can blindly talk bad about religion without really knowing anything. Kweli manages to walk that thin line very well. He has always been a pretty spiritual person and here we learn he spent a lot of time in different churches trying to find out where he belonged and how he can't find a lot of differences between the churches. It is almost a positive song about religion but in a kind of sarcastic way as he points out that these different religions all roughly believe the same thing, yet they all claim to be the only true church. 4/5
More or Less- Talib and Hi-Tek together again! It is a beautiful thing when these two guys make music together. The hook is a gorgeous male voice going a step up with each word as he goes from octave to octave and the beat is probably the best beat on the album. Kweli spends the song telling us what we need more of and what we need less of. Not all of them ring true and some are kind of silly, but overall it works as a song concept. Things like "less talk and more change" work where things like "More Beyonce and less Britney" are kind of silly and unnecessary. Kweli kind of goes away form his typical flow here changing his breath control to slow down each line just a little bit so we can actually hear and understand what he is saying here. 4.5/5
Stay Around- Pete Rock comes back for seconds and thank God for that because this beat is really nice. Kweli spends the first verse going back to the mantra of the album "You can't be everything to everyone." The song is a dialogue between Talib and his fans as people tell him what he should sound like, whose beats he should rap to and what kinds of songs he should make and then when he goes out of dialogue mode he rips it hard about how no one should be limited by what they used to do and people should be allowed to try new things and see if they work. He admits they don't always work, but seems glad to have been able to do such a thing. 4.5/5
Hot Thing- This is the first official single and has a dope video accompanying it. This song keeps with his want to branch out and do other kinds of hip-hop. I am not huge on the song because it sounds a lot like so much of the stuff on the radio these days and I think he is better than this kind of song because his true heart felt love songs come across so much better. In the song he is talking to some nameless woman about what he likes about her- her ass, sass, freckles and so on. Will.I.Am does give his second dope beat to the album but this time he is on the hook as well which does not work as well, if you ask me. 2/5
Space Fruit interlude- This is as pointless as most interludes. I hate these things even if they only are a minute long.
The Perfect Beat- Talib and KRS-! Together on the same track? Hmmmm. With a Bob Marley sample? hmmm again. The beat is hard. I mean hard in a good every-rapper-will-want-to-spit-over-it beat. The two Emcees trade couplets with each other and KRS proves he still has it when he focuses and gets back to real hip-hop and not talking about hip-hop as a religion. By the title you know the song is about finding the perfect beat and trying to figure out what makes a beat perfect. The second half of the song is flawless as the two guys exchange perfectly crafted verses with each of ripping the beat incredibly! 5/5
Oh My Stars- The song starts with a kid ripping the mic, but when Kweli comes in the song doesn't have the energy of the kid so it seems odd. I am not a big fan of this kind of earth like song. The beat is just too soft for me and Kweli backs off the mic to create a very soft flow and it just doesn't work for me. He is getting preachy again, which can be fine and he has crafted dope soft love songs before but it is just all wrong here. Some of it might be that I don't like Musiq who is singing the hook, but it is more than that. The song gets a bit better during the second verse, but it just doesn't work overall for me. 3/5
Listen!- This song was leaked-released about a year ago and it was what made me really desire this album because it is a hot song. The beat is crafted perfectly and the placement of the word "Listen" as part of the beat and hook works very well. Kweli murders the song with lines like "Bangin on the system, fightin my kind of war/Loud as a whisper, quiet as a lion's roar" and "They like "What nigga? Wait right there/ I got reservoir dogs, you be missin a right ear." From beginning to end this is Kweli at his best. The hook is dope, the verses are dope, the song is dope. 5/5
Go With us- Kweli uses this song to introduce us the Strong Arm Steady Crew. A crew of west coast emcees Kweli stole from Los Angeles and gave a deal to. The song is just an all out verbal assault letting people know what to expect from this trio- Phil Da Agony, Crondon and Mitchy Slick. I have been a fan of Phil Da Agony for a while and it is nice to heard him over something that doesn't sound just like it belongs on the west coast. I would have rather heard a song without a hook, since it comes off as a mixtape song anyway, but it works for the most part. I would like to hear how Strong Arm Steady sounds trading couplets instead of each taking 16 bars but I am sure that is to come. 4/5
Hostile Gospel(part 2)- Kweli is talking directly to God here at first. He is praying about being delivered from sin and temptation. I am not huge on the song as the beat is boring and Kweli sounds like he is tired of his own album here, which he may be because 20 tracks is a long album! Reggae artists Sizzla comes in for some nonsense and I can't understand a word he says, which is fine. 2/5
The Nature- Justin Timberlake and Kweli together has been a hot topic amongst the internet knuckleheads. People seem to forget the two guys went to Africa together and came to form a bond over it. They even rapped on TV together, well Kweli rapped and Justin beat boxed, but here Justin actually produced the song and he does a pretty damn good job with the beat. It is soft and mellow, but intricate with the strings in the background and the song is a bit preachy but it feels honest and never sounds forced. J.T sounds good on the hook as he backs off his usual pop sounding voice to mimic a more R&B falsetto. The song is about getting back to what matters in life and getting away from going just for money and Kweli's second verse is one of the more perfect verses I have heard from him. It is deep and meaningful but still lyrically dope, with a nice metaphor and some dope imagery it is a great way to end the album. 5/5
If Kweli had eliminated the few really bad songs this could have been a tighter, no filler having album but as it stands it is still a very good album worth having and it has some very good replay value. The break seemed to be good for Talib as he seems to have centered himself and created an album for himself. He was less concerned with label problems and what people expected him to do and just did what he wanted to do and it would be great if he can do that every time out for now because all sides of Kweli- the lover, the soul searcher, the healer and the brutal emcee- are all worth hearing.
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