... Jean Grae - 4 *
12 "Never Been In Love" - 5 *
13 "Beautiful Struggle" - 5 *
14 "Supreme, Supreme" ft. Mos Def - 3 *
"We Got The Beat" is my favourite track on the album as it is catchy and has a great hook performed by Res. The lyrics are also original from Talib Kweli, and are so quick ... Read review
The Revolution Back Up Off Me From A Place - featuring Killer Mike I Tried - featuring ... more
Mary J. Blige We Got The Beat (Planet Rock) Around my Way What We Have Is Real Rock On And On You Don't Know Me It's The Ghetto - featuring Common Hold Your Hands Up...
Postage & Packaging: £0.00 Availability: 3-5 working days
Advantages: Compelling production, unbelievable rapping and lyrics Disadvantages: More critically successful than commercially successful due to lack of worldwide known singles
This is the second album from Brooklyn born Talib Kweli. It consists of 14 tracks and features guests on 6 of these tracks including Mary J. Blige, Faith Evans, John Legend, Res, Common, Anthony Hamilton, Jean Grae and Mos Def. In my opinion this album is one of the best I have ever listened to, mainly because of Kweli's free flowing, quick style and his ability to string sequences of rhymes together without even stopping for a breath. The album ... ...including Hi-Tek, Charlemagne, The Neptunes, Supa Dave West, Amadeus, Midi Mafia, J.R., Tone Mason, Just Blaze and most notably Kanye West. The album has had two singles from it released, "I Try" and "Never Been In Love".
1 "Going Hard" - 4 * 2 "Back Up Offa Me" - 4 * 3 "Broken Glass" - 4 * 4 "We Know" ft. Faith Evans - 4* 5 "A Game" - ... more
This is the second album from Brooklyn born Talib Kweli. It consists of 14 tracks and features guests on 6 of these tracks including Mary J. Blige, Faith Evans, John Legend, Res, Common, Anthony Hamilton, Jean Grae and Mos Def. In my opinion this album is one of the best I have ever listened to, mainly because of Kweli's free flowing, quick style and his ability to string sequences of rhymes together without even stopping for a breath. The album features production from some of the best in the business including Hi-Tek, Charlemagne, The Neptunes, Supa Dave West, Amadeus, Midi Mafia, J.R., Tone Mason, Just Blaze and most notably Kanye West. The album has had two singles from it released, "I Try" and "Never Been In Love".
1 "Going Hard" - 4 * 2 "Back Up Offa Me" - 4 * 3 "Broken Glass" - 4 * 4 "We Know" ft. Faith Evans - 4* 5 "A Game" - 3 * 6 "I Try" ft. Mary J. Blige - 5 * 7 "Around My Way" ft. John Legend - 5 * 8 "We Got the Beat" ft. Res - 5 * 9 "Work It Out" - 4 * 10 "Ghetto Show" ft. Common & Anthony Hamilton - 3 * 11 "Black Girl Pain" ft. Jean Grae - 4 * 12 "Never Been In Love" - 5 * 13 "Beautiful Struggle" - 5 * 14 "Supreme, Supreme" ft. Mos Def - 3 *
"We Got The Beat" is my favourite track on the album as it is catchy and has a great hook performed by Res. The lyrics are also original from Talib Kweli, and are so quick and tightly put together it is almost impossible to imitate. I would recommend this album to anyone who likes Talib Kweli ofcourse, anyone who likes alternative rap which focuses more on the positive aspects of life rather than what most rap focuses on which is guns, jail, drugs, hustling, hoes etc... Talib Kweli also includes socio-political topics in his music and his intelligence shines through, he was once quoted as the most intelligent rapper alive. This album is a bit more tougher than his first album, Quality, however. Overall I would give this album 5* as it is one of the best albums I have ever heard and was well worth the £10 I paid for it.
Advantages: Strong lyrically, no filler Disadvantages: A lot of simplistic beats
Jean Grae (that?s not her real name) is a South African born, New York raised, female hip hop artist. Her music sounds as you would expect the average American artist; there isn?t a whole lot of South African influence bar the occasional shout out here or there, I?ll you to decide if that?s a positive or negative. She was featured on a lot of albums around 2000 - 2004, and has been on quite a few since now I think about it. Masta Ace - Disposable Arts, The Roots - The Tipping Point, and TalibKweli - BeautifulStruggle are the ones that spring to mind fastest but that?s no where near the complete list. She caught my attention off these and I decided to make the purchase of This Week.
This Week (2004) is her third solo release following on from Attack of the Attacking Things (2001) and Bootleg of the Bootleg (2002), and her album naming ...
Product Information for "Beautiful Struggle, The - Talib Kweli" »
Product details
Title
Beautiful Struggle, The
Performer
Talib Kweli
Genre
R&B
Sub Genre
Rap
Release Date
27/09/2004
Recomended Retail Price
13.99 GBP
Original Release Year
2004
Label / Distributor
Rawkus/Universal / Universal Music
Producer
Charlemagne; Hi Tek; Neptunes; Supa
Pieces in Set
1
Studio / Live
Studio
Stereo
Stereo
Format
Performer
EAN
602498640814
Catalogue Number
9864081
Additional notes
Album Notes
This British release contains a bonus track with a guest performance by Mos Def. Talib Kweli, as with the finest artists, is possessed by a love of his medium--in this case, rap and its history. Applying his thoughtful words to music, Kweli revels in hip-hop, and his adoration of the genre is clear in all his work. Each of Kweli's records, whether alone or with Mos Def (as part of Black Star) or Hi-Tek, incorporates hints of melodies past, lines plucked from the performers who preceded him, as well as deeply studied lyrics created by his own fertile mind. So it is with Kweli's third solo outing, THE BEAUTIFUL STRUGGLE, which alludes to the history of many forms of music while the rapper muses eloquently about revolutions and poverty and their relation to war and shattered dreams. Kweli tells an intricate story of struggling, succeeding, and failing on "Broken Glass," and jumps around from one frustration to the next on the ultimately inspirational title track. On the latter, he notes that people dub him a political rapper, when he doesn't even follow politics; rather, he looks to the icons of hip-hop from Ice Cube to De La Soul. Kweli may not aim to be a politically minded hip-hopper, but as an astute observer of life, he can't help but be aware and comment on what he sees. On BEAUTIFUL STRUGGLE its clear that he raps because he lives, and he does it brilliantly.
Album Reviews
Spin (p.112) - "[The] poignant 'Broken Glass' riffs off Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five's conscious-rap landmark 'The Message' with outstanding, bell-rocking Neptunes production." - Grade: B+ Entertainment Weekly (p.74) - "[The album] affirms his reputation as hip-hop's conscience." Mojo (p.96) - 4 stars out of 5 - "[I]t is Kweli's diligently intelligent worldview, dextrous wordplay and often breathtaking flow that enrapture." Vibe (p.185) - 3 1/2 discs out of 5 - "[A] continuation of QUALITY's attempt to expand rap's topical terrain....Kweli delivers a heart to the tin shell of 21st-century hip hop."
Titles on disc 1
1.
Going Hard
2.
Back Up Offa Me
3.
Broken Glass
4.
We Know - Kweli, Talib & Faith Evans
5.
Game
6.
I Try - Kweli, Talib & Mary J. Blige
7.
Around My Way - Kweli, Talib & John Legend
8.
We Got The Beat - Kweli, Talib & Res
9.
Work It Out
10.
Ghetto Snow - Kweli, Talib & Common/Anthony Hamilton
11.
Black Girl Pain
12.
Never Been In Love
13.
Beautiful Struggle
14.
Supreme Supreme - Kweli, Talib & Mos Def
Ciao
Listed on Ciao since
15/04/2005
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