Beautiful Struggle, The - Talib Kweli

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. 

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