After a couple of collaborative albums, one with Hi-Tek (as Reflection Eternal) and one this Mos Def (as Black Star), the Brooklyn Hip Hopper Talib Kweli released his debut solo release in 2002. It finds that he breaks out alone, and shows how he can do the political, socially-aware Hip Hop to contrast form the main sounds of what comes from the genre.
1. “Keynote Speaker” (Intro)
2. “Rush”
To get thing going in a big way you have a hardcore track which has him working with the West coast’s Xzibit. It is a rough track, and reflects the fact that he wishes to show new sides to his personally, and his music through this solo record, and so is able to use his conscious Hip Hop and direct it in a way which resembles Gangsta Rap.
**Five Stars**
3. “Get By”
Here you find the artists key single, and the one which really got his solo career going as he drops a killer tune on some beats from Kanye West as he seems to use similar techniques as what he chose to give the likes of Jay-Z, John Legend and Dilated Peoples all around this time, and it gets Kweli able to flow about the struggles of people similar to himself.
**Five Stars**
4. “Shock Body”
This is a hardcore track from him, and it has him keeping the flow of the album
going with another track which has him working on some of the best production of the time as DJ Scratch (formally of EPMD) works with him and gets him doing something which has a club vibe to it in order to get him gather up a pretty large following.
**Five Stars**
5. “Gun Music”
The Cocoa Bruvaz (known also as Smif-N-Wessun) join him on this one as he does another track which has him showing that he can do all the same sort of thing which the general mainstream Hip Hop acts are doing, and so whilst taking on this kind of thing as a foundation, he inputs his specialised style to fit in with it all.
**Five Stars**
6. “Waitin’ For The DJ”
This track is a straight killer, and as it progresses, it just gets better, you really can’t mess with this piece as you see that Dahoud Darien gives him some of the best production he could possibly have to work with, as it messes around this conventional methods of constructing the work, and comes up with something so unique that you have to get down with it.
**Five Stars**
7. “Joy”
You have him working with Mos Def once again, and having this drop four years after their classic collaboration in 1998, this has him do a highly emotive one by talking about the ties when he can say he truly experienced “Joy” in his life when referring to what he felt when his children were born. The flows are incredible here, and show just how well he can adapt them to fit any circumstances.
**Five Stars**
8. “Talk To You”
Bilal helps him along the way on this one as you find that there is a significant change in the way the music goes, and so with this one you see him opt for something which has him dealing with thins in a different way with the MCing kept to a minimum and string work being the basis to the stuff as he tries out something different and alternative.
**Four Stars**
9. “Guerrilla Monsoon Rap”
With the then-relatively know Kanye West proving the production and adding vocals to thehook, this is a monster track off the album and it finds some of the finest conscious Hip hop MCs in the game coming together here as they show what the best lyricists in the game can do with Pharaoh Monch, The Roots’ Black Thought both coming to help him get the job done. It is a dedication to the late, great wrestler of the same name.
**Five Stars**
10. “Put It In The Air”
This one stands out as one of the best tracks on the whole of the release as it finds that the artist goes for something very different here by getting into some party rap, and I felt that he did very well whilst being backed by DJ Quik, who chooses to do the beats in his own West Coast style.. It is a killer track, and one you wouldn’t really expect from the album by Kweli.
**Five Stars**
11. “The Proud”
On this one you have him going for some politically-charge raps, and I felt that he executed it extremely well as he choose to get right at the government with some hardcore rhymes which have him take on the big power forces in the US, and fids him questing the motives of these organisation which evidence to back this up for both the Hip Hop listener, and those who are just generally up on world affairs.
***Four Stars**
9. “Where Do We Go”
Drawing similarities to “Talk To You”, from earlier on in the album, you have this one where he changes his approach in the music by doing a down-beat track where he chooses to drive the track with very different focuses as in this one he chooses to talk about much darker things in life. He decides that it’s best to just list these passively and not really explore them, but in spite of this potential issue, it is certainly a good one.
13. “Stand To The Side”
This is a track which finds that he is finally ready to make a change in the world, after seeing just how bad it can get, and so in order to do so he must initially move all of those who are passively allowing this oppression to persist must make room and allow for people such as himself to make action happen.
**Four Stars**
10. “Good To You”
This one is a very memorable track on the album, and it means that you are immediately drawn in by its contents as you have more from ‘Ye’s beats propping him up and allowing to come up with some of the most engaging flows of the whole thing. From the get-go you are brought right into this one, and you don’t want to leave.
**Five Stars**
15. “Won’t You Stay”
To end this album, you have track which has him visiting more of the same sort of thing which a lot of the commercial Hip Hop acts get into, with him choosing to do a little work which deals with girls and how it makes him feel. The thing is very light, and ends it in a delicate way.
**Four Stars**
This is a big album from Talib Kweli and it shows that in spite of earlier work where he was pretty much forced to do what his collaborator was feeling, he had the opportunity to diversity here ad get into some funky production throughout to give him just what is needed to show he can do things alone and make an impact upon the Hip Hop world without making it seem too ‘alternative’.
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Quality is the first solo album proper from New York rap moralist Talib Kweli and it ... more
confirms his position as one of the most literate rhymers to have emerged from the hip-hop underground in the last decade. Expanding on the sound ethical template laid...
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Keynote Speaker (Album Version (Explicit)) Rush (Feat. Xzibit) Get By (Album Version ... more
(Explicit)) Shock Body (Album Version (Explicit)) Gun Music (Feat. Cocoa Brovaz) Waitin' For The DJ (Feat. Bilal) Joy (Feat. Mos Def) Talk To You (Lil' Darlin') (Feat....
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