Quality Assured… - Talib Kweli Ear Drum Review
ALBUM REVIEWS By Gotty™ on July 12, 2007 at 11:39 am
Words by Matthew Mundy
I must admit – I haven’t been checking too closely in the last couple of years for Talib Kweli. It seemed like he reached his creative peak with Reflection Eternal, where he had settled comfortably and happily into the expansive, soul-drenched sonic landscape Hi-Tek created for him. The beats weren’t flashy, Kweli didn’t try too hard, and nothing about the album seemed forced, something that has always been one of Kweli’s problems. He’s not an especially charismatic or smooth emcee – as opposed to his sometime partner in crime Mos Def, who bounces and moves with the beat, Kweli often just barges his way through the song, overstuffing his rhymes while ignoring the suggestions and demands of the beat. It’s not always a bad thing, but unfortunately he let this tendency bleed into the actual crafting of his albums, where we saw Kweli overreaching and trying to make club hits, enlisting the hottest producers and trying to shoehorn his style into theirs. The clumsy, misguided attempts at stardom weren’t a good look, and I was worried that he would spend the rest of his career chasing that dragon.
Imagine my surprise then when I digitally unpacked Ear Drum for my considerable listening pleasure (its official release is still a couple of weeks off). The Kweli I knew and loved from the halcyon Reflection Eternal days is back and, once again, seems comfortable in his own skin. The first three songs provide more than sufficient evidence of his return to form. “Everything Man” is a pure throwback to Train of Thought – a smooth, understated beat courtesy of Madlib, consisting of a velvety soul loop, with Kweli calm and relaxed as he slithers across the beat. It’s a gorgeous little piece, and lyrically offers an admission of sorts that bodes well for the rest of his album: “I tried to fit it in the same rhyme, but realized I can’t be everything to everyone at the same time.” “NY Weather Report” showcases more of the soul-infused beats Kweli excels on, and he thankfully refrains from the aforementioned overstuffing he’s frequently guilty of. He’s one of the few emcees that suffers when he sounds like he’s spitting to save his life – his best material feels like it bubbles up to the surface, rather than smashing through.
“Hostile Gospel” is an early highlight as well. Just Blaze laces a banger for Kweli, and it sounds like a more hard-edged, aggressive “Get By”. The choir on the hook makes a nice juxtaposition to the hard-hitting drums and soulful pianos that back some of the more passionate social criticism I’ve heard in a minute, stock full of quotables. “Country Cousins” featuring UGK is a new look for Kweli, but it’s a keeper as well, with Kweli stealing the show over a string-heavy, tranquil beat, doubling up his flow and setting the pace for Bun B and Pimp C.
“Electrify” is another soulful joint, this time a Pete Rock production, and features the nicest hook on the album, all easy come, easy go confidence and charisma. “More Or Less” finds Kweli linking up with Hi-Tek for an eerie banger, with disjointed voices fluttering around heavy drums compelling the song forward, with Kweli letting loose on the demons he spends good chunks of this album cataloguing and attacking. Check these gems out: “More originality, less biting off Pac and Big / More community activism, less pigs / More Blacksmith and Def Jux, less Geffen and the rest, ‘cause the rest suck, they got the shit all messed up.” It’s an absolutely virtuosic performance.
It’s not a classic album though, with “In The Mood” marring an otherwise solid run of songs with another trip down the Kweli’s ‘song for the ladies’ path, one littered with the corpses of past efforts. It’s got an overtly repetitive beat, too satiated with its looped coos to fit in anything else, and an uninspired lyrical performance featuring lumbering, inelegant clunkers like: “Cats all sappy like romantic flicks / Dude get a clue like Colonel Mustard in the study with a candlestick.” “Soon The New Day” is a similarly unimaginative and bland track, while “Oh My Stars” is stuck with an insipid beat that overextends itself as it tries to reach bohemian inspiration and profundity, with Kweli stumbling along at the side.
The missteps aren’t too glaring or egregious to blight the album though, and Ear Drum serves notice to Kweli’s continued relevance, after almost slipping off the radar with a few albums more notable for their gaffes than their triumphs. It seems like he is back on the right path though, one replete with the soulful, understated elegance he excels with, rather than the flavor of the month, strained efforts at stardom that tarnished his last couple of albums. It seems he’s finally realized he can’t be everything to everybody, and while his strengths are unlikely to garner platinum plaques or super stardom, his fans are probably far happier with this incarnation of Kweli anyway.
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, GENERAL, REVIEWS
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26 Comments
kweli nice.
oh thats whats up.. i was first.
i always wanted to say that in a comment.
first… suckaaaaaz
http://www.myspace.com/jackierobmusic
you werent first.
I like the album….i like in the mood tho, i think that its at a good point in the album.
how was i not first? (not that i REALLY care or anything….)
but i was the one who made the comment “kweli nice”.
then, i realized i was first and commented on that… in the 2nd comment.
am i buggin?
(not that i REALLY care or anything)
- Words
GOOD ARTICLE
i don’t understand why Eardrum is on internet because is out on august !!!
fuck the industry !
this shit is real and talib = platinium
but its ridiculus with this marketing !
so in 2008 a deal with kanye west on G.O.O.D MUSIC, like Album “Be” (gold)
or probably “fidding forever”
For one day a solo by talib Gold or Platinum because like that : he upgrade his rap ! and not an internal undergroud famous rapper !
If lyrics sold, truth be told, I’d probably be, Just as rich and famous as Jay-Z - Talib Kweli
If skillz sold truth be told i probably be lyrically talib kweli
truthfully yall wanna rhyme like common sense
but i did 5 mics but i ain’t been rhymin like common sense
—–
Just listen and after make your authentic idea
This a link for hiphop heads but :
(if you like buy it or deleted, because he have no money! Five albums and just 55 OOO sold so if u have money …
buy on internet) ! please if u have the possibility its not expensive for an album of quality !
Legend and one of the 5 best french mc
(but my favorite) French Language no sorry, but Flow talk to you !!! really no fack, no mistake, no snitch …
keep it real ! Hiphop worldwide !
Feelin’ that :
Dany Dan - Poetically Correct
http://www.megaupload.com/fr/?d=UNM58G87
a mc like kweli, sense or hova !
but no mainstream so encore - that kweli
so buy it ! thx for the possibility
great !
peace y’all
ps
story link:
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sages_Po%C3%A8tes_de_la_Rue
http://www.myspace.com/popdan
http://www.disquesdurs.biz
did yall get the actual retail joint with justin timberlake on it?
this cd was aight. except it got leaked months ago..
yeah it was, hence the reason for changing the tracklist and adding those joints with sizzla and JT.
BONUS TRACK on “Eardrum” in August !
because it got leaked months ago
i think
peace
album is fire!…like how it flows… i do agree that “In The Mood” was rather weak.. definitely pickin’ that up… it was scheduled for a July 24th release but got pushed back…
Good review, but the official release don’t come out til Aug 21.
WTF is this?
http://iii3c4elpwtrsebx9y.usercash.com
http://ii84acqfpuhus6hbp.usercash.com
I don’t like to throw the term “classic” around much either… but I will say its Kweli’s best effort since Reflection Eternal’s Train of Thought.
Good review as well… Personally, I like “In The Mood” and like the remix even better with Kanye.
Hate to disagree w/ you again (but then again, that’s what the comments section is for) but “Soon A New Day” is pretty damn hot too. Actually, it was the first joint on there that I had stuck on repeat for a while (mostly because “Country Cousins” has been on hella mixtapes over the last few months).
Good review though.
– Pharoahe Monch, Talib Kweli, Common, Kanye West, UGK… hell, if we get about 3-4 hot records that we aren’t expecting, it could almost be as good a year for music as 1995 was! (I know, I’m dreaming.)
Peace.
WTF IS THIS !
Skyrock is a big radio in france
it’s just a jock with fiddy and the animaters of the radio show !
lol
it’s the Game diss
lol
EARDRUM is SOGOOD
this title is really good !!!
Talib & Raekwon !!!!!!!!!!!! hollala !!!!
the track:
Listen! is crazy !
Country Cousin UgK feat is real real good !
Hell is the slam on the def poetry show ?! real prestation no
and the rest is a talib kweli feelin’shit
KRS One is a legend so !!!
real reconiz real “!”
More Just Blaze, HiTek, Kanye !
With production like for Jay-Z, Game or other
AND TALIB WILL BE … a a a
“SSSSSssssssstttttttttAAAAAAAAArrrrrRR”
on this fuckin’ rap Game
Cla$$iCalbum??
Tha is the Que$tion ? “?” ?
Good review. I listened to Eardrum once, then said i’m putting it on the shelf until i can buy it. Listening to joints before they come out is starting to ruin albums for me.
I loved Quality, though the second half kinda limped along til the last few cuts. And his last two mixtapes go hella hard. At the end of his career, his “Best of…” is gonna shine on 97.8% of his *peers*.
Yeah, I really think this is a return to form for him - now if only he could get Mos to put acting on the back burner and make an album that’s worth mentioning in the same sentence as Black on Both Sides, we’d be good. BOBS is one of my all-time favorite albums - his follow-up(s?) have been considerably less so.
I’m surprised you don’t like soon a new day.
I think that is the best beat on the album. and I think the Hi-tek track is wwaaayyy too repetitive and Not very creative.
I think his flow on Soon a New day is very Good as well.
and I think Say Something Is kind of wack too.
It sounds too Commercial for his style.
Nice Review though. and it is a nice album.
he also Should of had a Dangermouse Track on it.
Seeing how he did wonderfully to “Old School” on the DangerDoom Album.
i like oh my stars…
eardrum is nice, had it for a minute, and in the mood is nice, i’ll have to disagree on that. more or less is my fav.
I agree w/ a lot of the comments…
Soon the New Day is one of the better songs on the album… In all, a very good effort by one of the best lyricists out there.
yo the talib album is crazy. nothing but dope beats dope rhymes….real hiphop.
“Skyrock is a big radio in france”
It’s also a follower instead of a trendsetter - and as for the French/Gallic content, it’s mandated by French law that the playlist consist of a particular set quota of domestic product so a lot of mediocre junk gets rinsed only because it originates from the land of Equality, Liberty & Fraternity (but try telling that to the inmates of the banlieues).
Kweli is whatever - he suffers from short man syndrome and because of his short stint at New York University, is seemingly always reaching for his thesaurus. Is he compelling? No. And although a good beat can usually rescue a subpar MC, his voice grates so much that an instrumental is always welcome and much appreciated.
VERITE
KWELI IS BETTER THAN 5OCENT
FIFTY IS AN ARTIST POP
Mister “kweli” is an artist !
poetycally correct !
like
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kl-8WSsXwI8
BUT “Skyrock is a big radio in france”
is just an explaination of the two
pictures! and
i know that Skyrock make a playlist with
mainstream and pop artist
not underground and best Emcees in the world
but it is what it is !
i love real hiphop like u ! man
peace
Yo
if u want ask or respond
put a new comments every new article
it’s more simple !
TSS IS A FUCKIN GOOD SITE
PEACE