Soundbite: Talib Kweli
By Teddy Phuong
Aug. 26, 2007 9:01 p.m.
The success of “Get By” was probably the worst thing that could’ve happened to Talib Kweli. After four years of languishing in the “conscious” underground, the Kanye West-produced single did not compromise Kweli’s style or ideologies but still gained the airplay that had eluded him. But what followed the success of “Get By” was a string of releases that uncomfortably straddled mainstream aspirations and Kweli’s more literate brand of hip-hop that, not surprisingly, also marked a drop in quality.
His fourth album, “Ear Drum” marks a return to form for the Brooklyn emcee. He’s working with an all-star lineup of producers, including Just Blaze, will.i.am, Kanye West, the legendary Pete Rock, and longtime collaborator DJ Hi-Tek. The list is long and the album feels even longer: Whereas the 20 tracks of 2000’s “Reflection Eternal” felt warranted, the nearly 79 minutes of “Ear Drum” is a bloated, desultory display of both occasional, startling brilliance and misplaced hip-hop affectations.
On “Stay Around,” Kweli simultaneously addresses and discredits his naysayers: “Kweli you should rap more street/And never ever get your mack on please …/Kweli I know you’re getting some love/But you can’t spit like a thug.” Though he’s trying to dismiss the criticisms, he ends up reinforcing them throughout the album. He’s right: He really shouldn’t be making songs about women, nor should he be spouting gun talk.
On tracks like “Hot Thing” and “In The Mood,” which has a horrendous verse by usually reliable Kanye West, Kweli plays the part of a bohemian lothario, but his lasciviousness is never believable. When he says “Let’s stop talkin’ cause it’s feeling like an interview/I know you’re into me/So let me get into you,” it sounds silly, not sexy.
He sounds even more out of place spewing hustler braggadocio. On “Say Something,” with a chorus that exhorts Kweli to “talk (trash) now,” lines like “I’m the type of (person) that’ll put lead in your grill” are utterly ridiculous. He sounds like he’d sooner shove a book in your face than a gun.
That said, Kweli is still capable of writing some great songs. “Everything Man” and the Just Blaze-produced “Hostile Gospel Pt. 1 (Deliver Us)” stand among the best songs of Kweli’s canon. With a hook by Norah Jones and a dreamy backdrop by reclusive L.A. beatsmith Madlib, “Soon the New Day” is the wiser, mature Kweli who excels at storytelling. He is even able to proudly rap alongside southern hellions UGK on “Country Cousins” and the booming verse by Bun B is one of the album’s best.
The rest of “Ear Drum” is a mixed bag. There are some good (“Holy Moly,” “My Weather Report”) and others utterly forgettable (“The Nature,” a bizarre song with Justin Timberlake). Still, this album has enough high points to remind us why we liked Talib Kweli in the first place.
E-mail Phuong at [email protected].
