Talib Kweli - "Quality"

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01. "Keynote Speaker" (Ft. Dave Chapelle)
02. "RUSH"
03. "Get By"
04. "Shock Body"
05. "Gun Music" (Ft. Smif-N-Wessun)
06. "Waitin' For the DJ" (Ft. Bilal)
07. "Joy" (Ft. Mos Def)
08. "Talk to You (Lil' Darlin')" (Ft. Bilal)
09. "Guerilla Monsoon Rap" (Ft. Black Thought, Pharoahe Monch & K.West)
10. "Put it in The Air" (Ft. DJ Quik)
11. "The Proud"
12. "Where Do We Go?" (Ft. RES)
13. "Stand to the Side" (Ft. Vinija Monica & Novel)
14. "Good to You"
15. "Won't You Stay" (Ft. Kendra Ross)

noticed there wasn't a thread on this so i made on. in my opinion this album is really ill, a good continuation from Black Star and Reflection Eternal giving Kweli more creative control and allowing him to solidifie his position as a solo artist. Rawkus was of course dropping heat around this time, in the beginning of the new millenium and this is another album from their catalouge that stands out to me.

the sound is more varied than the previous collaborative efforts, much a result of Talib getting a chance to do certain records that might've not worked in the duo enviroment. here's laid-back and introspective joints like the 2 J Dilla bangers near the end, the smooth West Coast banger ("So Amazin'"), the soul and funk homages with Bilal ("Talk to You" and "Waiting For the DJ"), that raw BK shit ("Gun Music", "Rush") and three crazy Kanye West beats that amongst his best imo. So it's a very varied record but Talib manages to keep it together and sews it together very well with his well crafted lyrics and nasal flow and through the many topics on here the listener gets an inside peek at Kweli's mind.

This album rarely gets mentioned when speaking of Kweli's greatest work but i definitely feel it's up there. The lyrics touches on alot of subjects i can relate to and at moments on here it's understandable why some hold this MC as one of the best to do it. The production is mostly top-notch as well, Dilla, Kanye West, DJ Scratch, Ayatollah, Supa Dave West, Soulquarian's etc supplies perfect beats for the project. Gotta love the title too haha.

top 5 tracks:
"Get By", "Stand to the Side", "The Proud", "Guerilla Monsoon Rap", "Good to You"

4/5

The Proud is one of my all time favourite hip hop tracks. Everything he says in that song is truth:

"I remember Oklahoma when they put out the blaze and put Islamic terrorist bombing on the front page, It's like saying only gays get AIDS, propaganda."

"Niggaz with knowledge is more dangerous than than niggaz with guns they make the guns easy to get and try to keep niggaz dumb."

"America kill the innocent too, the cycle of violence is sad."

Banger.. has a good variety of tracks.. the moods and tempo switches keep it interesting.. Kweli lyrically on point also..

..

Not my favourite Kweli album but a brilliant album nonetheless. There's absolutely not one bad track on here and it flows together very nicely.

Talib touches on a range of topics and covers them in great detail with his quick, rapid firing flow, intelligent use of words, and Brooklyn swagger. The guests are not out of place and each song is musically satisfying with Dilla providing two bangers and Kanye providing some of his best work production wise.

It's hard to pick my favourite tracks from this, but I'm gonna go with "Get By", "Guerilla Monsoon Rap", "Put It In The Air", "Good To You", and "Won't You Stay".

4/5

one of the better cd's i got

4/5

i have consider picking this up numerous times and always passed it over for something else. i might have to check it out

It's been a long time since I put this on front to back. Might have to do that today.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by JakobR

The Proud is one of my all time favourite hip hop tracks. Everything he says in that song is truth:

"I remember Oklahoma when they put out the blaze and put Islamic terrorist bombing on the front page, It's like saying only gays get AIDS, propaganda."

"Niggaz with knowledge is more dangerous than than niggaz with guns they make the guns easy to get and try to keep niggaz dumb."

"America kill the innocent too, the cycle of violence is sad."

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Yes. You can tell he really needed to get some shit off of his chest with this one..

lmao