Talib Kweli------Gravitas

Talib Kweli-Gravitas-----(2013)

Artist: Talib Kweli

Album: Gravitas

Label: Javotti Media

Producer: Khyrsis, Statik Selektah, Oh No, Lord Quest, Thaddeus Dixon, others

Talib Kweli has putting in work this year and has not been a disappointment. A legend in the game, Talib knows how to put out a song and also eat up a track with fiery 16’s. The audience gravitates to Talib’s stage presence. Already with Prisoners of Conscious out and has good reviews, Talib Kweli hits you with his second album of the year Gravitas.

            Gravitas starts off the right way with the North Carolina’s Khyrsis gem with Inner Monologue which has a thought provoking skit about art and life before the keyboard/piano beat comes in. Talib takes it back to where lyrics matter as much as the beat as he spits about emcees are treated more like products than people. Producer Lord Quest brings on the heat and carries the energy for Talib and Big K.R.I.T to body on Dermonology while State of Grace provides the cool guitar beat with a nice drum sound for Talib to command the track. Talib gets to his zone and Rare Portraits feels like the refreshing days with Hi-Tek where Kweli spits about his come up in the game. The guest appearances complement with Talib Kweli’s lyrical cadence. New Leaders is a commanding take charge track with a marching sound produced by Statik Selektah where Talib joins forces with Flatbush’s duo The Underachievers while Violators he trade blows with Shaolin’s finest Raekwon and Art Imitates Life Oh No delivers a hard drum pattern and a swirling piano beat for Talib to rip the mic with Rah-Digga, ALBE.Back and Philly’s underrated spitter Black Thought of the roots.

            Gravitas brings the uplift where hip hop never died, it just needed a fixing. It’s cohesive and stronger than Prisoners of Conscious Talib knows how to pick the right producers and guest appearances to gel well with his delivery. This is what hip hop needs right now and Gravitas hits hard with a 21^st century of lyrics and hi quality production without going sounding too much of the boom bap golden era sound but taking bits and pieces and added flair to it. What Gravitas bring to the table is subject matter which makes this album listenable and not limited. From the Illuminati stories in Wormhole, his come up in Rare Portraits, needing new leaders to represent hip hop in New Leaders to rapping on that cool vibe in Colors of You, this album brings great taste with high dosage of lyrical energy. This is the album that shouldn’t be slept on, a great album from start to finish.

            Strong Tracks: “Inner Monologue”, “Dermonology”,” New Leaders”, “State of Grace”, “Art Imitates Life”, “Violators “Rare Portraits”, “Colors of You”

            Rating:out of

Talib Kweli-------Violations

Talib Kweli featuring Raekwon-------Violations

Talib Kweli joins forces with Raekwon on Violations off Talib's new album Gravitas

P-Money----Celebration Flow

P-Money featuring Talib Kweli and Aaradhna----Celebration Flow

New Zealand's producer P-Money supplied the heat for our intriguing ears. Here's the hot joint called "Celebration Flow" featuring Talib Kweli and Aaradhna. This joint is from the album Gratitude available on Itunes...

Talib Kweli----Prisoner of Conscious

Talib Kweli-Prisoner of Conscious-Nature EMI-(2013)

Artist: Talib Kweli

Album: Prisoner of Conscious

Label: Javotti Media, EMI, Capitol

Producers: Oh No, RZA, Sean C. & LV, J. Cole, others   

Talib Kweli has paid his dues for the longest. From the Black Starr projects, Reflection Eternal to his solo albums, Talib Kweli put his work down for the longest. There is a method into Talib Kweli’s message which is mostly political. A few mixtapes has still made his name relevant. Now with the new album “Prisoner of Conscious”, can Kweli keep up with the ongoing changes of music?

            We all know that he is known for his conscious lyrical content. The beginning of the album starts very strong. “Human Mic” brings out the old Talib with his slick wordplay. What Talib puts together on this album is musical chemistry that brings out his guest appearances. “Favela Love” and “Come Here” matches perfectly with artists such as Miguel and Seu Jorge. Moreover, “Come Here” bridges the hip hop and soulful singing to a tee. The RZA produced “Rocket Ships” brings out the energy out of Talib and Busta Rhymes to make this a compatible track.

            Somewhere, the beats on this album can get lost at times. As the album starts to progress, the middle tracks dwindle the momentum of the album knocking it off balance. Starting with tracks like “Hamster Wheel” and “Delicate Flowers” that suffer from bland mediocre production. High Life” and “Upper Echelon” are generic album fillers that don’t bring the excitement. “Push Thru” sucks out the energy out of the listener despite the strong lyrics from Kendrick Lamar while the gospel piano infused “Before He Walked” featuring Nelly and Abby Dobson is too unbearable to listen to with the annoying knocking bassline. Although Nelly tries to shine: I’m from a small city, but I have big dreams/has some good ideas, but I got better schemes, this track should not even be on the album.

            Although not a classic, a solid album can be describe at its best. Talib has diverse subject matter and some tracks do shine. For instance, respecting females on “Delicate Flowers”, a radio friendly collaboration that works well on “Come Here”, the political knockout punch on “Human Mic” and the conceited lyrical content: No one as gifted as this/I’m magnificent/Classically consistent/I’m nasty as black licorice on “Hold It Now”.  Where the album begins to lose it course? Some tracks are inconsistent with monotonous production that allows you to press the skip button. However, some of the guest appearances blend well with Talib’s delivery. It’s apparent that some of the songs supersede others by far. Needless to say, Talib is still the emcee that many people will love to have on their projects. Prisoner of Conscious brings out many elements and introduces to some new ones. Question is will you be free out of your conscious. Only the listeners will answer that question.

            Strong Tracks: “Human Mic”, “Come Here”, “Favela Love”,, “Outstanding”, “Turnt Up”

            Average Tracks: “Hold It Now”, “High Life”, “Upper Echelon”, “Rocket Ships”

            Weak Tracks:  “Before He Walked”, “Push Thru”, “Hamster Wheel”, “Dedicate Flowers”

            Rating:out of