"We Go Through Episodes Too Like Attack of the Clones" [Quality by Kweli]

Originally Posted 12/3/07:

First, let me say that Talib's third album should definitely be called Kwelity instead of Quality, but I'll forgive him for that. I mean isn't that obvious?

Second, and this isn't particularly relevant because this album's political track "The Proud" is actually pretty good, but it seems to me that for most people, conscious hip-hop = political hip-hop, and that really bothers me. Somehow it seems that by being conscious of the name of our president and saying he's bad, while also saying that the police are out to get all black people, makes you a "conscious rapper." That seems like such a low threshold, and I particularly resent it considering that political songs are among the easiest to write because you don't really have to say anything new for it to be considered intelligent.


Now that I've gotten that off my chest, let's actually get to Quality. It is, fundamentally, an album of contradictions. Is Kweli the spokesman of conscious, compassionate somewhat underground hip-hop ("The Proud," "Won't You Stay," "Where Do We Go," "Talk To You")? Or is he simply one of the most talented bullshit thug rappers ("Rush," "Shock Body," "Waitin' for the DJ," "Guerilla Monsoon Rap," "Gun Music," "Put it in the Air")? Or is he the perfect meeting of both worlds ("Get By" and to a lesser extent, "Joy," "Stand To The Side" and "Good to You" )?

It's clear that Kweli decided he wanted to be more commercially successful, and all of the beats are much more commercial than the Hi-Tek beats I've gotten used to. Now, that's not necessarily a bad thing, but when the subject matter of his raps drops to a more commercial level as well, rather than demanding his audience rise to his level, then we have a problem. Songs like "Waitin' for the DJ" and "Put it in the Air" have no place on an album by the Talib Greene I've come to love. It's not that they're bad songs (well, "Put it in the Air" isn't at least), but that they're mindless club/party songs that contradict the other things he says, especially on the album's (and probably his career's) shining moment, "Get By." What he does prove on the songs like these (especially "Rush," "Shock Body," "Put it..." and "Guerilla Monsoon Rap") is that when he tries to make club music, he's awesome at that too, and I honestly don't understand why "Get By" was the only successful song from this album. All complaints aside, Kweli is still an incredibly skilled MC, and he has an excellent stable of producers working with him, and that shows through on Quality.

Songs

Keynote Speaker NA/10: Dave Chapelle, Kweli's close friend, doing an hilarious fake introduction of the album's "keynote speaker," Kweli. Including gems like "Three time Nobel Peace Prize winner, the first black man to pilot an aircraft, the n***** that made up the Nike swoosh, the man who made Kool Aid say 'Oh, Yeah,' Brooklyn's own, Taliiiib Kweeeeeli."

Rush 7.5/10: Sets the tone for the first half of the album with a somewhat vapid but tight rap over a good beat.

Get By 10/10: This is literally my favorite song ever, certainly my favorite hip-hop song. With excellent, insightful lyrics and some of the best flow of Kweli's career over one of Kanye's two or three best beats ever, this is a truly special song, and if you couldn't buy it off iTunes by itself, I would say it would be worth buying this whole album just for this one song.

Sidenote: The live version of this on "Chapelle's Show," which I saw last night, was pretty crappy. It was performed on the same pier in front of the NY skyline that I saw Kanye and Mos perform "Two Words," which was also crappy. It's obvious to me that this venue, which has terrible acoustics and from the expressions on the artists' faces is very cold, is horrific for recording music, and I kind of feel cheated that the performances of artists I like so much get ruined by the venue. The only good performances I've seen have been indoors (most notably Mos' "Close Edge"[which I also saw last night, man that's good] in a car and Common's "The Food" in a kitchen). That's all I've got to say about that.

Shock Body 8/10: Similar in a lot of ways to "Rush" though I like both the beat and lyrics a little better.

Gun Music 7/10: Did you ever think you'd hear Talib Kweli rap about guns without disdain? It's very jarring. Other than that though, this is a very good song for what it's trying to be--danceable beat, good flow--so I can't give it too low a rating. I kind of suspect that this song is actually ironic, as he almost explicitly contradicts what he says about guns giving you power on "Good to You," but I'm far from sure.

Waitin' for the DJ 5.5/10: The worst song on the album, and also, somehow, the first single. Now that was a mistake. The flow is actually kind of good, but the chorus is extremely shitty.

Joy 8.5/10: I'm probably overrating this song because I have a weird obsession with the Mos Def chorus, but I really like it. The flow isn't anything special nor are the lyrics, but they're very sweet ones about the birth of Kweli's two children.

Talk to You (Lil' Darlin') 6.5/10: This song reminds me a lot of Kanye's "Slow Jamz" except if it wasn't totally shitty. It actually has pretty sweet honest lyrics, so I give it somewhat of a pass for the boring beat and annoying chorus.

Guerilla Monsoon Rap 8/10: Not Kanye's finest hour as a producer, and the lyrics are thug crap, but I still think this is the best club song on the album (unless you count "Get By" I guess). I love Black Thought's (of The Roots) flow, and I dig the chorus.

Put it in the Air 7.5/10: This is one of the most confusing songs lyrically (on "Get By": "We get high on all types drug / when all you need is love;" on the chorus of this song: "If you got a spliff then put it in the air"), and DJ Quik (also the song's producer) is extremely callous and mean-spirited on his verse ("What do you think I'm here for, not to love you, a ho"). Having said that, the beat's still really good, DJ Quik has a great rap voice, and the general sound of the song is excellent.

The Proud 8/10: Like I implied earlier, I'm not a big fan of political music, and political hip-hop especially, but this song is actually pretty good. Kweli lets his parnoia shine through again (remember "medicine is big business so my remedies is herbal"?) on the second verse, with lines like "I think the pigs killed Big and Pac too / If they didn't, they know who did; they got too." Well, I guess that's actually not that paranoid, I mean they do have to know who killed them don't they? But he does have a "the government and especially the police is out to get all black people" complex, which comes through on this song. I suppose it might be justified, but it doesn't seem very productive to me. Still, the verses on Timothy McVeigh on 9/11 are actually pretty moving.

Where Do We Go 8/10: Well, I'm generally pretty lenient about rhyming the same word with itself once, but this song does it in it's freaking chorus ("Where do we go for inspiration? / It's like pain is our only inspiration.") That's pretty inexcusable, but the rest of the song is very good.

Stand to the Side 8/10: This is a low 8.5/high 8 song. The production is really good, I like the rap and I like Vinia Monica's (remember her from "The Blast"?) verse too. On the other hand, it does drag at points, which is it's major negative.

Good to You 8/10: Another Kanye beat, and another good one. This rap isn't especially compassionate, but it would be right at home on Train of Thought, and that's all I really ask.

Won't You Stay 8/10: A sweet song about relationships. A nice way to the end the album.

Overall 8/10: It's not a classic like Reflection Eternal/Train of Thought, and it's not an almost classic like Black star, but it's still a very good, if very confused, album.