"Yeah, You Pronounce My Name KWAH-LEE" [Reflection Eternal/Train of Thought]

Originally Posted 10/31/07:

Reflection Eternal/Train of Thought is one the 10-15 best albums I have ever heard, as you can tell by looking at my most recent note. Here's why:

First of all, Talib Kweli is the king of MC's. He's clever ("if they put my life on the screen then its got to be the IMAX / I live large stroke your mind, till you reach climax"), socially aware ("These cats drink champagne and toast to death and pain / Like slaves on a ship talking about who got the flyest chain") and emotionally aware ("It's more than pillow talk, it can't be translated /Learn how to speak it, and become emancipated / It's a language / Universal love...").

Then there's the other half of the Reflection Eternal duo, producer Hi-Tek. He has improved in leaps and bound from the work he did on Black Star, even though some of it ("Definition") was very good. He's still no Kanye, but beats like "Too Late" and "The Blast" are much better than anything he's ever done before, and the beats in general are consistently very good.

Finally, Talib and Hi-Tek show a great feel here for matching lyrics with the appropriate beats. The introspective, incisive raps are accompanied perfectly by laid back beats (ex. "Memories Live") and the more playful, clever lyrics are accompanied by more noticeable, exciting and entertaining beats (ex. "The Blast").

This album is 20 songs long, and really only "Big Del From Da Natti," "On My Way" and "Love Speakeasy" can be classified as filler. It's nearly all excelent. It's a really amazing achievement.

Songs

Experience Dedication 7.5/10: I normally don't give true intros like this ratings at all, but even though Kweli is more talking than rapping, there's enough here to evaluate it. There's a hilarious Dave Chapelle impersonation of Nelson Mandella to start the song, and then Kwe introduces the album over a solid Hi-Tek beat.

Move Somethin' 8/10: Solid all around though I don't think the rap is as good as usual.

Some Kind of Wonderful 8/10: Similar in a lot of ways to "Move Somethin'" though their beats aren't that similar. Another attack song.

The Blast 9/10: Fantastic beat, maybe the best on the album, and, shockingly, Hi-Tek featuring on the song actually provides the best verse.

This Means You 8.5/10: Once again Kweli doesn't provide the best verse; here it belongs to Mos Def. Mos' guest appearance is the only one (other than Hi-Tek above which doesn't really count and maybe De La Soul) on the album that I think actually adds to the song from what Kweli could have done by himself. Talib is just better than all of the other people.

Too Late 9/10: About the demise of hip-hop as an art form, "Too Late" has one of the best beats on the album.

Memories Live 8/10: Chill beat, introspective lyrics about Kweli's childhood and the dreams he had.

Africa Dream 8/10: Cool African drums intro along with Zimbabwean proverb "If you can talk, you can sing / If you can walk you can dance," followed by a very good song including the aforementioned "who got the flyer chain" line.

Down For The Count 8/10: Probably the song that places the most importance on the beat, and it's a good one (Sidenote: can you all download this song and tell me where you've heard the beat before? I know it; I just can't place it. It almost sounds DRE-ish). Talib also features the least here of on any song, which takes a little away from it though he does show up long enough to tell us that "Like Jim Morrison, we break on through"

Name of the Game 6/10: Pretty mediocre all around.

Ghetto Affair 7/10: Pretty solid, not out of this world.

On My Way 6/10: Not a rap song at all, and very short. But it's not really bad.

Love Language 9/10: Now THERE's a song about love. Remember when I said that I loved the sentiment of Common's "Love Is" but just didn't think he had really discovered anything? Well, this is what I was looking for. Not glossing over the problems of relationships, Kweli shows the beauty of love. And the use of a French chorus really underscores his theme of "The language of love cannot be translated." One of my favorites.

Love Speakeasy 5/10: Just kind of a smooth jazz song with no lyrics. It's not terrible but I'm not a fan.

Soul Rebels 8/10: "We don't live for hip-hop / It lives for us." One of the better beats, and De La Soul add a cool flavor on the chorus.

Eternalists 8.5/10: The rap has the same kind of feel as "Move Somethin'" and "Some Kind of Wonderful" though it's better than those. It has a different kind of beat too. All in all, it's a really good song though I don't know what it means to be an "eternalist."

Big Del From Da Natti 6/10: Seems like just an excuse to get Hi-Tek on the mic (Kweli isn't even on this track). It's not that bad though.

Touch You 7.5/10: I'm not a huge fan of the chorus, but the rest of the song is really good., including the "IMAX" line from before.

Good Mourning 9/10: This song, about death and mortality, is one of the most incisive and beautiful on this incisive and beautiful album. The beat is appropriately chill as well. "Just because people don't understand when you speak / doesn't mean what you sayin' is necessarily deep."

Expansion Outro NA/10: The original version I got didn't have this song, which includes a cover of a Nina Simone song, and I just got it today so I'm not prepared to evaluate it.

Overall 9/10: I know that if you took an average of all these ratings it be more like 8-8.5, but the consistent quality of this album is College Dropout-esque. Look at all those 8 or betters! 12 by my count, including 4 9s! And "Expansion Outro" is probably a 7.5 or 8. Frankly, that's preposterous like an androgynous misogynist. I can't recommend this highly enough; it compares favorably to The College Dropout, the epitome of a great hip-hop album to me, and depending on whether you prefer great producers or great MCs, you might like Reflection Eternal even more.


P.S. Can you all please respond to my discussion topic about Josh's Alter-Ego on the Josh Freedman Fan Club page? It's hilarious, trust me.