New Kweli, 'The Beautiful Struggle'

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Just picked this up, good lord are some of these beats hot. I'm only halfway through, but 'A Game' and the Neps beat on Broken Glass are pretty tight. I'm at work so I haven't picked up many lyrics, but Talib's voice and flow sound like his best yet.

― Jordan (Jordan), Tuesday, 28 September 2004 17:20 (twenty-one years ago)

Ha, 'We Got the Beat' is comically throwback-electro.

― Jordan (Jordan), Tuesday, 28 September 2004 17:23 (twenty-one years ago)

After getting wore out by the crap mix on the version on the bootleg I had, it was OVERWHELMINGLY great to hear "Back Up Off Me" in that big monstrous fully mastered mix. I was sad that they couldn't get "Lonely People" on here, but you won't hear me complain about this again, cuz this album really is totally fucking hot.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Tuesday, 28 September 2004 17:26 (twenty-one years ago)

Shoutout to our man trife if the opening track yo.

― Sean Carruthers (SeanC), Tuesday, 28 September 2004 17:27 (twenty-one years ago)

SHIT YEAH. That reminds me: I found this great Doom track on 515k called "Songs In the Key of Trife". It's a keeper.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Tuesday, 28 September 2004 17:28 (twenty-one years ago)

haha

― Jordan (Jordan), Tuesday, 28 September 2004 17:31 (twenty-one years ago)

That beat on "Broken Glass" is teetering on the edge of being one of my favoritest Neptunes beats ever.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Tuesday, 28 September 2004 17:49 (twenty-one years ago)

Those accents are pretty great, almost as great as the near out-of-time agogo bells.

― Jordan (Jordan), Tuesday, 28 September 2004 18:02 (twenty-one years ago)

Hot shit! I gotta get this! I'm more eager to hear this than I am the new Blues Explosion (memo to self: quit living in the ten-years-ago).

― Hukk-L, Tuesday, 28 September 2004 18:52 (twenty-one years ago)

I love Anthony Hamilton.

― Jordan (Jordan), Tuesday, 28 September 2004 19:52 (twenty-one years ago)

I picked it up early today, hopefully I'll get around to listening to it tonight. I'm kinda mad that there are only 2 guest rappers (compared to 5 guest singers), especially considering Kweli has collaborated with a whole lot of good MCs (Fabolous, Busta, Killer Mike, the Game, Styles P.) on mixtapes in the past year.

― Al (sitcom), Tuesday, 28 September 2004 20:39 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah, this sort of makes me want to get that Beautiful mixtape now (at the time I figured I'd just wait for the record, for some reason).

I haven't been able to get past the first ten seconds of that track with 'John Legend.'

― Jordan (Jordan), Tuesday, 28 September 2004 20:42 (twenty-one years ago)

So if I hated the last album, will I hate this?

― oooops, Tuesday, 28 September 2004 20:58 (twenty-one years ago)

Yes.

― Jordan (Jordan), Tuesday, 28 September 2004 20:59 (twenty-one years ago)

Funny, I think this is his worst yet. It's like he's rapping over beats, rather than being *in* them. And most of them don't suit his style, even when he lapses into his usual sentimental black history lessons in the least few tracks...

kanye's "i try" beat sound like a "get by" offcast.
and that 'we got the beat' track is abysmal.

i prediect it'll be shocking to see just how much further mos def takes things in a month's time (and in a good way). he's just musically and lyrically more clever, yet also less trying-to-be-academic.

― paulhw (paulhw), Tuesday, 28 September 2004 21:33 (twenty-one years ago)

this album is pretty awful. i agree with paulhw. i think mainly indie and rock-listening ILMers will like it most here.

kweli has steadily declined since his first few singles. even the first reflection eternal album was kinda crappy after the first few singles.

― splooge (thesplooge), Wednesday, 29 September 2004 06:16 (twenty-one years ago)

Get By is one of his best songs, but I'm not expecting much from this.

― djdee2005 (djdee2005), Wednesday, 29 September 2004 06:21 (twenty-one years ago)

i havent heard the new mos album, but i expect nothing from it.

― splooge (thesplooge), Wednesday, 29 September 2004 06:24 (twenty-one years ago)

The Neptunes beat is pretty hot on this.

― djdee2005 (djdee2005), Wednesday, 29 September 2004 06:26 (twenty-one years ago)

on first listen I like it better than I expected it to. a couple stinkers, but there's a lot more variety in the production than there was on Quality. I've never heard anything by Jean Grae before but "Black Girl Pain" is pretty awesome.

that Mos album is going to be awful, I think. I saw him on Letterman last week, I think "Umi Says" is the template for what he wants to do now.

― Al (sitcom), Wednesday, 29 September 2004 13:36 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh, OK, I didn't know about the Umi Says template thing. Maybe I take back my earlier comment. I was judging Mos on the strength of "what's beef" and that new track with Medina Green.

Jean Grae's "Last Week" album, just out, is better than Talib's. Beats are also a little uninspired, but she is just so good on the mic, and such a bitter, entertaining personality.
If you pick up anything by Jean Grae, it should be her (cheap!) 2nd LP (OK, ep really, but it's an hour long) called "The Bootleg of the Bootleg." An all time fave for me.

― paulhw (paulhw), Wednesday, 29 September 2004 19:35 (twenty-one years ago)

I've lost interest in most of this record aside from 'Broken Glass' (which I listened to three times before work).

― Jordan (Jordan), Wednesday, 29 September 2004 19:39 (twenty-one years ago)

I sorta am too, it's strange, it's not like I don't like the beats or the rhymes, everything seems really disconnected. It's like somebody didn't stir the milkshake or something.

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Wednesday, 29 September 2004 19:41 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah, exactly. Exactly like someone didn't stir the milkshake. I'm not sure if it's the lyrics or just that it's the same Talib topics. Maybe he sounds TOO confident (i.e. bored) now.

― Jordan (Jordan), Wednesday, 29 September 2004 19:50 (twenty-one years ago)

It actually sounds like he steppd his game up in terms of rapping, musically it just sort of IS, and I donno...Its good, i have vaguely positive feelings about it. That Neptunes shit is definitely the best though.

― djdee2005 (djdee2005), Wednesday, 29 September 2004 19:52 (twenty-one years ago)

That Neptunes beat isn't impressing me at all. Wait, the change-up is pretty serious, but otherwise, it's sorta limited. I won't be checking for this. I haven't liked Kweli since Reflection Eternal.

― Rollie Pemberton (Rollie Pemberton), Wednesday, 29 September 2004 20:16 (twenty-one years ago)

I was still digging it on the headphones today while on the subway. I'm still enjoying "Going Hard" and "We Got the Beat". I guess that makes me suck or something. Oh well.

― Sean Carruthers (SeanC), Wednesday, 29 September 2004 21:44 (twenty-one years ago)

(xx-post) Ditto. Quality just sounded... forced. Or something. He should've done like Mos and waited 6 years to drop his second: just copped Sex, Love and Money on iTunes: NEW HOTNESS.

― skowly (skowly), Wednesday, 29 September 2004 21:58 (twenty-one years ago)

That "Sex, Love and Money" is a fucking serious beat.

― Rollie Pemberton (Rollie Pemberton), Wednesday, 29 September 2004 23:58 (twenty-one years ago)

HEAVY. It's like some blazing "West Side Story" shit. That's all I can think of. A super-bad street musical.

I can't stop listening to it.
New thread!

― skowly (skowly), Thursday, 30 September 2004 00:59 (twenty-one years ago)

The beat on Work It Out is pretty hot, but it doesn't work with Kweli's flow. The beat is all 16th notes, which is all TK does as well. I think he sounds best over beats with a lot of space, which is possibly why Reflection Eternal sounded so good (although, ha, Work It Out is a Hi-Tek beat).

― Jordan (Jordan), Thursday, 30 September 2004 01:08 (twenty-one years ago)

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