Music

Talib Kweli

Eardrum (Blacksmith/Warner Bros.)

A A A Comments (2) By Ben Westhoff Thursday, Aug 30 2007

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"Conscious rap" needs to be eliminated from hip-hop's vernacular — or at the very least, Talib Kweli's name should be stricken from its rolls. Nobody's quite sure what the term means: Music that doesn't focus on rims and butts? Songs wherein the listener's life isn't explicitly threatened? Kweli has said he doesn't like being pigeonholed by the term, and the release of sixth solo album Eardrum seems an appropriate time to let him go. Eardrum is a heaping mess, neither smart nor groundbreaking, and loaded with clichés. "It's been a long journey, but they say that life's path is not about the destination, it's all about the journey," Kweli informs us on "NY Weather Report." Later we learn that if you can make it in New York City, "you can make it anywhere." "More or Less" catalogues how he feels about a number of mundane issues: "More building, less destroying," then "more marijuana, less coke, more freestyles, less written, more history, less mystery, more Beyoncé, less Britney," and "more happiness, less misery" would be neat. (Gee, thanks.) However, Eardrum does boast topnotch production, and Kweli's adroit flow almost makes up for his crappy lyrics. Abandon the shrill platitudes, buddy; they're about as effective as an abstinence campaign.

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HH4Real 07/22/2008 12:02:00 AM

Although this article is almost a year old... i couldn't leave this page without a comment. Does this guy still write for "Miami New Times" - If so someone may want to give him a different position, because he obviously is clueless, and has no expertise on this subject. Talib Kweli - 1. is not a new artist by far, and 2. among the most repected rappers in the game today. Just because he doesn't offer the gimmicks that most rappers offer doesn't mean he isn't a GREAT ARTIST. Kweli is Hip Hop. And obviously under rated.
thetruth34 09/18/2007 7:58:00 AM

After reading this article, it makes me wonder if you're a rookie on the job. You essentially took a couple bars from talib and based your opinions on that. You spent half your article mentioning that talib isn't a conscious rapper. You even mention that he has said himself that he doesn't want to "pigeonhole" himself in that realm and rightfully so. But if your spending half of your article to say what he is not, then what exactly are you saying? its almost as if this was mentioned in lieu of an "actual" review of his album due to your lack of knowledge or better yet, you didn't really listen to the whole album. you seem to hold some serious bias against kwa cause you barely crictize his songs other than a few cliches. Real fans do not listen to him because of his "conscious" lyrics. He is a superb rapper and is by far better than any rapper in miami or fl for that matter. i'm not advocating that you say his album was perfect but at least provide some credibility behind your opinions. you are literally judging a book by its cover. if i were your editor, i'd fire you or let your janitor take your job. Based on this article, I doubt if you should even be reviewing music let alone hip hop. Yes, he isn't talking about money, cash, hoes, and clothes but so what? this might come as a surprise to you but he might actually have this little thing we call substance behind his rhymes. he's not tryin to make club bangers here. he makes....hip hop and more importantly music. Look, i'm not saying miami has no credibiilty in hip hop because there are a couple good ones but when you write an article like this, its no wonder everyone from the east, west, midwest, and everywhere else believes in the stereotype that southern people only like rap about strippers, guns, drugs, etc rather than just pure hip hop.