Talib Kweli - Quality
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Rolling Stone Rating: 4
"I wanna write the songs that right the wrong," Talib Kweli raps on "Stand to the Side." Usually that's more of a threat than a promise -- Public Enemy and Dead Prez notwithstanding, revolution on wax is often a dowdy affair. But on his first proper solo album, Kweli smoothly bridges the physical and the political. Producers Kanye West and J Dilla mix a rich palette of summer-morning horns, somber strings and crisp, chattering snares to give their host's lessons added sonic urgency. Kweli's rhymes are astute and sometimes vicious: "Guerrilla Monsoon" is a fierce battle track that also features Pharoahe Monch and Black Thought. Kweli delivers "Joy," an ode to his two young children, with the same...
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