Bloggystyle -- The Greatest

For Talib Kweli fans, this album brought good news and bad news.

The good news is that for this album Talib was hooking up with DJ Hi-Tek again, no homo. A longtime collaborator with Talib, Hi-Tek was responsible for a bunch of great Talib tracks, especially on Reflection Eternal.

The bad news is that a number of tracks on this album are not quality, practically inconceivable for Talib. And almost none of them are Quality material either.

So what happened?

Going Hard

Shitty rappers will often make sure that their big singles or two good songs are the first 2 on the album. For example, you'll only need one guess as to which two tracks come at the beginning of J-Kwon's album.

When first hearing this album, this track makes a listener optimistic for the rest of the album. Granted, rockrap isn't exactly Talib's forte, but on Going Hard the beat hits and Talib's conscious lyrics are as poignant as always.

Back Up Offa Me

Well it's track 2 and we have DJ Hi Tek's first contribution. Never has the phrase "so bad it's funny" been more appropriate. Coupling a rare dosage of Talib fronting like he's hard with THIS BEAT is unbelievable.

Welcome back, Hi Tek. Now please go away.

Broken Glass

I have a hard enough time listening to Neptunes production for the likes of Noreaga, Jay Z, and most recently Snoop.

The Neptunes and Talib Kweli really fit hand in glove, if you're talking about O.J.'s hand and a blood soaked and dried glove.

We Know, featuring Faith Evans

Something about this track just doesn't work. With that said, this track is better than the last two basically by default.

Not to disturb you, but I have to admit that anytime I hear Faith Evans in a song about love, I think of Biggie, specifically the video for Warning. That becomes a pretty major problem for replayability.

Game

This loop is pretty annoying, and Talib simply can't flow over it. A few tweaks here and there would have turned this into a good beat. Close doesn't really count; a few pounds here and there could also turn Ally McBeal into Ali Landry.

I Try, featuring Mary J Blige

This is the standout track of the album through the first 6 tracks, and unsurprisingly it was one of the first singles.

Now that I said that, I have a few gripes about the track. First of all, hearing Mary J Blige say I Try a hundred times will be enough to make you cry. Instead of having so many small verses, 3 longer ones would have been an improvement.

Also, Kanye's beat for this track is so similar to Get By that it's just a reminder that Get By is a better track in every way than this track. So why listen to I Try or this album in general when you could listen to Get By and all of Quality?

Around My Way

This is classic Talib. I first heard it performed on the Chappelle Show and downloaded it immediately. I got the advance version of the track, which let Talib shine for his 2 verses.

So what do they do to the album version? They overproduce it to hell. It's probably fitting because production was such a problem for this album.

We Got The Beat

The first time I downloaded this track, I thought somebody had mistagged a Lindsay Lohan single as a prank. Then I heard Talib Kweli invoking us to "come on come on" in the background like a goddam aerobics instructor.

This is one of the worst rap songs I have ever heard. This one truly has to be heard to be believed.

Work It Out

This beat is just brutal.

On his Behind The Music episode, Dre talked about the wave chronic initially made within his circle as it became popular. After hearing Talib's hook, I'm starting to wonder if some unknown drug is making its way across the underground East Coast circuit. Or maybe it's just speed.

Either way, a whole lot of people had to be on something to produce this, rap on it, deem it album material, print it and release it.

Ghetto Show, featuring Anthony Hamilton

Everytime I hear Anthony Hamilton I wonder who he had to blow to get into the business.

Black Girl Pain, featuring Jean Grae

And then in the touch of a forward button, it's like all the bad tracks on this album never happened. Everything about this track (and the remainder of the tracks on this album) is incredible.

The only problem I have with this track is Talib only does one verse. Jean Grae also does a pretty good verse, but somehow there are only 2 verses on a 5 minute track. A final Talib verse should have found a way on there.

This is the first track that I would deem Quality material. The fact that we have to endure 10 tracks and about 40 minutes (much of it bad) to get to the gems on this album is just stupid.

Never Been In Love

This track is everything We Know tried to be and failed to be. Catchy hook, witty wordplay, strong lyrics and a soothing beat. This should have been the norm, not the exception.

Beautiful Struggle

Hi Tek produces the title track. I have no clue how someone can produce something this good and something as bad as Back Up Offa Me, but this album embodies maddening inconsistency.

Talib's lyrics on this track are probably the best conscious lyrics on the album.

You go to church to find you some religion
And all you hear is connivin' and gossip and contradiction and
You try to vote and participate in the government
And the muh'fuckin' Democrats is actin' like Republicans
You join an organization that know black history
But ask them how they plan to make money and it's a mystery
Lookin' for the remedy but you can't see what's hurtin' you
The revolution's here, the revolution is personal
They call me the political rapper
Even after I tell 'em I don't fuck with politics
I don't even follow it

Those lyrics are typical of Talib Kweli. They're exactly what someone who listened to Train of Thought, Blackstar, Reflection Eternal and Quality expected. I've wondered how a guy who says he doesn't follow politics also claim the Democrats are acting like the Republicans you ask? But I have a whole bunch of questions regarding this album's contradictions and inconsistencies.

I'm not sure why this album was such a flop, but I've read that Mos Def has also gone off the handle, claiming "Tall Israelis are running this rap shit."

There must be something strong goin around Brooklyn.



T: Remember when we used to be tight?
M: What do you mean tight? Tight how? Like a greedy Jew tight with his dough?
T: No, back when we made classic albums.
M: Oh yeah. *ONE TWO THREEEEEE, MOS DEF AND TALIB KWELIIII*
T: Those were the days.
M: Yeah, back before the Jews got their hands on the industry.