Artist – Album: Talib
Kweli – Quality
Released: 16th
December 2002
Sounds Like: Take a trip down Quality street
“Please welcome,
a good friend, scholar, ghetto philosopher,
three time Nobel Peace Prize winner,
first black man to pilot an air craft,
the nigga that made up the Nike Swoosh,
the man that made Kool Aid say, "Ohh Yea"
Brooklyn's own,
Talib Kweli”
So goes Dave Chappelle’s intro to Quality on ‘Keynote Speaker’. Rap might be fertile ground for ridiculous bravado, but, for once, a rapper actually possesses the class to justify it.
As one third of cult favourites Black Star, Kweli displayed his chops as a top rapper, but, as Mos Def struck out on his own, Kweli’s success became something of an underground thing. Which is a shame, as the imagination, skill and fluidity that he shows on this, his debut album, was easily the equal of his mid-noughties contemporaries. Had ‘Get By’, the album’s funkiest track and one featuring a then little known Kanye West, been released two years later, Kweli would no doubt have stormed up the charts.
As the regal Jay-Z had it in the Black Album’s ‘Moment of Clarity’ – “If skills sold, truth be told. I’d probably be, lyrically, Talib Kweli”.
Albumaday... rating: 7/10
1. Keynote
Speaker – 2:14
2. Rush
– 3:42
3. Get
By – 3:47
4. Shock
Body – 3:49
5. Gun
Music – 3:45
6. Waitin’
for the DJ – 4:03
7. Joy
– 4:14
8. Talk
to You (Lil’ Darlin’) – 5:00
9. Guerrilla
Monsoon Rap – 4:13
10. Put
It in the Air – 4:56
11. The
Proud – 5:06
12. Where
Do We Go – 3:58
13. Stand
to the Side – 6:32
14. Good
to You – 4:21
15. Won’t
You Say – 5:25
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