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admit that I had reservations about Quality, Talib Kweli’s first solo album
having previously had the safety of Mos Def and DJ Hi-Tek as partners. Such
fears were dispelled within seconds of hitting the play button.
Kweli is more than capable of being a solo artist and this is proved emphatically throughout Quality - although there are guest emcees aplenty, and the production duties are handed out to a host of top talent such as Megahertz, DJ Scratch and Ayatollah. Joy features Mos Def on the chorus and is the story of Kweli’s fatherhood, with blow-by-blow accounts of the birth of his children and how they have helped complete his life. This may not sound like the subject matter for a good hip-hop track, but Kweli’s incredible story-telling ability and admirable qualities as a human being really shine. Guerilla Monsoon Rap features the considerable talents of The Roots’ Black Thought and Pharoahe Monch and is unsurprisingly the best track on the album. West coast veteran (and he of the dodgy perm) DJ Quik pops up on the beautifully mellow Put It In The Air, which is also featured on the recent Rawkus mix album Soundbombing III. Cocoa Brovaz and Bilal also feature to great effect on Quality, and Kweli puts the world to rights throughout. Quality is an incredibly soulful album, and I personally feel it eclipses Kweli’s previous work. Here is an artist prepared to bare his soul in a way that few dare, and this ensures that the album more than lives up to its title.
www.talibkweli.com Reviewed by Fraser Syme |
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MISCREAT 2001 - 2004
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