Talib Kweli Album: “The Beautiful Struggle [Edited]”

Description :

Personnel include: Talib Kweli (rap vocals); Faith Evans, John Legend, Mary J. Blige, Pharrell Williams, Anthony Hamilton, Res (vocals); Common (rap vocals); Glen Jeffries (guitar); J.R. (keyboards). <p>Recording information: Tek Lab, Cincinnati, OH; Westlake Audio, Hollywood, California; Hovercraft, Virginia Beach, VA; Right Track Studios, New York, New York. <p>Talib Kweli, as with the finest artists, is possessed by a love of his medium--in this case, rap and its history. Applying his thoughtful words to music, Kweli revels in hip-hop, and his adoration of the genre is clear in all his work. Each of Kweli's records, whether alone or with Mos Def (as part of Black Star) or Hi-Tek, incorporates hints of melodies past, lines plucked from the performers who preceded him, as well as deeply studied lyrics created by his own fertile mind. <p>So it is with Kweli's third solo outing, THE BEAUTIFUL STRUGGLE, which alludes to the history of many forms of music while the rapper muses eloquently about revolutions and poverty and their relation to war and shattered dreams. Kweli tells an intricate story of struggling, succeeding, and failing on "Broken Glass," and jumps around from one frustration to the next on the ultimately inspirational title track. On the latter, he notes that people dub him a political rapper, when he doesn't even follow politics; rather, he looks to the icons of hip-hop from Ice Cube to De La Soul. Kweli may not aim to be a politically minded hip-hopper, but as an astute observer of life, he can't help but be aware and comment on what he sees. On BEAUTIFUL STRUGGLE its clear that he raps because he lives, and he does it brilliantly.

I hate to say it but this album is not the best that Talib Kweli can offer. This album is far from horrible but Kweli has given you much better than this(Quality and Reflection Eternal are prime examples of this). There are songs that remind you of Talib's true potential like Going Hard, Around My Way feat John Legend, Ghetto Show feat Common and Anthony Hamilton, Black Girl Pain feat Jean Grae and The Beautiful Struggle. There are songs that are just okay like We Know feat Faith Evans and Never Been In Love. I Try feat Mary J Blige is not bad but I know an updated version of Get By when I hear it. A Game, Work It Out(where Talib raps offbeat) and Back Up Offa Me should have never made it to disc. Suspect tracks like Broken Glass and We Got The Beat featuring Res were huge mistakes and we'll leave it at that. Bottom Line: The Beautiful Struggle is not horrible but it is a dissapointing release from an MC who is capable of much better work. I dont know what Talib was trying to do with this release but it didnt go as well as planned. Im glad to say that Eardrum is head and shoulders over this album. Standouts: GOING HARD, I TRY, AROUND MY WAY, GHETTO SHOW, NEVER BEEN IN LOVE and BEAUTIFUL STRUGGLE.