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Rumbidzai Maweni

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Bridging the gap

added 09.09.07
Will Talib Kweli's latest offering appeal to a mainstream audience? Rumbidzai Maweni listens to Eardrum…

a little history | pat on the back | smack in the mouth



A little history
Debuting on the American Billboard 200 at #2 and selling 60,000 in its first week, both rare achievements for an underground rap album, Eardrum has become Talib Kweli's highest debuting record.

It is perhaps no surprise that artists like Talib Kweli and Common (whose latest album Finding Forever, released July 31st, debuted at #1 making it his first chart-topper) have recently been able to bring underground hip-hop to a wider audience. In a world in which everything is politicized and increasingly few mediums are untainted from political slant, it is only fitting that what is often termed "conscious rap" should be able to garner some degree of mainstream success as well as critical acclaim. But straddling the mainstream and underground hip-hop realms comes with its own set of difficulties which can be evidenced in the progression of Kweli's career.

Talib Kweli is the artist that everyone wants to love, but who continually falls short of what many perceive to be his undeniable potential. After the 1998 self -titled Black Star album - a collaboration with Mos Def - became an instant underground classic, fans had high hopes for this bright, young emcee. His next two efforts Reflection Eternal and Quality again amassed critical acclaim without gaining much mainstream success. Perhaps encouraged by the success of his Kanye West produced hit single 'Get By' from Quality, his following work has increasingly attempted to bridge the gap between underground and mainstream hip-hop. Unfortunately, he hasn't done this particularly well, and what has followed has been a series of disappointments for his original fans. The first of these disappointments, Beautiful Struggle, was perhaps his most blatant bid for a more mainstream audience. Excluding a few middling tracks, it featured a host of flops; at times attempting for a "hard" sound that neither his voice nor his rapping style allow with any real seriousness.

Several disappointing solo releases later, Eardrum marks a clear turn for the better. On Eardrum, Kweli attempts to marry some of the guiding principles that made his earlier work so accessible. As a result, the album includes some of his strongest solo work to-date.

However, the unwieldy length of the album, 20 tracks and 80 minutes to be exact, makes for a mixed bag in quality. There is still much of what we have come to expect from a Talib Kweli album; an assembly line of brilliant yet diverse producers (including Madlib, Will.i.am, Kanye West, Hi-Tek and more) which naturally makes cohesiveness an issue and see the inclusion of several weak, phoned-in filler tracks.

Pat on the back
As is Kweli's style, the album touches on a whole range of subjects, amply giving himself a wide and broad platform for his special brand of anti-establishment polemics. Talib Kweli's ambivalence toward organized religion, in particular, is a central theme and thus it is no wonder that the album is strongly gospel-influenced, a sound that works well with his voice and unconventional off-beat rapping style. 'Hostile Gospel Part 1' shares formulaic similarities with 'Get By', while 'Holy Moly' features an amazingly reworked sample from the Aretha Franklin song 'Wholly Holy'. They are amongst the strongest tracks on the album. 'Give 'Em Hell' which deals most directly with his thoughts on religion is less realized than the aforementioned tracks but still a strong effort.

Other high points on the album include 'Country Cousins' in which Talib Kweli and UGK pay respects to their own regions with the intent of promoting a more positive form of hip-hop regionalism. The excellent contributions from the Houston duo clearly rival Kweli's talents without wholly stealing the show. 'More or Less' featuring Dion, a rousing head-thumper, and 'The Perfect Beat' with the legendary KRS-One are also stellar tracks. Unfortunately these and other gems are cushioned by an amazing amount of underwhelming material.

Smack in the mouth
The lowest points on the album seem to occur when Kweli pushes too much in any one direction; becoming either too frivolous or too serious and in both instances compromising musical integrity. The awkward 'In the Mood' which features Kanye West's amateurish lyricism ("Silicon booty…judge like Judy") on top of an already sloppy beat and the generic-sounding 'Hot Thing', both reaffirm the feeling that Kweli should "never get [his] mack on." On the other hand, while Kweli can be commended for his commitment to addressing the issues of his community, there is always a danger with "conscious rappers" of appearing self-righteous and preachy in their self-proclaimed attempt to enlighten "the people". 'Eat to Live' a song about the importance of being "health consciousness" successfully crosses that line.

The final track 'The Nature' featuring Justin Timberlake is perhaps the weakest on the entire album. Not only does it ring of insincerity, but Timberlake's vocals are also glaringly out-of-place, interestingly as the Norah Jones' collaboration 'Soon the New Day' integrates so seamlessly with the rest of the record.

Despite the strengths of Eardrum and its marginal popular success, it is unlikely that Kweli will be catapulting to mainstream stardom anytime soon. Putting aside the banality of a good third of the record, this is not the kind of album you can sing along to, neither are there any true "club-bangers". Furthermore, all the tracks - whether weak or strong - display Kweli's trademark polysyllabic lyrical dexterity, pounding out lines that take several careful listens to unpack; something his most ardent fans will enjoy immensely but less devoted listeners will find intolerable.

Talib Kweli's contributions to the genre in the past ten years are indisputable; the strength of individual songs displays this. However, he has still not mastered how to create music that gets his social messages across whilst still being musically compelling to the typical hip-hop fan. Fans who listen solely for the lyrical content will most likely find what they're looking for here, but Kweli has yet to achieve the artistic maturation needed to produce a truly excellent record.

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