Talib Kweli:
The Beautiful Struggle

Release Date: 27 September 2004

Reviewed By: Usman Sajjad

1. Going Hard

2. Back Up Offa Me

3. Broken Glass

4. We Know - feat, Faith Evans

5. A Game

6. I Try - feat, Mary J Blige

7. Aroung My Way - feat, John Legend

8. We Got The Beat - feat, Res

9. Work It Out

10. Ghetto Show - feat, Common, Anthony Hamilton

11. Black Girl Pain

12. Never Been In Love

13. Beautiful Struggle

Jay Z & R Kelly - Unfinished Business
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They say good things come to those who wait, and persistence and hard work within the ever evolving rap game has done Talib Kweli well. Since entering the prosperous hip hop underground scene in ’98 with the likes of Mos Def, some could say Talib has not received the praise and attention he deserves from the commercial music critics - this is the praise they give the likes of J-Kwon and others for coming onto the scene with probably the most commercial hit song one can have with ‘Tipsy’. However, with his solo debut ‘Quality’ in 2001 including his mainstream success single ‘Get By’, respected praise from Jay-Z and affiliation with 2004’s biggest star in Kanye West, all looked like it was going to be a blazing year for the former Black Star member upon the release of ‘The Beautiful Struggle’.

Production comes from the likes of Hi-Tek (Lloyd Banks ‘Can I Get High’), The Neptunes, Charlemagne (responsible for tracks such as ‘Godfather’ on Shyne’s last album) and Just Blaze, the ever famous in-house Roc-A-Fella producer. With guest appearances including Faith Evans, Common, Anthony Hamilton and John Legend, things now look like the album should already be double platinum, right?

‘I Try’, the album’s lead single sees both Talib and Kanye West, the man behind the boards for this track attempt to create the success that ‘Get By’ received through this single, and to assist its movement, Mary J Blige is recruited for her magic touch on the hook over a delicate piano loop. Even though there is more success with the female R&B crooners such as Faith Evans on tracks such as ‘We Know’, Talib fails to maintain this cliché on ‘Around My Way’, with John Legend sounding out of place over a horribly produced track by Charlemagne, which distracts the listener from hearing what Talib spits.

Production also ruins Kweli’s masterpieces earlier in the album, with disastrous production by The Neptunes on ‘Broken Glass’, which is meant to be a track dedicated to the problems of Black girls through deep lyrics, but instead results in Kweli spitting these over a loop similar to a Dub beat??

Talib drafts in Common and the incredible Anthony Hamilton on the soulful and sensible ‘Ghetto Show’, while Talib ends the bad run of production on the album, and takes time on ‘We Got The Beat’ to spit his high-powered verbal rhymes over a guitar stringed beat and a head moving loop, re-defining his status as a specialist in lyricism in any condition. Talib opens up to his fans, showing his soulful side, and as a result, bringing out easily the best track on the album. The Just Blaze-produced track ‘Never Been in Love Before’ sees Kweli in a neo-soul atmosphere, and we even find Talib singing a beautiful hook, winding the mood down.

In the end, ‘The Beautiful Struggle’ provides a suitable and satisfactory LP for a loyal Talib fan. However, for just a regular hip hop fan feeling Talib, the album seems a confused effort. With Talib’s lyrical ability shining like usual with his touching and verbal bravado, this can be wrecked sometimes by the different sounds of big name producers he recruits, such as The Neptunes, who fail to create the soulful mood felt on Common’s ‘Come Close’ on the album track ‘Broken Glass’. It seems this will continue for Talib, until he churns out music similar in style to his 2001 debut ‘Quality’, without the tendency to showcase this over beats by big name producers that the majority are likely to accept. But, until this happens, it looks like ‘The Beautiful Struggle’ continues.

3 out of 5

Top 3 Tracks

Never Been in Love Before
I Try
Ghetto Love

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