Up to now, Talib Kweli has been hip-hop’s hardest-working special guest star. He was second-billed to Mos Def in Black Star; he appeared regularly on Chappelle’s Show right up until the minute Dave left the building; and he’s mixed it up with Kanye West, the RZA, The Roots, MF Doom and The Black Eyed Peas. Since he released his debut solo album Quality in 2002, his profile has risen so slowly (but steadily) that even his Wikipedia entry paints a qualified picture of his success: “[Recently he has] broken through slightly more towards the mainstream.”
That ends, however, with Eardrum, and its 20 amazing tracks. His guest list is loaded—everyone from Norah Jones to KRS-One to Justin Timberlake to Kanye makes an appearance—and the man is charged and confident, sounding like a superstar from the first, hopefully ironic words of “Everything Man” (“They say you can’t please everybody”). The beats are expertly produced and sharp (producers include Will.i.am, Hi-Tek and Pete Rock), and the hyperliterate Kweli rides them as if he were on rails, spinning effortlessly brilliant rhymes.
Few rappers can drop a rhyme that can connect the WWE with Love in the Time of Cholera, but Kweli is clever enough to do just that, and savvy enough not to sound like he meant to do it. Such a talent deserves a Kanye-sized audience, and Eardrum should give it to him. It’s time for the Talib Kweli Show.
Talib Kweli
Eardrum
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