Talib Kweli is a 48 year old MC, songwriter, entrepreneur & activist from Brooklyn, New York notable for being 1/2 of the duos Black Star & Reflection Eternal with Yasiin Bey & Hi-Tek respectively. His solo debut Quality was released in the fall of 2002 to significant acclaim through Rawkus Records following Black Star’s eponymous debut & Reflection Eternal’s debut album Train of Thought, the sophomore effort The Beautiful Struggle received more moderate reception although songs like “Broken Glass” & “I Try” always stood out & Eardrum has to be my 2nd favorite album from Kweli’s behind the debut. Gutter Rainbows as well as Prisoner of Conscious & Gravitas were all received positively albeit not much as Quality & Eardrum, but Fuck the Money left the public divided & Indie 500 produced by The Soul Council was a considerable improvement as was Radio Silence. Last we heard Talib on his own excluding Gotham’s eponymous debut & of course Black Star & Liberation’s sophomore efforts no fear of time* & Liberation 2 was last Christmas when the Holy Daze EP which was ok, so I was intrigued in hearing that J. Rawls was fully producing Kweli’s 10th album.
“Breath, Eyes, Memory” is a laidback opener explaining the difference between European art & African art whereas the title track featuring Blu warmly talks about having to be brave enough to be yourself. “Native Sons” goes full-fledged boom bap paying homage to the Native Tongues collective just before the jazzy, drumless “We Outside” featuring TriState himself finds the 2 talking about never being divided.
As for “To the Ghetto”, we have Kweli over synths mixed with kicks & snares telling us he really doesn’t have any friends in this business only trusting a select few while “SWAT” by Coast Kweli gets on the hardcore tip letting y’all know who be up in the house tonight. “Turnstyle” featuring Buckshot & Skyzoo keeps things in the basement taking y’all back to ‘92, but then “Shalamar” featuring Ras Kass getting in a bag similar to the titular soul trio.
“Pay Homage” featuring IDK, Phil Da Agony & Planet Asia soulfully advises to respect the foundation while “Love for Life” draws from neo-soul discussing the magic in comforting one another. “Steve Austin” featuring Diani finds the father/daughter duo slickly boasting while “Sing into the Sky” featuring Niko Is returns to the boom bap doing simply that until they fall. “It’s Workin’” ends on a jazzy note talking about what you’re doing is working out.
All 3 of the duo albums that Kweli has been involved with in this current decade so far all been near-perfect in their own rights & I don’t think The Confidence of Knowing is a classic per se, but I do think that’s significantly better than the holiday EP we got from him almost 9 months ago. Even putting Talib’s social media behavior to the side, he’s still a remarkably talented lyricist & J. Rawls’ production bounces between boom bap & bare jazz loops fluidly.
Score: 8/10
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