Rap on Both Sides

In my opinion, we can divide the whole rap game in two parts: The one is the Ja Rule part: Liquor, chicks, cars, money, fancy bling bling etc. To make the long story short: The whole commercial and billboard part of the game. The other side, well, that’s the side of the down-to-earth stuff, the rough, part time rugged, part time raw part of rap game, the “real” (bad expression) thing so to speak, the whole underground world. Most artists belong either to the first part of the game, or they belong to the second. Only few manage to build the bridge, to be real but enjoying commercial success, to be rough, raw and uncut but still move units. Talib Kweli, a rapper that always belonged to the second part of the game (even though he says this is not intentional), well, he might just have managed to build the bridge too.

The building of this bridge is, in my eyes, mainly due to the producers: People such as Megahertz, Ayatollah, Kanye West (Oh my god, he’s great!) and DJ Scratch (amongst others) stood behind the wheels of steel or behind their studio mixers in order to provide Talib Kweli with a special musical underground: One that can move units but that is still not bubble gum-like, not soft , not only commercial. Take Kanye West for excample: The Roc-A-Fella producer just produced a hit single for Jay-Z with Beyoncé – still, it’s commercially successful, but it’s not the shit all the kids listen to at their prom parties, it’s not a simple track for the dance floor. It’s a different type of production, a darker, deeper one that reminds of anthems, but still a type that (sometimes) manages to succeed in the billboards. And that’s exactly how Kweli’s album is: It consists of deep and conscientious lyrics (as Kweli’s stuff always was in comparison to a lot of other artists in the game) and productions that make the album less raw, less underground, but still don’t make it a sellout product. With this production roster, “Quality” manages to be the real thing: Not too hard to listen to, but not too easy to understand. You still listen to the lyrics (‘cause it’s Kweli), but there are tracks you can just bounce in your car. That’s how I always wanted it with Kweli, him, the deep lyricist, with a less tense production – and we have a great product. “Quality” satisfies the Talib Kweli fans, but I’m sure it will get some new fans and supporters too – and that’s cool. ‘Cause some of the rappers who always pushed the game forward (like Kweli) deserve commercial success, even though they don’t really want it. But some more units sold, that might be okay with everybody. At least I think so. Rap on both sides of the game makes an album an almost perfect mixture. And “Quality” is at least a good one.

***** out of SIX SHOTS.