New York's rapper Talib Kweli rose to prominence with Black Star (1998), a collaboration with fellow rapper Mos Def
mostly produced by Tony "Hi-Tek" Cottrell and containing K.O.S. (Determination).
Talib Kweli then joined producer Tony "Hi-Tek" Cottrell to form
Reflection Eternal and release the 20-song Train of Thought (2000), his ideological and aesthetic manifesto
(The Blast,
Memories Live,
Love Language,
Good Mourning).
Kweli went solo with Quality (2002), the album that made him a legend of
"conscious rap" and contains his classic
Get By (one of Kanye West's best beats) besides
Guerilla Monsoon Rap (another West production),
Shock Body (produced by George "DJ Scratch" Spivey),
The Proud (produced by Lamont "Ayatollah" Dorrell),
Won't You Stay (produced by
David "Supa Dave" West).
The Beautiful Struggle (2004) was produced by
Pharrel Williams of the Neptunes (Broken Glass), Kanye West (I Try featuring pop star Mary Blige),
Justin "Just Blaze" Smith (Never Been In Love),
Midi Mafia aka Bruce Waynne and Dirty Swift (We Got the Beat and
Black Girl Pain),
and David "Supa Dave" West (We Know and Ghetto Show),
Hi-Tek and others, marking the transition to a more professional style.
Hi second artistic peak after Quality was
the 19-song Eardrum (2007), produced by the likes of Madlib, Pete Rock, Kanye West and Hi-Tek, and containing inspired raps like NY Weather Report, Hostile Gospel, Holy Moly, The Perfect Beat and Country Cousins (perhaps the standout).
He also made the lackluster
Liberation (2007) with Madlib,
reformed Reflection Eternal for the equally uneven Revolutions Per Minute (2010), and
formed Idle Warship with pop singer Shareese "Res" Ballard for the embarrassing Habits of the Heart (2011).
Neither of these projects amounted to much.
The utterly pointless Gutter Rainbows (2011) almost destroyed his
career, and
his subsequent solo albums typically included one great song and a lot of self-indulgent filler:
Prisoner of Conscious (2013), his worst album but nonetheless containing Rocket Ships,
Gravitas (2013), with State of Grace,
Fuck the Money (2015), with Gratitude, and
Radio Silence (2017).
Gotham (2021) was a collaboration with producer Joseph "Diamond D" Kirkland (a founding member of collective The Diggin' in the Crates Crew or D.I.T.C), that yielded Sons of Gotham and especially Chillin While Black.
Black Star, the collaboration with Mos Def, returned after 24 years with a diligent if outdated No Fear of Time (2022), produced by Madlib.
