Talib Kweli - Gutter Rainbows (2011)

 

Country: U.S.A.
Genre: Hip-Hop
Label Number: CD 2215
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© 2011 Javotti Media
Review by Nate Patrin for Pitchfork.com

Here's a phrase I haven't heard too often: "What the fuck was Kweli thinking?" I know that as far as conscious-skewing MCs go, Talib Kweli's had his share of detractors-- mostly people who consider him too reliant on pop-culture metaphors or just plain don't like his voice-- but he's never managed to stumble his way into alienating the audience he already has. And while he hasn't always been quite as breathlessly venerated as peers like Common or Mos Def, he's also never dropped a Universal Mind Control or a True Magic, a fanbase-disillusioning pratfall that lacks everything the faithful like about him. (At least, not too prominently-- his one big detour, the electro-damaged pastel-stripe-rap side project Idle Warship, got one of those quietly promoted free-download releases in 2009, the equivalent of a big-budget action movie released in mid-January.) If that means Talib Kweli has spent his solo career playing it safe, it also means he's as close as there is to a sure bet in indie rap: He's even less likely to disappoint fans than he is to shake up their preconceptions.

His latest release, Gutter Rainbows, is one of those artistically self-sufficient, post-Internet records that's been created, assembled, and channeled through means completely independent of the mainstream record industry, and yet it doesn't demonstrate a drastic change in Kweli's style at all. That probably says more about the relative freedom Kweli's had throughout his career than anything; when a solitary (and actually pretty good) will.i.am beat on Eardrum is the closest he's ever come to quote-unquote selling out, creative control has never really seemed like an issue. And while there's an album in the works that Kweli has claimed will be a major departure from his usual lyrical persona-- the tellingly titled Prisoner of Consciousness-- Gutter Rainbows doesn't sound like a jaded effort from an artist who's dissatisfied with his normal routine.

In short, it's familiar without feeling rote. Kweli still takes criminal entrepreneurs and gun-clap talk to task with flippant punchline dismissals on the where-I'm-from title track, still holds fast to his roots with a humble gratitude on "Friends & Family", and still consistently makes being scholarly sound like a good way to throw your weight around. His learned, nice-guy approach can switch over into good-natured ego-tripping when he wants to, but it doesn't eclipse the sentimentality at his core. Sure, Kweli brags about racking up frequent-flyer miles in Virgin Atlantic first class ("Mr. International"), but it's only so he can go overseas to connect with fans across the world. And even when he big-ups himself for his cocksmanship ("Ain't Waiting"), he can't help but put it in fairy-tale romantic terms that invoke Peter Pan and The Princess Bride. Yeah, I know-- at least it's not in hashtag form.

And besides, everyone who hasn't been put off by Kweli's brushes with cue-the-rimshot corniness by now should recognize that he's had one of the more impressive lyrical-rapper flows going. If his metaphor/simile lyrics can be a mixed bag, the way he unfolds them against the backing tracks-- throwing his bars off-kilter, switching from casually conversational to elaborately virtuosic, and tweaking his emphases mid-line-- is worth hearing just for the way he plays both with and against the rhythm, a soloist where other voices are content to just riff.

The beats on Gutter Rainbows are tight-enough neo-soul by committee-- 13 producers handle 14 tracks -- and most of it sounds like faintly modernized versions of Rawkus-circa-2002 boom-bap, with the occasional outlier in the form of a post-"Hello Brooklyn" old-school banger (Khrysis' "I'm on One") or atmospheric synthesizer dirge (Blaq Toven's "How You Love Me"). But isolating the beats from the rapper seems futile; this is Kweli's most comfortable turf, and he clicks with it as an MC who works like an ensemble cast member. When it hits on all cylinders-- the Ski Beatz-produced gospel-soul piano avalanche of "Cold Rain" being the best of several highlights-- it's hard to blame him for sticking to what he knows.

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tags: talib kweli, gutter rainbows, 2011, flac,