It's tempting to lump Kweli in amongst the growing conscious hip-hop ghetto, where what once seemed fresh now appears tiresomely predictable and irritatingly righteous. But, whilst he is occasionally guilty of the latter crime, Kweli is smart enough to avoid the former on his second solo album.
Parting ways with his usual producer, talented jazz-friendly Rawkus beat-maker Hi-Tek, Kweli has taken a relatively radical step in the fiercely traditionalist world of indie hip-hop by working with big-name producers including Jay-Z associate Kayne West. It's a move that only occasionally leaves you wondering how much impetus came from the reviled new management at Rawkus and how much is Kweli's own vision. If the album kicks off with a faint whiff of crossover on the Megahertz-produced 'Rush', elsewhere Kweli's native tongue inclinations find equilibrium with the studio polish of his new collaborators.
Kayne West blends African vocal stylings and church choruses with that perennial indie hip-hop staple the piano loop to create something fresh from the elements on 'Get By'. Megahertz gives 'Gun Music's politically charged meditation on an American's Best Friend a suitably fierce impact. The most predictable moments come from the hook ups with Philly collaborators like Bilal with whom Kweli slips into conscious soul but pulls off a sweet touch of hippy shit on 'Talk To You Lil Darlin'.
The moment of truth for backpackers inevitably comes with the DJ Quik collaboration 'Put It In The Air', on which the Truth Hurts producer turns out pure Warren G-era West Coast funk. Waving his spliff in the air as the elastic bassline and Ohio Players-style keyboards squirm down Venice Beach, Kweli sounds like he never had so much fun. It's a perfect retort to accusations of heavy-mindedness and invites ridicule on the purists.
It's all a neat swerve away from that conscious hip-hop ghetto that lurked behind the dime store Afrocentrism of Black Star and Reflection Eternal and, if Kweli's politics sound less assured here than before, he still manages to put the hysteria of contemporary America into a balanced black context on 'The Proud'. A perfectly contemporary hip-hop release rescued from the ashes of independent hip-hop cliche.
