I have to say that I wasn't particularly impressed with this album but at the same time I find it difficult to trivialize Kweli's contributions to hip hop over the past several years. I don't consider Jay Z to be a serious artist based on his solo albums and his only credibility in this respect comes from whatever involvement he may have had with "College Dropout." The fact of the matter is Kweli created three of the best rap songs of the past decade; particularly "Thieves in the NIght," "Definition" and "Get By." Comparing Kweli to Jay-Z is like comparing Mos Def to Justin Timberlake; the latter makes money, and the former is responsible for creating some "serious sh*t" so to speak.
But I will echo the sentiment that I expected better things from Kweli. Nas is a more fair comparison given the content of his music and how he started in the business, but just like Kweli his best music came out of earlier albums like "Illmatic" and "God's Son" before he became the media icon that he is today.
Some good points here.
I have to say that I wasn't particularly impressed with this album but at the same time I find it difficult to trivialize Kweli's contributions to hip hop over the past several years. I don't consider Jay Z to be a serious artist based on his solo albums and his only credibility in this respect comes from whatever involvement he may have had with "College Dropout." The fact of the matter is Kweli created three of the best rap songs of the past decade; particularly "Thieves in the NIght," "Definition" and "Get By." Comparing Kweli to Jay-Z is like comparing Mos Def to Justin Timberlake; the latter makes money, and the former is responsible for creating some "serious sh*t" so to speak.
But I will echo the sentiment that I expected better things from Kweli. Nas is a more fair comparison given the content of his music and how he started in the business, but just like Kweli his best music came out of earlier albums like "Illmatic" and "God's Son" before he became the media icon that he is today.