Talib Kweli - Ear Drum
Product Information
Track List: Ear Drum
Click on or song title to hear an audio clip. Windows Media player is required.
- Everything Man
- NY Weather Report
- Hostile Gospel Pt. 1 (Deliver Us)
- Say Something
- Country Cousins
- Holy Moly
- Eat To Live
- In the Mood
- Soon The New Day
- Give 'Em Hell
- More Or Less
- Stay Around
- Hot Thing
- Space Fruit
- The Perfect Beat
- Oh My Stars
- Listen!!!
- Go With Us
- Hostile Gospel Pt. 2 (Deliver Me)
- The Nature
Yahoo! Shoppers Who Viewed This Item Also Viewed:
-
$7 - $13
-
$20 - $36
-
$8 - $13
More Talib Kweli CDs and Albums
Album Details: Ear Drum
- Release Date:
- 08/14/2007
- Label:
- Warner Bros Uk
- UPC:
- 093624993254
User Reviews: Ear Drum
-
Not feelin' this one
, October 21, 2007Reviewer: horsemen_911 - See all horsemen_911's reviews
read all (1) user reviews for Ear Drum
Pro Reviews: Ear Drum
| EXPERT RATING: From AMG Reviews Although the most salient attribute of hiphop is the words, the production behind it is equally important. It turns rhymes into song, into something you can feel, something that moves you. And while Talib Kweli certainly has the lyrical aspect down, often his albums and to be fair, those of other socalled "conscious MCs" tend to suffer from a dearth of good beats. Of course there are still decent tracks, great tracks even, but there's also a lot of fillersounding material, warm and slow and utterly boring, that deadens the overall flow and power of the album and twists Kweli's powerful vocals into dripping preachiness that lacks oomph behind the pretension and selfindulgence. This same affliction besets Eardrum, the MC's first release on his own Blacksmith label, which, despite its wide selection of producers Kanye West, will.i.am, Pete Rock, Just Blaze, Madlib, and HiTek, to name some never quite seems to take off, to claim the beat and make it its, and Kweli's, own. The most egregious example of this is in the Afrika Bambaataaalluding "The Perfect Beat," which sports the worst production on the entire record, simple and cheapsounding, KRSOne's tired rhymes not helping matters. Nothing else is quite this bad, a lot of it is good in fact, but it is this lack of subtlety, of giving the superlative and then failing to measure up, that bogs down the album. Kweli's trying to singlehandedly save rap, practically calling himself its messiah, like in the intro, "Everything Man," where different people talk about the first time they heard him. It's more than a little selfindulgent, but fortunately the MC quickly moves into other territory, discussing social problems, generally those that revolve around poverty ("Eat to Live"), the state of rap and his own place in it ("Listen"), and women ("Hot Thing"). But these are topics that have all been heard before, and perhaps because of that Kweli expands his themes, trying to diversify his rhymes, from the not as catchy "Jesus Walks" ripoff of "Hostile Gospel, Pt. 1" to the tiresome tribute to his children of "Oh My Stars" to the half empowerment, half celebration of a onenight stand (featuring none other than Norah Jones) of "Soon the New Day." Unfortunately, these same moments are also where he seems to be stretching himself too thin, going too far, trying too hard. At 20 tracks and nearly 80 minutes, Eardrum is both too much and too little, never quite understanding exactly what it needs to be. There are certainly strong moments here: Kweli's flow and rhymes are outstanding, and beats by Just Blaze, HiTek, and Kanye West (who, despite his generally abysmal MC skills, comes out with a pretty decent line in "In the Mood": "Only Michael Richards saying, only much blacker/So if he say nigga, then I'm a say /Is this a Ritz? Carlton dressed like fresh like just like") are all good, clearly produced by wellpracticed and knowledgeable minds, but maybe it's an overaggrandized sense of purpose, the desire to be and do too much, that keeps the album and the rapper from truly achieving much at all. - Marisa Brown, All Music Guide |
Related Artists
Similar Artists
Roots & Influences
Followers
Talib Kweli Biography
Toward the close of the '90s, Rawkus Records initiated a golden-age hip-hop revival with a roster of righteous rappers led by Talib Kweli, who maintained close ties with Mos Def and Hi-Tek, two of the label's other leading artists. Kweli's thoughtful...Full Talib Kweli Biography
Compare New Prices: Ear Drum
| Store | Price / Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Amazon.com Marketplace | $20.05 |
Calculate Total Price
Price
+ Tax + Shipping
= Total Price
|
Go to Store
|
| $35.98 |
Go to Store
|
||
| Tower.com | $21.88 |
Go to Store
|
|
Compare Used and Refurb Prices: Ear Drum
| Store | Price / Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| $19.90 |
Calculate Total Price
Price
+ Tax + Shipping
= Total Price
|
Go to Store
|
|
-- ©2008 All Media Guide, LLC
Pros: great lyrics and special guest appearences
Cons: lack of good beats
when i first heard about Eardrum I was expecting something like his "Quality" album or any of the other previous work he did after that. Instead what I got was a huge dissapointment. The only tracks i liked was "More or less", "NY weather report" and "Listen". In my opinion, he was better of letting Hi-Tek produce the whole joint and I hope he doesnt turn into another Lauryn Hill also a talented artist who decides to one release an album with no beat. Even though this is Kweli's weakest work yet, his Lyricism continues to shine. But next time please, have better beats. ...