While many of Rawkus’ former starting line-up have departed the label, each with their share of very public pot shots (Company Flow, High & Mighty, Shabaam Sahdeeq), Talib Kweli remains one of the Rawkus originals during the label’s transition from rusty to platinum razor-logos. As the first post Soundbombing 3 release, it’s evident that Talib Kweli’s Kwelity struggles to maintain an equal balance of commercial-underground sounds, without totally offending heads on either end of the spectrum, but doing this leaves the album largely hit and miss.

    The first thing that people will notice about Quality is the absence of producer Hi-Tek who doesn’t even deliver a ‘we’re still cool even though we aren’t working together’ track. Instead, Kweli taps into the pool of today’s hot producers, with the end result leading to an uneven mix of beats that lacks the cohesion found on Reflection Eternal’s near classic, Train Of Thought. 

    Still, while this album is all over the place, the educated-rapper, Talib Kweli, doesn’t sacrifice much lyrically, still delivering those humorous similes and metaphors, littered with subtle, yet rich social commentary – and he certainly churns out his share of bangers, obviously best represented when the beats are on point. While some heads might scoff at the soulful vocals on tracks like “Waiting For The DJ”, a beautifully cohesive effort by Kweli, Bilal, and producer Dahoud Darien (and a perfect single to boot), or on “Get By”, where Talib takes ‘em to church over Kanye West’s sparse, rolling pianos, it’s done incredibly well. Roc beatsmith Kanye West also delivers two more wonderfully raw joints, on each “Guerilla Monsoon Rap” (featuring Black Thought & Pharaohe Monch) and “Good To You”, employing a RZA like aesthetic in his approach to sampling on both. And while Megahertz’s “Rocky” like horns of “Rush” sound like a three-year old Bad Boy beat, nobody can front on his other beat, “Gun Music”, an awesome soundbwoy killing with the Cocoa Brovaz . DJ Scratch also chimes in with a beat better than most anything found on the new Busta Rhymes album, delivering what Talib describes as a “Superman” beat on “Shock Body”. 

    While these songs will keep pretty much everyone happy, other tracks may leave longtime listeners having a hard time deciding what they think of this album. The DJ Quik produced “Good To You” acts as the ultimate curve ball, with Quik’s unwelcome production as well as mo’ ig’nant rhymes (hey, we like Quik, but just not here), while Dilla’s “Where Do We Go” is more syrupy than the rawer production his alter ego, Jay Dee, usually delivers. Each “The Proud”, “Talk To You”, and “Stand To The Side” seem like good ideas in theory, and Talib doesn’t disappoint lyrically, but truthfully these beats fail to capture the emotion like Hi-Tek’s production did on tracks like “Good Mourning”, “4 Women”, and “Memories Live”. 

     All in all, it seems as if Talib really does have a B.J. Wineglass A&R type still gassing him up, telling him that he uses too many catch phrases, or should change his name, or his album title, or whatever, as this album reflects a Phrenology-like schizophrenia about it. While it pleases from time to time, perhaps next time around we can get Talib Kweli and Hi-Tek come together again; heaven forbid they don’t separate forever, like Pete Rock & CL Smooth.