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at a glance...
Hometown: Brooklyn, NY; Cincinnati, OH
Formed: 1997
Personnel:
Talib Kweli
DJ Hi-Tek
Related Artists :
Mood, Black Star, Common, De La Soul,Mos Def, Xzibit, Rah Digga, Kool G. Rap, Les Nubians
Notes:
Talib and Hi-Tek met in 1994 when Brooklyn-ite Kweli was visiting Cincinnati. Three years of long Greyhound rides sustained the collaboration until 1997, when Kweli guested on an album by Hi-Tek's group, Mood. Reflection Eternal was born in 1997 with the release of "Fortified Live" on Rawkus Records. Kweli then collaborated with Mos Def on 1998's Black Star project, appearing live around the country on his own and with Mos, eventually returning to Reflection Eternal for 2000's Train of Thought.
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Reflection Eternal
Train of Thought
Rawkus, Released 2000
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Train of Thought is your everyday 20-track, 70-minute debut album. Amibtious? Yeah, you could say that. Determined to do nothing less than revive Afrocentrism, drop the perfect beat, summarize all their favorite records and save hip-hop in the process, Talib Kweli and DJ Hi-Tek have a lot of work to do.
Talib in particular is consumed by the urgency of the task at hand. Words pour out of him until he's almost breathless, and whether he's speaking on his peers ("Too Late", "Africa Dream") or his ancestors ("Memories Live," an inventive cover of Nina Simone's "For Women"), he brings the zeal of the millennial messenger. And while mainstream rappers may be an easy mark, rarely has the self-destructive playa bullshit been put in its place so definitively: "These cats drink champagne/To toast death and pain/Like slaves on the ship talkin' 'bout who got the flyest chains."
What Talib doesn't have yet is the unique vision and presence of his idols. The shadow of Common looms large, and while Talib freely admits the influence, that doesn't excuse the wholesale cop of Com's "Time Travelin'" on the "Memories Live/Africa Dream" suite. Likewise, he dips into his Rawkus labelmates' bag of tricks a few too many times; both "Down For the Count" and "This Means You" are (very enjoyable) revamps of Pharaohe Monch's "Simon Says." And while Talib's words are often visionary, on record he hasn't developed the charismatic presence of many of his peers - a fact highlighted by a guest appearance from Mos Def on "This Means You" and an absolutely hilarious turn from Rah Digga on "Down For the Count".
But at 24, Talib has plenty of time to grow into his prodigious talent, and anyone who has seen him tear it up live knows that he will. Furthermore, he's got the right partner in Hi-Tek, a producer with a knack for crisp beats and flavorful samples. If all the musical ideas here are not stunningly original, the execution is peerless; check the soft rumble of "Too Late" and the hard stomp of "Ghetto Afterlife" and "Move Something" for evidence of Hi-Tek's rare versatility. In five years, they'll talk about this Cincinnati Kid in the same breath as Premiere and Pete Rock.
Have Reflection Eternal saved hip-hop? Maybe not. But they've furthered its resurrection, and they've delivered one of the albums of the year in the process.
If you like Reflection Eternal, check out:
Black Star Mos Def and Talib Kweli are Black Star
Common Like Water For Chocolate
Pharaoh Monche Internal Affairs
-- Jesse Fahnestock
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