The follow up of Talib Kweli with "The Beautiful Struggle", his Fall 2004 release, is indeed beautiful. The critics of the respected conscious Hip Hop Emmc from Brooklyn, New York have not yet been very positive but we had to give it up to Kwe!
The smashing single "Get By"; produced by Kanye West from his second album, "Quality"; got him a foot on MTV and big rotation on the radio. The new album's productions set the tone of the struggle. "Black Star" Talib Kweli collaborates once more with deejay Hi-Tek's genius on three songs, reminding us of sounds from their first collabo, "Reflection Eternal".
The beautiful struggle presents a large palette of productions. "I Try" is the first single, produced by Kanye West, with a similar forced feel of "Get By".
On "Broken Glass" track produced by the Neptunes, he brings the old school bells, a trendy flavor right now in the industry. He tells us about a young woman's story of living in a big city and the struggles that she goes through, "she was a small city girl, with big city dreams/ Niggaz tryna figure how to get up in them jeans".
On "We Know" , singer Faith Evans, blesses it with a smooth love message.
"We Got the Beat" is a new Rock-Hip Hop fusion, featuring Res. Produced by Dirty Swift and Bruce Wayne, the fusion of Hip Hop and Rock 'n Roll is well done with crazy live guitars and Kweli bringing back an old school flow, "zin-zin-zin-zin-zin !!!".
On "Ghetto Show", Talib invites long time friend Common and soulful So So Def singer Anthony Hamilton. A song filled with hope and positive messages to keep you warm in the cold world we live in.
Just Blaze produces "Never Been in Love", where Kweli shares his new feelings about love, the track is definitely blazing!
Last but not least, produced by Hi-Tek, "The Beautiful Struggle" song sums up the opus, with a little bosa nova touch and strong lyrics, Talib Kweli denies the status of "political rapper" that the media tries to glue to him, "they call me the political rapper even after, I tell them I don't [mess] with politics I don't even follow it/ I'm on some KRS ice Cube Chris Wallace [hits]/ Main Source De La Soul pumping 2paclypse".
Talib Kweli opens up more on this album and adds up more soulful sounds with many featured soul artists like John Legend or Anthony Hamilton.
He makes you sweep the dance floor with more relaxed songs that "make you work your abdominals".
"The revolution is here/ The Revolution is personal"
GY Rating: 
