Madlib and Talib Kweli
Liberation
Blacksmith Records / Stones Throw Records, 2007
By Alex Larsen
The one-producer-one-rapper collaboration album is a trend reaching epidemic proportions in underground hip-hop. Arguably starting with Jaylib, a team-up between Madlib and the late great J. Dilla, it became a full blown fad in 2004 with the release of Madvillainy. This album, which united Madlib with eccentric indie phenom MF DOOM, enjoyed universal critical acclaim, and soon every rapper and their grandmother was hopping on the bandwagon. Well, no rappers actually collaborated with their grandmothers, although that probably would’ve been more interesting.
With Liberation, Madlib is back to capitalize on the trend he began, pairing up with yet another indie veteran, Talib Kweli. On paper, this seems to be an obvious mismatch: Madlib is known for his neck-snapping West Coast funk, while Kweli’s name is synonymous with gritty, underground New York lyricism. From the start, this unlikely duo had equal chances of creating an unexpectedly fresh sound or completely crashing and burning.
First, the good news: Madlib saved some serious funk for this one. The music bangs from start to finish, switching from upbeat to soulful to menacing and back again, while always maintaining that distinctive Madlib sound. Kweli fans, who have been subjected to two albums of inferior beats, can stop wishing the guy would just give Hi-Tek a call already.
Now the even better news: Kweli has switched up his flow to fit Madlib’s beats. While he doesn’t sound as natural on this kind of production as MF DOOM did, he has taken great pains to tailor his delivery to the music. And when it works, it’s incredible. The opening track “The Show” is a lyrical tour de force, while “Funny Money” provides a refreshingly level-headed and tongue-in-cheek description of how money moves in the music industry.
One of my favourite songs is “Happy Home,” where Kweli gives us his whole family history over a celebratory track. In a rap world diluted with violent thugs shooting up blocks and kicking puppies, such an earnest and feel-good track is a breath of fresh air. And “Time is Right” proves that Kweli can somehow smoothly transition from “Crackin’ like whips on the back of slaves, spittin’ on a massa’s grave,” to “Bringin’ sexy back like Timbaland and Timberlake.”
Unfortunately, there’s also some bad news. A few songs suffer from average lyrics and delivery, and on a thirty-minute album this is a big problem. Kweli rambles a little too much for his own good on “Over The Counter,” and “The Function” is a serviceable but uninteresting posse cut. There’s also the inexplicable presence of “Soul Music”, which has no real input from Kweli, and some very off-key crooning from Madlib.
Originally released as a free Internet download, Liberation has now been packaged for sale by Kweli’s Blacksmith label. Despite the few low points on the album, fans of either Madlib or Kweli shouldn’t hesitate to pick it up. Although it falls short of the classic material each artist has released in the past, it’s a surprisingly solid collaboration and definitely worth the money.
