REVIEW – TALIB KWELI AND MADLIB’S LIBERATION

By Larissa Focke

Madlib is one of my favourite DJ / producer’s and ever since hearing the socio-political rawness of 'Sharp Shooters' on Lyricist Lounge back in the day, I will always respect Talib Kweli. So, when a friend first told me about this album, my expectations were high. Mind Altering Demented Lessons In Beats (Madlib) and a “true student” of the mic (Talib in Arabic means student, Kweli in Swahili means true) – sounds like a good combination.

Sadly, my expectations plummeted to the ground on hearing the final chords of the last track on the album. For the most part, in my opinion, the album lacked creativity and funk. The beats had potential but with Talib sticking to the same recipe as far as his delivery’s concerned, Madlib’s production skills went to waste. Those of us on top of their shit would have known that the album was released for free in the first week of January 2007 on the internet. Either way, I wouldn’t have paid for this album.

Years later, I can still jam Kweli’s tracks like Get By, Move Something, Definitions, and The Blast. Madlib’s React, Come on Feet, Questions, The Awaited, When I’m on da Mic, Good Morning Sunshine and Bad Character are regular features on my playlists. But the songs on Liberation seemed stagnant, repetitive and are neither artist’s best work. They will flitter out of memory when the music fades away and surely be forgotten, which is a damn shame.

Still, it’s good to hear Talib is continuing to rap about important issues, as opposed to hoes, clothes and bling. Case in point: “My rhymes is full of truth, and the business full of lies/ Try to look a Masai kid in his eyes for the flies and tell him how he fucked up our environment daily/The only thing we know about Africa is from Nas or Belly/ But go off like a Hutu or Tutsi, from Rwanda or Burundi/ Over drums like Babatunde Olatunji...”

Madlib is a prolific and multi-talented DJ / producer / MC, who specialises in digging. A digger is a DJ who searches through thousands of thrift shops let alone records to find musical gems. He then samples these tracks and implements them into his own musical creations, constructing something original and fresh, yet oddly familiar. The first time I ever heard Madlib was on a song called 'Rhyme Constructa', with Peanut Butter Wolf (founder of Stone’s Throw Records). “Yo, it’s the loop digga!” Madlib called out and half way through the track, when his alter-ego Quasimoto stepped up to the mic, I was smitten – hook, line and sinker.

All in all, I think Talib is a great MC and Madlib is amazingly talented, but there’s no magic in this collaboration. Talib should be more experimental in his craft, as opposed to experimenting with other artists. All too often, his flow and style is the same. Yet, a reunion with Mos Def, I think, is long overdue. Madlib has more creative freedom when he collaborates like-minded with artist such as MF Doom and Peanut Butter Wolf, and when he does, there are always mind altering beats on offer.