![]() Waka Flocka contributes solid verses to the super-amped, sports-themed “Chips,” which sounds like the soundtrack to the most lit pep rally ever. Radio Silence makes good use of its guests. All three verses are sharp, with him first asserting that “I’m the voice of a generation that’s very silent / I stick to my convictions like I’ve been indicted / All you n****s throwing me shade about to get enlightened.” Paak articulates the main thesis of the song with the refrain, which ends “Brooklyn is changing and so am I / See you and the other side, travel light.” Kweli dedicates the first verse to displaying his lyrical supremacy, the second to his efforts to expand his horizons by venturing throughout the world, and the final verse to holding politicians accountable for not serving the best interests of the people that they serve. “Traveling Light” is another of the album’s stronger moments, as he collaborates with Canadian producer/DJ/electronic music artist Kaytranada, who provides a horn-heavy track. On the lyrical end, Kweli is in rarified form, proclaiming “I'm in these streets like potholes / Where the guns make Illinois to Chicago” and “I spit it like I just finished gargling the velocity marvelous / Get your goggles we hit it at full throttle.” He then professes to kick that “high Valyrian rap, looking for my Khaleesi / The ones that Ebro call minor leaguers the real fire-breathers.” It also establishes the tone for the album’s overall soundscape. The beat sports the hallmarks of a quintessential Alchemist production, but still sounds unmistakably like the type of track Kweli would rhyme over. The Alchemist creates a majestic-sounding track, built around guitars and soaring vocals. The album begins with “Magic Hour,” a brief track that features Kweli laying down a one-verse barrage of explosive lyrics and punchlines. The strong core musicality sets Radio Silence apart from many hip-hop albums, but still sounds logical and natural. It features fewer tracks than usually appear on a Kweli album, but it’s more musically ambitious than many of his previous projects. In some ways, Radio Silence is closest to Kweli’s version of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. The production is heavy on live instrumentation and feels much more lush than previous efforts. ![]() Radio Silence is the product of two years of recording on Kweli’s part, as it’s apparent that he was working to create an album that sounds unlike anything that already exists in his catalogue, but still retains the flavor of a Kweli album. With this release, he’s created an album that demonstrates his well of creativity is far from dry, and that he’s always game to take chances with his music and try to cover new musical and lyrical ground. And now, half a year later, Kweli is already back with his long-gestating eighth solo album, Radio Silence. With well over a dozen projects to his name, he seems intent on continuing to produce music, never content with resting on his laurels, always striving to put out his best material.Įarlier this year, Kweli recorded the incredibly dope The Seven EP with Styles P, ostensibly to support a tour that they were undertaking. Amber Coffman & Myka 9”, but they only empower and elaborate that Talib Kweli is truly using music to reflect on his heart while also give it reason to beat.Talib Kweli has become a consummate workhorse over the span of his two-decade career. Obviously, you can tell this album is NOT lacking features such as, “Radio Silence feat. Sonically, Radio Silence is one of his most beautiful albums, and proof a combination is only valuable if also an elevation like, in tracks “Traveling Light feat. Moreover, such songs would make Thelonious Monk applaud at seeing jazz being infused with Hip Hop so miraculously. Rick Ross & Yummy Bingham” are prime examples of Talib’s human/ universal struggle to not allow the systemic cruelty built against his community affect that, as a spirit, he can still move forward. Jay Electronica & Yummy Bingham”, and “Heads Up Eyes Open feat. ![]() Often, we look inward to revive how we move outward. On that note, Radio Silence becomes a leap in terms of Kweli’s artistic and personal growth. Thus, racists can lie to you, and call their hate Love, because they have already lied and called it by that name to themselves. We all have the freedom to hate and the freedom to love, but it is in Freedom of Speech where these forces clash in a playing field Kweli calls Truth! How we confront ourselves is reflective of how we confront each other because we do what we know.
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