Revolutions Per Minute

It’s been nearly a decade since the first Reflection Eternal album, Train of Thought, though the cover of that album played down the duo’s moniker by stressing their individual names, Talib Kweli and Hi-Tek, to capitalize on the success of the Mos Def and Talib Kweli Are Blackstar album, which Hi-Tek also produced. The ten-year gap doesn’t mean that the pair hasn’t been busy, or that they haven’t collaborated on individual songs over the years. It does mean that expectations are high. Revolutions Per Minute is essentially a sequel to an album that’s highly considered in hip-hop circles, the debut statement of a rapper who was then on the rise and went on to bigger things on albums to come.

Full Review | More Reviews from Publication | Top Rated of 2010

As odd as it sounds, it's hard to imagine a new Reflection Eternal album as any kind of comeback. The duo's Train of Thought was one of the reasons indie rap felt so vibrant in 2000, and 10 years later it's an underground classic. But from that point onwards, Talib Kweli and Hi-Tek have been doing good for themselves on their own. Ever since Jay-Z pointed to him as a lyrical ideal on The Black Album's "Moment of Clarity", Kweli seems to have treated it as both an honor and a challenge. He's subsequently grown into the role of an uncompromising lifer: spitting double-time, folding internal rhymes in on themselves, toying with meter in a way that would leave other MCs tripping over their own tongues, and building his countless metaphors and punchlines into big-picture politics and vivid narratives. And Hi-Tek's production style has developed a similar non-complacent comfortability, subtly honing down and polishing his intricate club-caliber neo-soul to the point where it sneaks up on you instead of knocking you over.

Full Review | More Reviews from Publication | Top Rated of 2010