Album Review

Talib Kwelhi – Listen

• 1st Aug 2007

This songs falls into an attractive area of the Hip-Hop genre. It’s got a groovy vibe that instantly makes the body want to ‘grind’, and a breakbeat style that is very easy to get down with.

The rapping and lyricism of Talib Kwelhi has a great nu-sckool feel to go with the old-skool beats. In other, or more words, the music itself is very funky and reminiscent of The Beastie Boys or Jurrassic 5, with cheeky flutes entangling the drums and bass whilst a glitzy Rhodes style organ pops in and out of the frame with timely licks. The rapping also has shades of the old-skool, but it reminds me more of the feisty, anti-everything tones of Eminem with it’s agility and underlying ire.

‘Listen’ might lack a little originality but for me it’s a style that ain’t broke so there’s no need to fix it. It’s a groovy smoothy with two parts Souls of Mischief, one part Beastie Boys and a healthy pinch of James Brown.