Review Summary: Prisoner of Conscious is a breath of fresh air in a scene that is too often stale.
Gone are the days when it's normal for a rapper to treat his music as something more important than himself. This isn't an indictment of contemporary rap per se; rappers like Lil Wayne and Kanye West have produced some incredible music (Yes, even Wayne has had his moments) while nursing monstrous egos, and can even attract our attention with this very egotism. In a sense, hip-hop is a genre that can even at its best feed off of this self-absorption and use it to weave introspective tales of struggle, victory, etc. That said, it can become extremely irritating when the majority of rappers (Good ones included) consider themselves personalities first and musicians second. One reason why so many people find it hard to take hip-hop seriously is because they hear more about Kanye's escapades and Eminem's drug abuse than they hear about the actual music.
Talib Kweli is an exception. One would have to dig pretty deep to find any news article about him, positive or negative, and Kweli seems perfectly fine with that. For a rapper who released the critically lauded Black Star back in 1998 with Mos Def, he's remained pretty under the radar despite producing a fairly consistent output of music. Why is that, one might ask. This question can partially be answered by simply listening to Prisoner of Conscious. What you won't hear is a rapper who needs approval from anyone. What you will hear is an album that was clearly made by a rapper who sees himself first as a musician, and a musician who feels passionately about both what he's saying and how he's saying it. There's not a track on here that feels like filler, and that is because no track feels lazy, or silly, or like Kweli just wanted to get the album out already to meet some deadline.
Prisoner of Conscious is possibly Kweli's most diverse album yet, containing everything from R&B-influenced love songs (Come Here, Favela Love) to classic Kweli story-telling (Hamster Wheels, Delicate Flowers), and even a straight-up banger (Upper Echelon). What every track has in common is soulful, artistic lyricism from Kweli, carefully chosen beats, and hooks that range from pretty to stunningly beautiful (Before He Walked). To fans of Kweli, this much should be expected. What's particularly special about Prisoner of Conscious, though, is that even the elements that normally ruin hip-hop albums are done well here. Intro is a surprisingly pretty and energetic intro that leads into the first actual song seamlessly, and unlike many rap intros you probably won't even consider skipping it. In addition, the guest rappers here do their jobs quite well. Verses from musicians as different as Kendrick Lamar, Busta Rhymes, and Nelly all feel natural, as they all add something to the music without feeling forced.
In the end, while Prisoner of Conscious might be written off by some as just another Talib Kweli album, it is the best album to come from Kweli in years as well as an enjoyable breath of fresh air from both the mainstream and underground rap scenes. Fans of Kweli rejoice, and to those who have written him off after his last few albums, prepare to give Kweli another shot as this album shows him with a renewed energy.
