User ratings in Music are temporarily disabled. More info
Gutter Rainbows Image
Metascore
71

Generally favorable reviews - based on 21 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
7.6

Generally favorable reviews- based on 14 Ratings

  • Summary: The latest solo album for the Brooklyn rapper was originally set to be a self-released digital-only album (Duck Down signed on to release the physical version). It features production from Ski Beatz, S1, Marco Polo, M-Phazes, 88-Keys, Shuko, 6th Sense, E. Jones, Nick Speed, KYRYSIS!, BlaqThe latest solo album for the Brooklyn rapper was originally set to be a self-released digital-only album (Duck Down signed on to release the physical version). It features production from Ski Beatz, S1, Marco Polo, M-Phazes, 88-Keys, Shuko, 6th Sense, E. Jones, Nick Speed, KYRYSIS!, Blaq Toven, Oh No, and Maurice Brown. Expand

Top Track

How You Love Me
I hear footsteps in the dark Every day since we first met, can't even eat a bit I can't seem to think straight when I think about how you love... See the rest of the song lyrics
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 14 out of 21
  2. Negative: 0 out of 21
  1. Feb 4, 2011
    87
    Gutter Rainbows may not be promoted heavily due to its independent release, but it should be rotated heavily in our MP3's, it's a definite win for the listener/consumer.
  2. Feb 8, 2011
    85
    Talib Kweli keeps the level of discourse high throughout Gutter Rainbows, and it should come as a surprise that some references he makes will go right over your head (props if you knew who knew Yohji Yamamoto was or what the Bhagavad Gita is).
  3. Aug 4, 2011
    80
    The best moments on Gutter Rainbows actually come when Kweli pushes the hardest unto uncharted territory.
  4. Jan 27, 2011
    70
    The production (from Ski Beatz, 88-Keys, others) adds florid, melodramatic choruses to jazzy boom-bap tracks, blunting the impact of Kweli's dogged street intellectualism.
  5. Feb 18, 2011
    68
    Like it not, Talib Kweli's place in hip hop has become something like Yo La Tengo's place in indie rock-a solid, moderately predictable journeyman who serves the musically leftish center with skill and charm, even if the frontier is now situated elsewhere.
  6. Q Magazine
    Apr 6, 2011
    60
    Though the symphonic funk samples that power his free-flowing wordplay sound as if they could do with an upgrade. [Apr 2011, p.95]
  7. Jan 31, 2011
    40
    Kweli still has an ear for beats, and despite some particular low points here, his lyrics were always overshadowed by his flow, which is as sharp as ever.

See all 21 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 1
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 1
  3. Negative: 0 out of 1
  1. Feb 3, 2011
    9
    Always the lyrical soldier who fails to forget who he is and where he comes from. Prepare to be astonished and inspired by an onslaught ofAlways the lyrical soldier who fails to forget who he is and where he comes from. Prepare to be astonished and inspired by an onslaught of spiritual hip-hop that though never aimed at the mainstream is unavoidably likeable. The beats are crafted with emphasis on impact and differ in style which helps to reinforce Kweli's uniqueness. He is a social leader of men (and women), someone whose spirituality transcends the genre that pigeonholes him, and worthy of recognition as Earth's finest rapper. The only way this album loses marks is because Talib's angle is typical and could be exposed as unoriginal, but that is as much a strength as it is a weakness. 92/100 Expand