- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
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Aug 4, 2011The best moments on Gutter Rainbows actually come when Kweli pushes the hardest unto uncharted territory.
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Under The RadarMar 9, 2011With production by Ski Beatz (among others), Kweli has rarely sounded so soulful and so immediate. [Feb 2011, p.74]
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Mar 1, 2011In that right, Gutter Rainbows is the ultimate success. However, in terms of accessibility, he's done better work, and this release will probably just go down as a good, but not a great Talib Kweli album.
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Feb 18, 2011Like 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.
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Feb 15, 2011Rainbows may well be the best thing Kweli has done since Quality.
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Feb 8, 2011Talib 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).
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Feb 4, 2011Gutter 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.
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Jan 31, 2011Gutter Rainbows may be the most accessible and varied album in his discography.
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Jan 27, 2011This is an odd thing to say, given the dumbness of so many contemporary rap songs--is that Kweli tries to cram too much awareness into his lines at the expense of rhymes and flow. But trying a little too hard to find enlightenment can be forgiven when it comes from within a genre that often tips bravado ahead of insight.
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Jan 27, 2011Kweli blends a gritty outlook with a genuine interest in social issues to create an album that sounds refreshingly idealistic in a world still reeling from Kanye West's bombastic record.
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Jan 27, 2011Accordingly, Gutter Rainbows too often feels like an unfulfilled promise--an excess of concrete and not enough vibrancy.
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Jan 27, 2011In short, it's familiar without feeling rote.
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Jan 27, 2011The 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.
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Jan 27, 2011Talib seems to be coasting just a bit on this cut-and-paste session. As in, from a pure musical standpoint, outside of a few of repeat-worthy tracks, Gutter Rainbows, is no cure for your current cabin fever.
User score distribution:
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Positive: 11 out of 14
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Mixed: 3 out of 14
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Negative: 0 out of 14
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Feb 3, 2011