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There's something magical about pairing Talib with Hi-Tek on production that transcends his already almost unlimited lyrical potential and creates an extraordinary experience.
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Revolutions Per Minute is an album that’s been a long time coming, and Kweli and Hi-Tek prove once again that there’s more to rap than club bangers, delivering another dose of socially and politically conscious music that’s more about opening people’s eyes to what’s happening in the world than telling them how to feel about it.
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While the pair should have more fully explored such detours from the norm, Revolutions Per Minute is arguably the finest hour for both Kweli and Hi-Tek.
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Whatever the mood of the song, both Kweli and Hi-Tek are at the top of their game on Revolutions Per Minute. Each of their guest stars are too, especially the rappers, all of whom keep right up with Kweli.
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This is brainy, energizing stuff, and sometimes (such as on "Just Begun," where Kweli trades sharp bars with J. Cole, Jay Electronica, and Mos Def over a beautiful sax loop), it hits like lightning.
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There are some moments when the mood lightens, usually for romantic fare like the funky Estelle-assisted song "Midnight Hour." But these tracks display neither Kweli's lyrical precision nor Hi-Tek's adventurous sounds. The set also falls short of its opening promise to engineer a "shift in the paradigm of hip-hop."
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So Revolutions Per Minute isn't as momentous a revival as it might seem-- it's just, well, another good Talib Kweli album with more solid Hi-Tek beats, an example of good chemistry between two artists who happen to have good chemistry with lots of other collaborators.
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Revolutions Per Minute is strongest when guests push Reflection Eternal in intriguing new directions.
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All in all, not bad for the inevitably disappointing follow-up to the greatest rap disc ever made.
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This reunion with producer Hi-Tek, Kweli's partner in late-'90s underground champs Reflection Eternal, fuels both camps with smart essays on addiction ("Lifting Off") and celebrity culture ("Got Work"), as well as forced, throwaway couplets.