Electrifying? Pete Rock Ear Drum Contributions

Talib Kweli - Holy Moly & Electrify
taken from Ear Drum (Blacksmith, 2007)

From the highs of his early work with Blackstar and Reflection Eternal, to the lows of Quality and The Beautiful Struggle, I feel that it has been hard to maintain belief in Talib Kweli for the last five years or so (I remain unconvinced by Liberation, despite the ripple of hype that it caused at the turn of the year). Consequences inevitably follow: unfortunately for Kweli, the erratic nature of his output in more recent years has somewhat tainted my opinion of his earlier works, and although I still love the beats on the Blackstar and Reflection Eternal joints, I have become increasingly despondent about Kweli’s mic skills as time has gone by. At his best he is capable of intelligent and engaging lyricism with regards to content, but his flow often feels contrived and he lacks the swagger and style of more naturally accomplished MCs. It is in light of these feelings that Ear Drum has sat on my desktop for the last few weeks dormant, and it was only yesterday that it made it out of the confines of its zip file and into rotation. I’ve been sleepin’: Kweli’s back on form.

Now I was going to roll out the full album treatment here, but after surfing on the net for a little while and reading The Smoking Section review of Ear Drum, it feels a little pointless, as they’ve summarised many of my sentiments so succinctly that I think I’ll struggle to put it into my own words without mirroring many of theirs. Instead, I thought I would indulge myself in a little more Pete Rock geekery and take a more detailed look at his two contributions to Ear Drum, ‘Holy Moly’ and ‘Electrify’. With one beat placed on a big release already this year (the decent but somewhat uninspiring ‘Gimmie One’ from Redman’s latest album), could the Chocolate Boy Wonder still be rockin’ it for the masses in ‘07? Let’s find out…

I'm going to start with 'Holy Moly' because (wait for it) I don't like it. Apart from anything else, it doesn't really sound like Pete Rock, and I think you would be hard pushed to identify it as the work of the Chocolate Boy Wonder given the shift away from his trademark style that it represents. In some ways, I can see what he was trying to do with this one, further updating his 'brighter' production style that emerged with Soul Survivor II and Ed O.G.'s My Own Worst Enemy, and it does fall in line with current trends in mainstream hip hop production. The sped up soul vocal samples and off beat percussion could perhaps be more easily associated with one of today's big hitters like Kanye, but it doesn't work for me, so much so in fact, that I have struggled to make it through the cut in its entirety. I'm gonna chalk this one off as an experiment and forget about it: I suggest you do the same.

With that behind us we can move to greener pastures in the shape of 'Electrify', which is an entirely different kettle of fish and currently ranks amongst my favourite beats of the year so far. Built around a jangling acoustic guitar riff and some well chosen soul samples, this is a richly textured song that screams quality, with multiple layers combining to create a truly beautiful beat. In addition to this, the song is aided by one of Kweli's finest lyrical moments of the album in which he breaks down the echoes of criticism that must have plagued him for the last half decade, answering them with eloquence and style whilst simmering over the beat below.

Here's the best bit. I always love to ride a song out on a beat, but with 'Electrify' Pete Rock accomplishes something truly special. Just after the final chorus hook he lets the grrove roll for another eighteen bars with few changes, but at the 4.03 mark, his genius truly shines. Ascending bass notes carry you into the final instrumental section of the song, and with the soul vocal tracks and strings now gone, the beat opens up for its final half minute or so. Various musical components that have featured at other points in the composition are brought back in, perhaps most notably the two extra guitar tracks which provide the composition with an increased sense of space, and the result is... electrifying. This has had the hairs on the back of my neck standing at attention all day, and I doubt I'll be able to release myself from its infectious quality for some time to come.

Granted, one out of two isn't the sensation that I was hoping for when I realised PR had placed a couple of contributions on Kweli's Ear Drum, but such is the quality of 'Electrify' that I walk away from this analysis with a feeling of contentment (I mean, I can't like everything that he produces). To be fair, my enthusiasm for this particular song is probably boosted by the news I received the other day: Pete Rock is playing at London's Jazz Cafe on September 28th and 29th. In a pant-wetting fit of excitement I managed to book my ticket yesterday; if you're going to be in town then I'll assume that you'll do the same (pant-wetting remains optional). On a more general note, do make sure that you give Ear Drum a go in its entirety, but needless to say my fingers will be firmly fixed on the repeat button for a little while yet: Mount Vernon's finest has still got it.