The Beautiful Struggle | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Studio album by | ||||
Released | September 28, 2004 | |||
Recorded | 2003–2004 | |||
Genre | Alternative hip hop | |||
Length | 53:40 | |||
Label | Rawkus, Geffen | |||
Producer | Hi-Tek, the Neptunes, Supa Dave West, Kanye West, Just Blaze, J. R. Rotem, Midi Mafia, Charlemagne, Tone Mason, Amadeus | |||
Talib Kweli chronology | ||||
|
Aggregate scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
Metacritic | 66/100 [1] |
Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [2] |
The Austin Chronicle | [3] |
Robert Christgau | [4] |
Entertainment Weekly | B [5] |
The Guardian | [6] |
HipHopDX | [7] |
Pitchfork Media | 7.6/10 [8] |
PopMatters | [9] |
Spin | B+ [1] |
Vibe | [10] |
The Beautiful Struggle is the second studio album by American rapper Talib Kweli. The album was released on September 28, 2004, by Rawkus Records and Geffen Records. It features guest appearances from Common, Faith Evans, Anthony Hamilton, Mary J. Blige, and John Legend.
The album was produced by Kanye West, the Neptunes, Supa Dave West, Just Blaze, and Hi-Tek. The first single, "I Try" featuring Mary J. Blige, was fairly popular as a music video, followed by the second single, "Never Been in Love".
Credits adapted from the album's liner notes. [11]
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. | "Going Hard" |
| Charlemagne | 3:50 |
2. | "Back Up Offa Me" | Hi-Tek | 3:38 | |
3. | "Broken Glass" |
| The Neptunes | 3:11 |
4. | "We Know" (feat. Faith Evans) |
| Supa Dave West | 3:43 |
5. | "A Game" |
| Amadeus | 3:36 |
6. | "I Try" (feat. Mary J. Blige) |
| Kanye West | 4:25 |
7. | "Around My Way" (feat. John Legend) |
| Charlemagne | 4:48 |
8. | "We Got the Beat" (feat. Res) |
| Midi Mafia | 3:20 |
9. | "Work It Out" |
|
| 4:20 |
10. | "Ghetto Show" (feat. Common & Anthony Hamilton) |
| Supa Dave West | 4:47 |
11. | "Black Girl Pain" (feat. Jean Grae) |
|
| 5:04 |
12. | "Never Been in Love" |
| Just Blaze | 5:01 |
13. | "Beautiful Struggle" |
| Hi-Tek | 4:00 |
Sample Credits [11]
Credits adapted from the album's liner notes. [11]
Chart (2004) | Peak position |
---|---|
Canadian Albums (Nielsen SoundScan) [12] | 39 |
Canadian R&B Albums (Nielsen SoundScan) [13] | 11 |
US Billboard 200 [14] | 14 |
US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard) [15] | 3 |
Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star is the debut studio album by American hip hop duo Black Star, composed of rappers Talib Kweli and Yasiin Bey. The album was released on September 29, 1998, to critical acclaim. The title is a reference to the Black Star Line, a shipping line founded by Pan-Africanist Marcus Garvey. The album deals with modern-day issues, philosophical ideas, and life in Brooklyn, New York City as the two artists know it.
Tony Louis Cottrell, better known as Hi-Tek, is an American rapper and music producer from Cincinnati, Ohio. He is best known for his work with Talib Kweli. His father is singer Willie Cottrell of the Willie Cottrell Band, whom Hi-Tek featured on his second album, Hi-Teknology 2.
Reflection Eternal is an American hip hop duo composed of emcee Talib Kweli and producer Hi-Tek. They released their first album, Train of Thought, in 2000. They have since released a mixtape, The RE: Union, in late December 2009, and their second album Revolutions Per Minute was released May 18, 2010.
Rawkus Records was an American hip hop record label, owned by James Murdoch, known for starting the careers of many rappers. Rawkus started in 1995 with releases in hip-hop, drum and bass and fun-dustrial.
Quality is the debut studio album by American rapper Talib Kweli. The album was released on November 19, 2002, by Rawkus Records. It received wide critical acclaim and had some commercial appeal from the song "Get By", produced by Kanye West. Kludge magazine included it on their list of best albums of 2002.
The Breakthrough is the seventh studio album by American singer Mary J. Blige. It was released by Geffen Records on December 20, 2005. Initially expected to be released in 2006, it switched release dates with Blige's first greatest hits album Reflections (2006) after fruitful collaborations with a host of songwriters and record producers, including 9th Wonder, Rodney Jerkins, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, Bryan-Michael Cox, J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League, Raphael Saadiq, Chucky Thompson, Cool & Dre, Ron Fair, and will.i.am, prompted Blige and her label to shift material from Reflections to The Breakthrough.
Soundbombing II is the second installment in Rawkus Records' Soundbombing compilation series, released by the label on May 18, 1999. Mixed by DJ Babu and J Rocc of Beat Junkies, the album included tracks from a variety of artists, both Rawkus' signees and popular artists from other labels.
Black Star is an American hip hop duo formed in 1996, from Brooklyn, New York City. The duo is composed of rappers Yasiin Bey and Talib Kweli. The duo is named after The Black Star Line, a shipping company founded by Marcus Garvey. Their critically acclaimed debut album Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star was released on September 29, 1998. After decades of only releasing singles and appearing on compilations, Black Star released their sophomore studio album No Fear of Time May 3, 2022 on the podcasting platform Luminary.
Kendra Janelle Ross is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, music business executive, and community organizer from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She was born in Youngstown, Ohio.
Hi-Teknology²: The Chip is a sequel album to Hip hop producer Hi-Tek's first album, Hi-Teknology. Born as Tony Cottrell, He had spent most of his time in the low key hip-hop scene of Cincinnati, Ohio who eventually ran into Mood in 1992. Working with them kickstarted his career and affiliated himself with many MCs. He is best known for his collaboration with Talib Kweli on the album Reflection Eternal. He rose in popularity with the underground hip-hop scene and has worked alongside many talented even Grammy-nominated artists such as 50 Cent and Busta Rhymes. Although working with many talented artists and having a huge impact working with Rawkus Records Collective, it was time for him to show off his own unique abilities which led to his three solo albums. The release of his sequel album Hi-Teknology gained quick recognition and was soon to be sought after by many up-and-coming artists to produce their own albums.
Train of Thought is the debut album of American hip hop duo Reflection Eternal, released October 17, 2000, on Rawkus Records. Collaborating as a duo, rapper Talib Kweli and DJ and hip hop producer Hi-Tek recorded the album during 1999 to 2000, following their individual musical work that gained notice in New York's underground scene during the late 1990s. Kweli had previously worked with rapper Mos Def as the duo Black Star, and Hi-Tek had served as producer on the duo's debut album.
Bulletproof is the third studio album by American rapper Hush from Detroit, Michigan. It was released on August 23, 2005, via Geffen Records. The album features guest appearances from Eminem, Kuniva, Bizarre and Swifty McVay from D12, Bareda and Lo-Down from Raw Collection, and guitarist Phil Campbell. The album debuted at number 83 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and number 39 on the Heatseekers Albums in the United States.
"Simply Beautiful" is a 1972 song by Al Green from his album I'm Still in Love with You.
Idle Warship was a musical duo composed of Brooklyn emcee Talib Kweli and Philadelphia singer Res. Res has appeared on each Talib Kweli album since 2000's Train of Thought. They have also toured together, including on the summer 2005 MGD Flavor 2 Savor mini-tour. They released their debut mixtape, Party Robot, on October 27, 2009 for free. This was originally set for a 2008 release and announced on Talib Kweli's MySpace page in a New Year's blog entry.
Alonzo Mario Stevenson, professionally known as Novel, is an American hip-hop/soul artist based in Los Angeles, California. He is a Grammy Award winning songwriter, singer, rapper and producer with also 5 Grammy nominations. He is the son of Motown's William "Mickey" Stevenson and the grandson of soul pioneer Solomon Burke.
Hip Hop for Respect is a benefit maxi-single brought together by American hip hop duo Black Star to speak out against police brutality after four New York City Police Department officers murdered West African immigrant Amadou Diallo fired 41 shots at the unarmed man. The project was released on April 25, 2000, through Rawkus Records.
Revolutions per Minute is the second studio album by American hip hop duo Reflection Eternal, released May 18, 2010, on Blacksmith Records and Rawkus Records. Composed of rapper Talib Kweli and DJ/hip hop producer Hi-Tek, it is the duo's follow-up to their collaborative debut Train of Thought (2000).
Robert Alan Diaz known by his stage name Pumpkinhead or P.H., was an American rapper and hip hop artist. He grew up in the Park Slope area of Brooklyn, New York with his mother and younger sister.
PTSD: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is the fourth studio album by American hip hop artist Pharoahe Monch, released on April 15, 2014 under his independent label, W.A.R. Media, in partnership with INgrooves. The album features guest appearances from Black Thought, Talib Kweli, Denaun, The Stepkids and Vernon Reid, as well as production from Lee Stone, Marco Polo, Jesse West and Quelle Chris amongst others. The album was promoted by two Lee Stone-produced singles: "Damage" and "Bad M.F.".
Talib Kweli Greene is an American rapper. He earned recognition through his collaboration with fellow Brooklyn rapper Mos Def in 1997, when they formed the group Black Star. Kweli's musical career continued with solo success including collaborations with producers and rappers Kanye West, Just Blaze, and Pharrell Williams. In 2011, Kweli founded his own record label, Javotti Media.