But I don't get what else you could be referring to. In that paragraph you say (paraphrasing slightly here) "were critics fair and self assured, and they would say that if the listener doesn't get it, that it's the listener's fault, not the writer's." And you say that there's an unwillingness to allow black artists to be smart.

If you aren't talking about the last two albums, then what are you talking about when you say what you said above? This album has been universally praised so far, so I don't get what you would be referring to besides his past two albums when you say something like that.