i think what did it for me were the liner notes. i mean, to listen to the tracks and know the stories behind them. i was crackin up when i read the thing about "lesbian sex act". it's just nice to know all them lttle things. TFA is so enjoyable on a different level than other albums i have.

the "what they do" video got my attention

the TFA liner notes hooked me in

the roots come alive blew me away

and now i'm slowly workin my way back to organix

?est's personality (and musical skills) played a big part in all of it (which is not to say hub, kamal, razhel, scratch, malik, tariq, and even dice had nothin to do with it)

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"lyrically illicit,up steps the explicit, most wicked, seven-digit, mic wizard, my tongue lash out to strike with it, ya slightly might miss it when I blast through ya section and district to rip it" --black thought

"goin' back an' forth, forth an' back, all across the track, passin the mics like quarterbacks, course it's phat, git offa dat! reverse psychology got 'em scared to say when shit is wack, outta fear of being called a hater...imagine that! we ain't havin' that, reachin past the star status that you grabbin at, my battle raps flash yo ass back to ya natural habitat" --talib kweli

"black body radiation situation that we workin with, my verb exists enlisted by the rawkus camp for services,the purpose is: make you go and purchase this, no nervousness, we are hot like black tar, BLACK STAR:what the merger is, superlative, you fabricated like the word absurditive, I'm rockin this from here to where the persians live, from brooklyn where the merchants live, next door to the murderers and bourbon is an elder man's medeicinal alternative" --mos def