>It's such a thoughtful album without ever approaching
>pretentiousness, which is one minor issue I have had with
>train of thought as I've grown older. It never crosses the
>line but it encroaches here and there. Still a masterpiece to
>me. Atliens doesn't really have that sort of blemish IMO.

... I'm thinking perhaps the way Kweli comes off and acts in the latter part of his career may be tinting how you're looking back @ TOT ?

I mean, you did say "it never crosses the line" but I don't even really think that album comes close to sounding pretentious. That's actually one of the things I love about it. It touches on some super mature subject-matter without ever coming over preachy or self-important. That one album, even if neither artist involved ever achieved this again, came so naturally to both Kweli and HiTek.

I suppose I can see why you'd feel that way specifically BECAUSE of the subject matter, but in my opinion none of it comes off forced or fake or anything like that.