>Like I said I don’t really feel like he’s all the way
>there, but there are spots where it’s a little melodramatic
>and entering the outer rim of being a little pretentious.
>There are a lot of generic battle raps toward “wack
>mc’s” that can only really come from a feeling of
>superiority.

Yea see I guess I just don't categorize that type of stuff the same way. I think it's important to think of the context of that era too. A lot of MC's cut from the same cloth as Kweli were talking that same type of "wack MC" stuff at the time. Just a symptom of the era, though I suppose that fact wouldn't necessarily negate it from coming off pretentious in some listeners eyes, especially years later.


>“Too Late” feels a little self important, talking about
>how empty all these other rappers are, a sentiment I once
>championed but have since come to view as just as empty and
>useless as the bling bling nonsense. It’s fine because
>that’s a basic aspect of being an MC. One area where I’ve
>felt I’ve matured as a listener is that I no longer need rap
>to make a statement to enjoy it because there are just so many
>perfectly valid ways to approach hip hop sonically and
>topically and there are many perfectly empty and pointless
>songs that are absolutely great .
>
>Too Late is one of my favorite joints on the album due to the
>beat but as I grew up the lyrics became less and less
>relatable. He’s kind of up his own ass on that one. Again, I
>still enjoy the song but don’t find it particularly
>profound. It’s ultimately every bit as empty as things
>it’s whining about, and yes, for me it eventually started to
>come across more as whining to me than a song that makes any
>real statement. Why complain about the problem when you’re
>in perfect position to actually be the solution and lead by
>example?

Yea word, I mean I guess I see what you're saying but that's just one song out of twenty. So in my opinion, he *did* lead by example. Nothing wrong with dedicating one track to what you feel the problems are in the current landscape of rap. So long as a whole album isn't dedicated to it. The rest of the album dealt with subject matters of family, the difficulty of relationships, love, the struggles of women, the struggles of the black community, the political landscape, etc. So, in my eyes at least, he *was* leading by example.

Now if you want to say he sounded pretentious in DISCUSSING those topics, then we just have a fundamental disagreement regarding what pretentiousness sounds like. Haha.


>I used to agree fervently, like YEAH! FUCK ALL THESE WACK
>MC’S! FUCK ALL THE EMPTY RHETORIC! Now I’m like…
>shouldn’t you be focused on creating substantive material to
>offset the weak shit other guys are putting out instead of
>complaining about the weak shit? It just seems awfully
>counterproductive to me and ultimately undoes some of the good
>achieved in the albums more thoughtful moments.
>
>And yes, TOT absolutely has some wonderfully thoughtful
>moments, like Memories Live. I’ll play it through today and
>see if I still get that impression, because you may well be
>right and I’m applying my general impression of Kweli to the
>album.

Word yea. I'm interested to see what you think. When do you think the last time you heard it was previous to this ?

I really do think that (a) the "superiority" complex thing was just a symptom of the underground vs mainstream thing that was going on at the time, at probably a higher percentage than ever in hip-hop. In other words there's always been competition in hip-hop, the culture was basically built on it. But the late 90s/early 00s saw a major divide between mainstream and underground that I don't think we saw before or since. And (b) I really do think the latter half of Kweli's career has really tainted how people view his entire body of work. I listen to his early stuff now and am wistful about when he was focused, pointed/frank/direct about certain topics, but wasn't in your face or annoying about it like he can be these days. Back then he was almost endearing in his disgust, if that is possible. Haha. But again that's just MY opinion of how it sounds.