Reflection Eternal: All Aboard the Train of Thought…

The first time I was exposed to rapper Talib Kweli was on the piece he performed for the Lyricist Lounge compilation, "The Manifesto”. In the song, Kweli outlines several step which he hopes rappers will take in order to return hip-hop music’s emphasis to positivity. Even though many rappers have ignored his suggestions, Talib Kweli continues to remain a positive rap influence as one of the few willing to walk through the darkness carrying a torch. Talib Kweli teams up with like-minded turntablist DJ Hi-Tek forming Reflection Eternal to bring us their first LP,Train of Thought . This album is a hip-hop tour de force featuring intricate, conscious lyrics and a variety of musical styles including jazz, soul, and African rhythms.


The Train of Thought CD begins with a shout out from comedian Dave Chapelle imitating South African freedom fighter Nelson Mandela proclaiming that, “Whenever I'm in South Africa chilling out, I listen to Talib Kweli and DJ Hi Tek, Reflection Eternal”. For a long time I really believed that is was Mandela here. I guess it was just an excellent impression. After this piece, the LP immediately moves into the musical segment of the introduction, titled “Experience Dedication”.


“Move Somethin’” is the first actual song on the CD. Talib Kweli spits an articulated freestyle designed to decry fakeness in rap. Part of the chorus goes, “soon as the director says action you start fakin’”. Hi Tek constructs the beat using pronounced tympani drums and synthesized horns blazing across the track.


Next on Train of Thought is “Some Kind of Wonderful”. RE chooses to go with a more basic beat to place additional emphasis on Kweli’s furious, high-speed lyrical delivery. The end result is impressive. “The Blast”, the next track on the album, features Vinia Mojica singing backup vocals. This song, one of the singles for RE, features a bass-heavy, R&B-type hook with Kweli delivering laid back rhymes. The smooth sounds of “The Blast” made it quickly became one of my favorites.


Black Star associate and label mate Mos Def joins RE for “This Means You”, a fun, uptempo track that allows Mos and Talib to play off each other. DJ Hi-Tek produces a great track using funk guitar, driving bass, and orchestral hits. Talib Kweli asks “where were you the day hip-hop died” on “Too Late”, a short piece reflecting on the current state of hip-hop. Hi-Tek backs the track, lacing the slower-tempo song with an eerie-sounding track.


I’ll skip ahead to my favorite track “Africa Dreams”. This time Talib Kweli jumps behind the production boards with artist Weldon Irvine. The track uses live instruments including trumpet, keyboards, and several types of percussion. The song starts out with the percussion, performed by the Bassi Kolo Percussion Group, pounding out a syncopated beat on African drums. The song quickly changes over to a more traditional hip-hop beat that still essentially retains the syncopation of the first part of the song. Both segments of the song are unified by a cool jazz trumpet blowing across the rhythms. The overall effect of the track is to tie modern hip-hop music and jazz to traditional African music. Kweli drops some short, but inspired lyrics over this track as well. My favorite line goes: “These cats drink champagne/ to toast death and pain/ like slaves on a ship talkin’ bout who’s got the flyest chain/”.


The underground represents in full on track 9, “Down for the Count”. Flipmode Entertainment’s Rah Digga and Aftermath artistXzibit from the Alkaholiks guest star on this freestyle. Hi Tek supplies a classic battle beat which works extremely well with the aggressive deliveries of X and Digga. Skipping ahead to track 11, rap veteran Kool G. Rap makes an impressive showing on this collaboration with Reflection Eternal called "Ghetto Afterlife" . Talib freestyles on ghetto politics and Kool G. Rap drops the intense, street lyrics that made him famous.


Guests abound as Maceo, Dave, and Posdanous, better known as De La Soul appear on "Soul Rebels", the 15th track. Even though Hi-Tek’s guitar driven beat is not as good as the rest of his tracks on this LP, the light-hearted presence of De La adds a lot of juice to the track. “For Women”, the last track on the Reflection Eternal LP tells the story of four women and the different lives they’ve led. It’s very ambitious project, but RE pulls off the track without a hitch.


So, to finish up, Reflection Eternal’s Train of Thought is easily one of the best rap albums ever released. It’s great that when the “rap artists comin’ half hearted” get all the money and media, acts like Common, Mos Def, Reflection Eternal and a few others can turn rap on its ear with excellent projects. Hopefully, the trend will catch on and stave off hip-hop’s demise.