Eardrum

After the regrettable Beautiful Struggle and the solid, net-only Madlib collaboration Liberation, Talib continues his slight return to form, sounding confident and relaxed as he receives guest help from Justin Timberlake, Kanye West, Just Blaze, Madlib, and Pete Rock.

On seminal early albums with Black Star and Reflection Eternal, Talib Kweli rapped as if each line might be his last, and he'd stopped to stockpile words in case he never had another chance to use them. The results were exhilarating and exhausting. Kweli's recorded output has grown much spottier since, but last year's…

<p>The swotty rapper returns to his non-commercial roots.</p>