this album is tight. vivid rhymes by kweli alongside smooth beats by hi-tek make 'reflection eternal' a classic. talib's lyrics are on point with intelligence, wit and meaning, and leave you thinking, while hi-tek's beats will have your head noddin all day. this is essential kweli material and in my opinion some of his best work - by far one of my favorite hip-hop albums. check this one out without a doubt.

i was introduced to talib with this one and i've liked him ever since. hi-tek and talib made a great team. really good cd.

This album is perfection. I don't say that about too many albums and this one truly stands in a class by itself. It is the hip hop embodiment of peace and tranquility. This album is so good it trancends the boundaries of hip hop and pushes the boundaries of music. It's food for the mind and soul. You can tell it was a labor of love and that Talib Kweli and Hi Tek did it strictly for the love of the music and could have cared less about the money and bling bling. The way real hip hop artists should be. It shows through in the quality of this music. Lyrically, Talib is a master and he's truly a giant in the mental. Hi Tek's beats are nothing short of beautiful, check out "Good Morning" and "The Blast". He weaves and blends the samples and beats so intricately that it's fluid. It flows together in a perfect symphony of harmony. This album came out at the start of the commercial bling bling era which has now completely taken over hip hop. Reflection Eternal was like a breath of fresh air in a polluted hip hop culture. It will stand the test of time because even now, eight years later I will still listen to it. Now doubt 20 or 30 years from now it will be considered a masterpiece even though I already consider it such. Put simply, this album must be heard in full to really appreciate. It is one of those rare albums that only come once in 20 or 30 years. Probably longer. If you love conscious hip hop or just real hip hop, I beg of you to listen to this album. I promise you won't be dissappointed. Peace.

Reflection Eternal/Train of Thought is one the 10-15 best albums I have ever heard, as you can tell by looking at my most recent note. Here's why:

First of all, Talib Kweli is the king of MC's. He's clever ("if they put my life on the screen then its got to be the IMAX / I live large stroke your mind, till you reach climax"), socially aware ("These cats drink champagne and toast to death and pain / Like slaves on a ship talking about who got the flyest chain") and emotionally aware ("It's more than pillow talk, it can't be translated /Learn how to speak it, and become emancipated / It's a language / Universal love...").

Then there's the other half of the Reflection Eternal duo, producer Hi-Tek. He has improved in leaps and bound from the work he did on Black Star, even though some of it ("Definition") was very good. Beats like "Too Late" and "The Blast" are much better than anything he's ever done before, and the beats in general are consistently very good.

Finally, Talib and Hi-Tek show a great feel here for matching lyrics with the appropriate beats. The introspective, incisive raps are accompanied perfectly by laid back beats (ex. "Memories Live") and the more playful, clever lyrics are accompanied by more noticeable, exciting and entertaining beats (ex. "The Blast").

This album is 20 songs long, and really only "Big Del From Da Natti," and "On My Way" can be classified as filler. It's nearly all excelent. It's a really amazing achievement.

Songs

Experience Dedication 7.5/10: I normally don't give true intros like this ratings at all, but even though Kweli is more talking than rapping, there's enough here to evaluate it. There's a hilarious Dave Chapelle impersonation of Nelson Mandella to start the song, and then Kwe introduces the album over a solid Hi-Tek beat.

Move Somethin' 8/10: Solid all around though I don't think the rap is as good as usual.

Some Kind of Wonderful 8/10: Similar in a lot of ways to "Move Somethin'" though their beats aren't that similar. Another attack song.

The Blast 9/10: Fantastic beat, maybe the best on the album, and, shockingly, Hi-Tek featuring on the song actually provides my favorite verse.

This Means You 8.5/10: Once again Kweli doesn't provide my favorite verse; here it belongs to Mos Def. Mos' guest appearance is the only one (other than Hi-Tek above which doesn't really count and maybe De La Soul) on the album that I think actually adds to the song from what Kweli could have done by himself. Talib is just better than all of the other people.

Too Late 8.6/10: About the demise of hip-hop as an art form, "Too Late" has one of the best beats on the album.

Memories Live 8/10: Chill beat, introspective lyrics about Kweli's childhood and the dreams he had.

Africa Dream 8/10: Cool African drums intro along with Zimbabwean proverb "If you can talk, you can sing / If you can walk you can dance," followed by a very good song including the aforementioned "who got the flyer chain" line.

Down For The Count 8/10: Probably the song that places the most importance on the beat, and it's a good one. Talib also features the least here of on any song, which takes a little away from it though he does show up long enough to tell us that "Like Jim Morrison, we break on through"

Name of the Game 6/10: Pretty mediocre all around.

Ghetto Affair 7/10: Pretty solid, not out of this world.

On My Way 6/10: Not a rap song at all, and very short. But it's not really bad.

Love Language 9/10: Now THERE's a song about love. Not glossing over the problems of relationships, Kweli shows the beauty of love. And the use of a French chorus really underscores his theme of "The language of love cannot be translated." One of my favorites.

Love Speakeasy 5/10: Just kind of a smooth jazz extension of "Love Language" that is really not part of the same track.

Soul Rebels 8.5/10: "We don't live for hip-hop / It lives for us." One of the better beats, and De La Soul add a cool flavor on the chorus.

Eternalists 8.5/10: The rap has the same kind of feel as "Move Somethin'" and "Some Kind of Wonderful" though it's better than those. It has a different kind of beat too. All in all, it's a really good song though I don't know what it means to be an "eternalist."

Big Del From Da Natti 6/10: Seems like just an excuse to get Hi-Tek on the mic (Kweli isn't even on this track). It's not that bad though.

Touch You 7.5/10: I'm not a huge fan of the chorus, but the rest of the song is really good., including the "IMAX" line from before.

Good Mourning 9/10: This song, about death and mortality, is one of the most incisive and beautiful on this incisive and beautiful album. The beat is appropriately chill as well. "Just because people don't understand when you speak / doesn't mean what you sayin' is necessarily deep."

Expansion Outro ["For Women"] 9/10: This is a spectacular cover of Nina Simone's "For Women." In some ways, this song epitomizes the whole album.

Overall 9/10: I know that if you took an average of all these ratings it be more like 8-8.5, but the consistent quality of this album more than makes up for that. Look at all those 8 or betters! 13 by my count, including 4 9s!Frankly, that's preposterous like an androgynous misogynist. I can't recommend this highly enough.

Talib Kweli and Hi-Tek's (Reflection Eternal album Train of Thought is an absolute wonder. It is great. One of the best I've ever heard. At first, I wasn't necessarily into Talib Kweli, but after hearing him on some of my other favorite's CDs, I knew I had to check him out. And this CD does not disappoint. Great beats, great lyrics, perfect song structure. There is nothing bad about this CD.

I can't recommend this CD enough. Must Hear if you want an alternative to most of the stuff on the radio these days.