Reflection Eternal: The Reunion

The duo of deejay Hi Tek and emcee Talib Kweli should have resulted in one of the most powerful group’s in the rap game. Their one off, self titled album, which is a decade old at this point, gave Black Starr fans something to listen to and a bit of hope in those dark years at the beginning of the aughties. We’re still waiting for the second instalment.

Well, the wait is over, almost  (and there’s supposed to be a new Black Starr disc at some point as well). It would seem as if Reflection Eternal is back, for a time at least. This mix tape, which features Mos Def on a good many tracks and has been cobbled together by Statik Selektah, doesn’t represent a new direction for the act. Even with that in mind, tracks like “Just Begun,” which features J. Cole, Jay Electronica and Mighty Mos, sound as if it was snatched from an earlier time with Kweli coming off more muscular on the mic than he has since about 2000. A track like this one, that unifies the old and new, works to explain how this music is all supposed to work.

There’s a proper path to take all of this on and thankfully there are a few folks that still understand that. Waiting for that new Reflection Eternal disc in few months, though, will either be proof of a righted career on Kweli’s part, or just more radio ready raps.

Count Bass D & DJ Pocket: In The Loop

For just about 15 years Count Bass D has been releasing music independently. The producer and emcee hasn’t found an enormous fan base, but he has remained a pretty consistent performer despite not ever having substantial support from any label or sponsor. Of late, CBD has struck some relationship with electro-hippies Sound Tribe Sector 9 and its label. What fruits will result has as of yet to be seen. But for those of you out there eagerly awaiting the results, CBD headed into the lab with DJ Pocket to record In the Loop.

Over sixteen tracks CBD proves what folks already know: he can rap, but he isn’t a visionary. The repeated references to ‘cash on delivery’ at times come off as nothing other than a place holder – maybe CBD doesn’t have anything else to say. Regardless of that, though, one of the interesting aspects to this release is that the beats that Pocket turns in sounds exactly like CBD’s self-produced works.

The reason that CBD hasn’t made it, though, is still represented here. While the music that he’s chosen to work over is all quality, crafting some bumps to shove behind the samples and original melodic figures isn’t something that the emcee was ever adept at. Unfortunately, Pocket doesn’t seem to be any better at it (take a listen to “It’s Just One of Those Days”). But considering that his mix tape is a freebie, complaining about a thoughtful rapper seems a bit of a waste. In the Loop isn’t worth repeated listening, but it’s worth exploring.