Gutter Rainbows is the fourth

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

hip hop artist

Talib Kweli Talib Kweli Greene (; born October 3, 1975) is an American rapper. He earned recognition early on through his collaboration with fellow Brooklyn rapper Mos Def in 1997, when they formed the group Black Star. Kweli's musical career continued with ...

. The album was released on January 25, 2011, by Blacksmith Music and Javotti Media. The album was originally intended to be released in only a digital format. However, on November 16, 2010, it was announced that Duck Down Records would step in to see the album got a CD release. This included an import edition and a special edition with extras.

Reception

Critical response

''Gutter Rainbows'' was met with generally positive reviews from music critics. The album holds a score of 71 out of 100 from

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

based on "generally favorable reviews".

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gave it a score of three out of five and called it "a fairly easy spin, and can go into the listener's steady rotation in a pinch. That being said, this feels a bit like a subdued version of Eardrum."

BBC Music BBC Music is responsible for the music played across the BBC. The current director of music is Bob Shennan, who is also the controller of BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 6 Music, and the BBC Asian Network. Officially it is a part of the BBC's Radio o ...

gave it a favorable review and said, "This is an odd thing to say, given the dumbness of so many contemporary rap songs--is that Kweli tries to cram too much awareness into his lines at the expense of rhymes and flow. But trying a little too hard to find enlightenment can be forgiven when it comes from within a genre that often tips bravado ahead of insight." However, some reviews are very average or mixed: '' URB'' gave it three stars out of five and said, "Talib seems to be coasting just a bit on this cut-and-paste session. As in, from a pure musical standpoint, outside of a few of repeat-worthy tracks, Gutter Rainbows is no cure for your current cabin fever." No Ripcord gave it a score of six stars out of ten and said that it "hovers between a mainstream and an indie vibe, embracing neither and potentially isolating both audiences."

Tiny Mix Tapes ''Tiny Mix Tapes'' (also ''TMT'' or ''tinymixtapes'') is an online music and film webzine that focuses primarily on new music and related news. In addition to its reviews, it is noted for its subversive, political, and sometimes surreal news, a ...

gave it a score of two stars out of five and said, "Kweli still has an ear for beats, and despite some particular low points here, his lyrics were always overshadowed by his flow, which is as sharp as ever."

Commercial performance

In its first week, the album sold 13,900 copies in the United States. In the first two weeks after its release, the album sold a total of 19,000 copies in the United States.

Track listing

Personnel

Credits for ''Gutter Rainbows'' adapted from

CD booklet Liner notes (also sleeve notes or album notes) are the writings found on the sleeves of LP record albums and in booklets that come inserted into the compact disc jewel case or the equivalent packaging for cassettes. Origin Liner notes are desce ...

. *

Richard Andrew Richard Andrew (died 1477) was a Canon of Windsor from 1450 to 1455,''Fasti Wyndesorienses'', May 1950. S.L. Ollard. Published by the Dean and Canons of St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle Archdeacon of Sarum from 1441 to 1444 and Dean of York fro ...

—

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

*Steve Baughman — mixing *Christoph Bauss — producer *Maurice Brown — producer, trumpet * Marco Bruno — producer *Kevin Calloway — session coordinator *Luis Cato —

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

*Jarriel Carter — horn arrangements *John Cave —

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

*Brian Cockerham — bass *Adam Deitch —

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

*Jon Dixon —

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

*Raymond Angry — keyboard *Nate Jones — bass * Drew Friedman —

executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the making of a commercial entertainment product. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights o ...

*Michael Geldreich —

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

*Mike Gibney — mixing * Talib Greene — vocals, executive producer *

Larry Griffin Larry Griffin (September 23, 1954 – June 21, 1995) was sentenced to death for the murder of 19-year-old Quintin Moss in St. Louis, Missouri on the afternoon of June 26, 1980. Moss was killed in a drive-by shooting while allegedly dealing drugs ...

— producer, horn arrangements *Nigel Hall — vocals, piano * Tsidi Ibrahim — vocals, additional vocals *Borahm Lee —

keyboard Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...

— producer *Aaron Johnson — vocals *Daru Jones — drums *Eric Jones — producer *Michael Kawesch — producer *Chris Koltay —

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

*Eric Krasno — guitar * Mark Landon — producer *Alby Cohen - Recording Engineer on Tracks, 1-3, 5-9, 13-14 *Mike L. LaValle — bass, guitar *Rob Mandell —

instrumentation Instrumentation a collective term for measuring instruments that are used for indicating, measuring and recording physical quantities. The term has its origins in the art and science of scientific instrument-making. Instrumentation can refer to ...

*Patrick Mathore — producer *Caleb McCampbell — co-producer, additional producer, additional keys *Aaron Merkin —

*Joe Nardone — mixing *Winston Nelson —

rhodes Rhodes (; el, Ρόδος , translit=Ródos ) is the largest and the historical capital of the Dodecanese islands of Greece. Administratively, the island forms a separate municipality within the Rhodes regional unit, which is part of the So ...

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

* Charles Njapa — producer, additional vocals *

Sean Price Sean Duval Price (March 17, 1972August 8, 2015) was an American rapper and member of the hip hop collective Boot Camp Clik. He was one half of the duo Heltah Skeltah, performing under the name Ruck, along with partner Rock. Early life and educati ...

— vocals *Anthony Ransom — producer, vocals,

publishing Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

Kendra Ross Kendra Ross (born Kendra Janelle Ross, December 4, 1975) is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, music business executive, and community organizer from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She was born in Youngstown, Ohio. Career She got her ...

— vocals * Christopher Tyson — producer *Maurizio Sera — mixing *Liu Sing — publishing * Nicholas Speed — producer, programming *Brady Watt — bass *Tony Williams — vocals * David Willis — producer *Mike Wyatt — engineer *Harrison Young — piano * James Roberts — additional vocals

Charts

References

External links

* {{Authority control 2011 albums Talib Kweli albums Duck Down Music albums Albums produced by Marco Polo Albums produced by Ski Beatz Albums produced by Khrysis Albums produced by Oh No (musician) Albums produced by Nick Speed Albums produced by Symbolyc One Albums produced by 88-Keys