''Prisoner of Conscious'' is the fifth solo studio album by American rapper
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 May 7, 2013. The album features
guest appearance
In show business, a guest appearance is the participation of an outsider performer (such as a musician or actor) in an event such as a music record or concert, show, etc., when the performer does not belong to the regular band, cast, or other ...
Currensy
Shante Scott Franklin (born April 4, 1981), better known by his stage name Currensy (often stylized as Curren$y), is an American rapper. In 2011, he founded the label Jet Life Recordings.
Music career
2002–2008: No Limit and Young Mone ...
,
Kendrick Lamar
Kendrick Lamar Duckworth (born June 17, 1987) is an American rapper and songwriter. Known for his progressive musical styles and socially conscious songwriting, he is often considered one of the most influential hip hop artists of his generat ...
,
Marsha Ambrosius
Marsha Ambrosius-Billups (born 8 August 1977) is an English singer and songwriter from Liverpool, England. She embarked on her musical career as a member of Floetry. Ambrosius released her debut solo album '' Late Nights & Early Mornings'' in M ...
Ryan Leslie
Anthony Ryan Leslie (born September 25, 1978) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and entrepreneur from Washington, D.C. He has produced singles for a number of prominent artists in a variety of genres, ranging from R&B, hip hop ...
Boi-1da
Matthew Jehu Samuels (born October 12, 1986), known professionally as Boi-1da ( , a play on "boy wonder"), is a Jamaican-Canadian Record production, record producer and songwriter based in Toronto, Ontario.
The Toronto raised producer has work ...
,
Harry Fraud
Rory William Quigley (born January 26, 1987), known professionally as Harry Fraud, is an American record producer. Primarily a hip hop producer, Fraud began producing at an early age and began interning at a recording studio after graduating hig ...
Terrace Martin
Terrace Jamahl Martin (born December 28, 1978) is an American musician, rapper, singer, and record producer. He is perhaps best known for producing records for several prominent artists in the music industry, including Kendrick Lamar, Snoop Dog ...
On September 17, 2012, the track listing for the album was released. On October 1, 2012, Talib Kweli announced the album would be released on November 20, 2012. On November 8, 2012, in an interview with Power 105, Talib Kweli announced that the album would be pushed back, saying:
"No, that's actually going to be pushed back. It was originally supposed to come out on Blacksmith/EMI/Capitol, it's no longer coming out on EMI/Blacksmith/Capitol. It was my label, we have now dismantled it," he said. "I have a label called Javotti Media, which I put my last album ''Gutter Rainbows'' on, so it's now coming out on Javotti/EMI/Capitol. But in order to make the transition, I pushed it back a couple of months. I'm looking at February."
On January 9, 2013, it was announced that ''Prisoner of Conscious'' would be released on April 23, 2013. On January 22, 2013, the album cover was released. On March 6, 2013, during an interview with MTV Talib Kweli announced the album would be pushed back until May 7, 2013.
Kweli has said that he has taken a broader approach in selecting tracks for this album, experimenting more overall and including tracks with a heavier focus on musicality. "Come Here", produced by Sean C and LV and featuring Miguel, has a 70s feel, something Kweli appreciated with the formers' contributions on Jay-Z's American Gangster. The album also features
guest appearance
In show business, a guest appearance is the participation of an outsider performer (such as a musician or actor) in an event such as a music record or concert, show, etc., when the performer does not belong to the regular band, cast, or other ...
s from
Melanie Fiona
Melanie Fiona Hallim (born July 4, 1983) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. She was born and raised in Toronto, Ontario.Nelly,
Curren$y
Shante Scott Franklin (born April 4, 1981), better known by his stage name Currensy (often stylized as Curren$y), is an American rapper. In 2011, he founded the label Jet Life Recordings.
Music career
2002–2008: No Limit and Young Money ...
,
Kendrick Lamar
Kendrick Lamar Duckworth (born June 17, 1987) is an American rapper and songwriter. Known for his progressive musical styles and socially conscious songwriting, he is often considered one of the most influential hip hop artists of his generat ...
,
Marsha Ambrosius
Marsha Ambrosius-Billups (born 8 August 1977) is an English singer and songwriter from Liverpool, England. She embarked on her musical career as a member of Floetry. Ambrosius released her debut solo album '' Late Nights & Early Mornings'' in M ...
, Abby Dobson,
Seu Jorge
Jorge Mário da Silva, more commonly known by his stage name Seu Jorge (Seu, an abbreviation of "Senhor"; born June 8, 1970; ), is a Brazilian musical artist, songwriter, and actor. He is considered by many a renewer of Brazilian pop samba. Seu ...
,
Ryan Leslie
Anthony Ryan Leslie (born September 25, 1978) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and entrepreneur from Washington, D.C. He has produced singles for a number of prominent artists in a variety of genres, ranging from R&B, hip hop ...
On September 3, 2012, Talib Kweli released the mixtape ''Attack The Block'' in promotion for the album. It featured guest appearances from
Lil Wayne
Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. (born September 27, 1982), known professionally as Lil Wayne, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record executive. His career began in 1995, at the age of 12, when he was signed by rapper Birdman, joining ...
Jay Rock
Johnny Reed McKinzie Jr. (born March 31, 1983), better known by his stage name Jay Rock, is an American rapper, singer and songwriter from Los Angeles. He signed to indie label Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE), in 2005. Under TDE, Rock secured a rec ...
,
Ryan Leslie
Anthony Ryan Leslie (born September 25, 1978) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and entrepreneur from Washington, D.C. He has produced singles for a number of prominent artists in a variety of genres, ranging from R&B, hip hop ...
,
Styles P
David R. Styles (born November 28, 1974), better known by his stage name Styles P (also known mononymously as Styles), is an American rapper, best known as a member of hip hop group the Lox, alongside childhood friends Sheek Louch and Jadakiss ...
,
Greg Nice
Nice & Smooth is an East Coast hip hop duo from New York City that consists of Gregory O. "Greg Nice" Mays (born May 30, 1967) and Darryl O. "Smooth B" Barnes (born August 3, 1967) plus their deejay Tedd "DJ Teddy Tedd" Whiting. The duo released f ...
,
Mack Maine
Jermaine Anthony Preyan (born July 28, 1982), better known by his stage name Mack Maine, is an American record executive, songwriter, and rapper from New Orleans, Louisiana. Mack Maine has been the president of Young Money Entertainment since ...
,
Das Racist
Das Racist was an American alternative hip hop group based in Brooklyn, composed of MCs Heems and Kool A.D. and hype man Ashok Kondabolu (a.k.a. Dapwell or Dap). Known for their use of humor, academic references, foreign allusions, and unconven ...
and
Black Thought
Tariq Luqmaan Trotter (born October 3, 1973), better known as Black Thought, is an American rapper, actor and the lead MC of the Philadelphia-based hip hop group the Roots, which he co-founded with drummer Questlove (Ahmir Thompson). Regarded a ...
among others.
On July 31, 2012, the first single was released in promotion of the album titled "Push Thru" featuring Glen Reynolds,
Kendrick Lamar
Kendrick Lamar Duckworth (born June 17, 1987) is an American rapper and songwriter. Known for his progressive musical styles and socially conscious songwriting, he is often considered one of the most influential hip hop artists of his generat ...
and
Curren$y
Shante Scott Franklin (born April 4, 1981), better known by his stage name Currensy (often stylized as Curren$y), is an American rapper. In 2011, he founded the label Jet Life Recordings.
Music career
2002–2008: No Limit and Young Money ...
. On August 6, 2012, the music video for "Push Thru" premiered on
MTV Jams
BET Jams is an American pay television network controlled by BET Networks and owned by Paramount Media Networks. The channel features hip-hop and urban contemporary music videos. The network, formerly known as MTV Jams, was rebranded under the B ...
. On January 29, 2013, "Upper Echelon" was released as the album's second single along with a music video. Kweli's choice for "Upper Echelon" as a single reflected his belief that singles should reflect what's going on in the culture at the time. On April 23, 2013, the music video was released for "High Life" featuring Rubix and Bajah. "Come Here" featuring singer Miguel was released as the album's third single on April 23, 2013. On April 23, 2013, Talib Kweli performed the song "Come Here" along with Bilal on '' Late Night with Jimmy Fallon''. On May 28, 2013, the music video was released for "Come Here" featuring Miguel. On July 1, 2013, the music video was released for "Hamster Wheel". On August 20, 2013, the music video was released for "Human Mic". On September 23, 2013, the music video was released for "Turnt Up". On December 5, 2013, the music video was released for "Favela Love" featuring
Seu Jorge
Jorge Mário da Silva, more commonly known by his stage name Seu Jorge (Seu, an abbreviation of "Senhor"; born June 8, 1970; ), is a Brazilian musical artist, songwriter, and actor. He is considered by many a renewer of Brazilian pop samba. Seu ...
.
Critical response
''Prisoner of Conscious'' was met with generally positive reviews from music critics. At
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that 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 average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
, which assigns a
weighted mean
The weighted arithmetic mean is similar to an ordinary arithmetic mean (the most common type of average), except that instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others. The ...
rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an
average
In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7 ...
score of 65, based on 17 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews". David Jeffries of
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...
gave the album three and a half stars out of five, saying "The album's title takes on a different meaning when the closing "It Only Gets Better" suggests freedom fighters like Mumia and Pussy Riot are the true ''Prisoners of Conscious''. Still, the off-topic and amazing "Hamster Wheel" ("How she gonna make it through the night? /How she so accepting of her station in life?" offered with an Al Green-sized helping of hurt) is here, and when that's added to all the other highlights, the album is well above worthwhile, as scattershot and frustrating as it is." Kevin Jones of '' Exclaim!'' gave the album an eight out of ten, saying "With a quality collection of sturdy, theme-setting beats keeping things loose through most of the session, Kweli keeps compromise at bay and finds success in freshening things up a bit."
Mike Madden of
Pitchfork Media
''Pitchfork'' (formerly ''Pitchfork Media'') is an American online music publication (currently owned by Condé Nast) that was launched in 1995 by writer Ryan Schreiber as an independent music blog.
Schreiber started Pitchfork while working ...
gave the album a 6.1 out of 10, saying "Listening to Prisoner next to something like the new Chance the Rapper tape reveals the record’s biggest, most pervasive dilemma. Where Acid Rap is a seamless convergence of local and post-regional sounds, Prisoner takes on a bunch of things one by one without squeezing the most from any of them. Kweli’s absolutely owned his lane when he’s been committed to it but now he's jumping around from style to style with no destination in sight." Homer Johnsen of
HipHopDX
''HipHopDX'' is an online magazine of hip hop music criticism and news. The website's current president and publisher is Sharath Cherian and the Head Of Content is Jerry L. Barrow. ''HipHopDX'' is the flagship publication of Cheri Media Group.
...
gave the album three out five stars, saying "Coined by Peter Benenson in 1961, a “Prisoner Of Conscience” is defined as “a person who has been imprisoned for holding political or religious views that are not tolerated by their own government.” Kweli is not calling himself a prisoner of conscience, but he is calling on his listeners to think outside the box, while being aware of top-down mental imprisonment. At the same time, he is also tackling the notion that he is a “prisoner” of the conscious rapper label by balancing the insular brand of Hip Hop championed by many of his early fans, with newer, more radio-friendly content. In a time where ill minds have begun using violence towards the innocent with greater frequency, ''Prisoner Of Conscious'' provides uplifting messages, as well as displays of artistic versatility. But these moments don't happen consistently or frequently enough to make it a superior album."
Chris Kelly of '' Fact'' gave the album two and a half stars out of five, saying "''Prisoner of Conscious'' is simply missing the songs it needs, not only to reach a wider audience, but to truly engage its core one. Even though Kweli is trying to confront his critics head-on, from the title on down, the album suffers from the same problems that have plagued his last few efforts. Instead of updating his sound and style for a contemporary audience, Prisoner of Conscious comes off as a series of half measures." Nathan S. of DJBooth gave the album four out of five stars, saying "''Prisoner of Conscious'' largely works because while Kweli is obviously determined to challenge ideas around the kind of music he “should” be making, he never lets his desire to prove his point overshadow his desire to make good music; except for Echelon. Lord knows I'm not going to doubt that Kweli is capable of making a true trap banger, but Echelon isn't that banger. Both the beat and Kweli's rhymes sound disappointingly flat, but in some ways, the fact that Echelon falls short is a good thing – it means he was genuinely trying to make a leap."
Commercial performance
The album debuted at number 48 on the ''Billboard'' 200 chart, with first-week sales of 10,000 copies in the United States. In its second week the album sold 3,600 more copies bringing its total sales to 14,000.