Talib Kweli - Fuck the Money

Over the weekend, Talib Kweli joined the ranks of legacy artists releasing surprise free albums. It's been a great move for longstanding artists who may have fallen out of the public eye a bit and haven't really had much excitement surrounding their last couple albums, like Nine Inch Nails and Wilco. Plus, the album is called Fuck the Money, so it kinda needs to be free.

Fuck the Money isn't a great album. "Echoes" and "Baby Girl" delve a little too far into R&B territory with their choruses. But it's a really good album, particularly for free. It's too bad what's dull is really dull, because what is good is really good. "Leslie Knope" is just pure minimalist rape gold. "Fuck the Money" starts off with this odd autotune blast of the phrase "Fuck the Money," but redeems itself with fantastic verses by Kweli and Cassper Nyovest. "Fall Back" reminds me of vintage Public Enemy, but an ultra-chill party version. 

The true victory of Fuck the Money will be bringing fans back that have dropped off as work and family intervene. It will also get Kweli some attention from younger fans that might not have heard of him before. He pretty much invented backpack rap (I hate that phrase, but what can you do?), and with the current success of the genre, he really deserves some much due attention.

You can download Fuck the Money for free at kweliclub.com. You have to go through Paypal, which is odd, but hey, it's free!