9th Wonder / Talib Kweli Indie 500

If his 2013 album Gravitas felt like a return to form that was crafted for established fans, Indie 500 is a more welcoming yet still weighty return for Talib Kweli, and one that deserves the "collaborative album" tag as all production comes from supreme beatmaker 9th Wonder. The underground producer earns his top billing with a cohesive set of beats that contrast sharp bass with high-flying soul up top, some of it looped and chopped together into impossible music and some of it hanging loose, as if these songs came from a live band. Talib, who often gets words like "preachy" thrown at him, ends up a wonderful combination of uncompromising and attractive, pulling the listener in with witty punch lines like "I've been pimpin' poems like I'm Blowfly" ("Lo-Fi") and then barking out the revolutionary talk like he was wearing Professor Griff's uniform with "Your silence is unappreciated" and "It's completely up to you/Whether or not we get the upper hand" (both from the fantastic opener, "Wh