RECORDINGS : Quick Spins

EARDRUM

Talib Kweli

Before hip-hop became diverse -- be it crunk, gangsta, hyphy or any number of regional flavors -- it was one singular style: a beat box, looped samples, turntable scratching, and rapping, always with a distinct New York accent.

Nowadays, even New Yorkers like 50 Cent and Jay-Z have largely moved away from the sonic collage that hip-hop once was, opting for more traditional music production. But Talib Kweli's new release, "Eardrum," offers the rarest of feasts for the hip-hop purist: a full album of sophisticated sampling, cunning wordplay and passionate songcraft, Brooklyn style.

Often tagged as a "conscious rapper" (meaning thoughtful rather than commercial), Kweli defies that label's implications by using his voice as a drum as well as a word processor. His swinging rhyme patterns and impeccable taste for beats have scored him surprise hits in the past, such as 2002's Kanye West-produced, gospel-tinged "Get By." Only God knows whether Kweli will enjoy those blessings this time around, but he's got help from some powerful mortals.

Kanye returns on "In the Mood," an ingenious track featuring Roy Ayers. Will.i.am supplies the first single, the sinewy, slippery "Hot Thing." Kweli enjoys a one-night stand with Norah Jones on "Soon the New Day," and retreats with Justin Timberlake in "The Nature." On "NY Weather Report," DJ Jazzy Jeff cuts the word "storm" so precisely that it becomes two syllables, as Kweli extols the resilience of his home town.

So it's ironic that one of the album's best moments comes when Kweli reaches out to Texas's UGK on "Country Cousins," bouncing with a Southern cadence and proclaiming, finally, "We're all connected by the slang we're bustin'."

-- Dan Charnas

DOWNLOAD THESE: "NY Weather Report," "Country Cousins," "In the Mood"

LIFELINE

Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals