Train of Thought (Reflection Eternal album)

Train of Thought is the debut album of American hip hop duo Reflection Eternal, released October 17, 2000, on Rawkus Records. Collaborating as a duo, rapper Talib Kweli and DJ and hip hop producer Hi-Tek recorded the album during 1999 to 2000, following their individual musical work that gained notice in New York's underground scene during the late 1990s. Kweli had previously worked with rapper Mos Def as the duo Black Star, and Hi-Tek had served as producer on the duo's debut album.

Critical reception
Train of Thought was well received by music critics. Chicago Sun-Times writer Kyla Kyles said, "With a flurry of metaphors and below-the-basement underground beats, this train is on the right track. This disc proves that Kweli is a deep-thinking, gifted MC, and Hi Tek is an emerging wax master." AllMusic's Matt Conaway compared Reflection Eternal's music to the work of the Native Tongues collective, while writing that the album "houses enough merit to establish Talib as one of this generation's most poetic MCs". PopMatters writer Dave Heaton described Talib Kweli as "a hyper-articulate MC with a revolutionary's mind and a sensitive poet's heart, but he's also a world-class battle MC, able to rip other MCs' rhymes apart in a quick second". Kathryn Farr of Rolling Stone called Train of Thought "the rare socially aware hip-hop record that can get fists pumping in a rowdy nightclub".

Pitchfork critic Sam Eccleston wrote of Kweli's boastful lyrics, "Kweli uses the rhythm as a foundation, building rambling, baroque rhyme structures on top of them, exhibiting his cock-eyed 'skills'. This kind of braggadocio doesn't weaken the effort in the same way his moralizing self-canonization does, if only because he can often back those claims up". Noah Callahan-Bever of Vibe shared a similar sentiment, writing "Reflection Eternal's great weakness is Kweli's excessive preaching about the state of hip hop, but at least he cares". In The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (2004), Jon Caramanica called it "thick with fierce street raps ('Down for the Count' and 'Ghetto Afterlife'), maudlin soul ('Love Language'), and the type of insightful versifying Kweli has made his stock-in-trade ('Memories Live' and 'This Means You')".

Sample credits
Sample information for Train of Thought.

Move Something This Means You Too Late Memories Live Ghetto Afterlife Love Language
 * "Shaft's Mama" by Charlie Whitehead
 * "Cloud in My Sunshine" by Redbone
 * "Reverie" by Tomita
 * "Passepied" by Tomita
 * "I Can't Stand the Rain" by Ann Peebles
 * "Carol Ann" by Soft Machine
 * "Tomorrow I May Not Feel the Same" by Gene Chandler
 * "Welcome" by Norman Connors

Love Speakeasy Soul Rebels Eternalists Big Del from Da Natti Good Mourning
 * "Welcome" by Norman Connors
 * "Funky Music" by Patti LaBelle
 * "Follow the Leader" by Eric B. & Rakim
 * "Divided Reality" by Bo Hansson
 * "Dizzy" by Hugo Montenegro
 * "C.R.E.A.M." by Wu-Tang Clan

Personnel

 * Rick James - Producer
 * Hi-Tek - Producer, Engineer, Executive Producer, Mixing
 * Weldon Irvine - Keyboards, Producer
 * Tracie - Background Vocals
 * Owen Brown - Fiddle
 * De La Soul - Performer
 * Derrick Gardner - Trumpet
 * Troy Hightower - Engineer, Mixing
 * Kool G Rap - Performer
 * Guy Snider - Engineer
 * Teodross Avery - Saxophone
 * Ken Ifill - Mixing
 * Vinia Mojica - Vocals
 * Les Nubians - Performer
 * Xzibit - Performer
 * Steve Souder - Mixing
 * Chris Athens - Mastering
 * Mos Def - Performer
 * Talib Kweli - Vocals, Producer, Executive Producer
 * Monique Walker - Background Vocals


 * Carlisle Young - Mixing
 * Rah Digga - Performer
 * Asi - Design, Layout Design
 * Rikki Stein - Liner Notes
 * Bassi Kolo Percussion Group - Percussion
 * Big Del - Background Vocals
 * Crossfader Chris - Cutting Engineer
 * Dave Dar - Engineer, Mixing
 * Darcel - Background Vocals
 * Donte - Background Vocals
 * Katushia - Background Vocals
 * Jerome Lagarrigue - Illustrations, Cover Illustration
 * Little Tone - Background Vocals
 * Neb Luv - Background Vocals
 * Nonye - Vocals
 * Tiye Phoenix - Vocals, Background Vocals
 * Kendra Ross - Vocals, Background Vocals
 * Imani Uzuri - Background Vocals, Vocal Arrangement
 * Tiyi Willingham - Background Vocals
 * Willo - Design, Layout Design

Chart history

 * Album


 * Singles