YRB Magazine

It’s been almost a decade since Reflection Eternal dropped their debut album Train of Thought in 2000, but Talib Kweli and Hi-Tek haven’t turned their backs on their past. Though the album sent shockwaves through the hip-hop community and made the almighty leap across the underground/mainstream divide, each member went on to achieve solo success in their respective areas of the music industry. Kweli released a batch of solo albums over the years that included Quality and The Beautiful Struggle, almost hitting the top of the Billboard 200 when he released his 2007 album Eardrum, which debuted at number two. Meanwhile, Hi-Tek kept steady on the production grind, releasing his heralded trilogy of Hi-Teknology albums and doing high profile production work for emcees like 50 Cent, Snoop Dogg, The Game and a host of others.

Occasionally, the two reunited for one-off collabos, giving way to a small handful of tracks that featured each of their respective talents. But it wasn’t until a few years ago that the two decided to dust off the Reflection Eternal name and give it another go. After reuniting for a brief residency at NYC’s Blue Note club last year, Talib and Hi-Tek hit the studio to get busy on their long awaited sophomore album Revolutions Per Minute, slated for release on April 6th. Preempting their release with the free Statik Selektah-mixed The Re:Union Mixtape (download it here) at the top of the year, Reflection Eternal is getting ready to satiate hip-hop heads after 10 years of patiently waiting for part two. Speaking with YRB, Reflection Eternal explained how the official reunion came to be, why they shied away from overcrowding tracks with guest appearances and how the temporary cessation from the Reflection Eternal name gave them a better perspective on the project.

YRB: Train of Thought is widely heralded as one of the key records to cross over from the underground to the mainstream around the time it came out. Do you ever listen back on that record?

Talib Kweli: I listen to it every once in a while, not that often.

YRB: After you recorded the album, you went your own separate ways in terms of pursuing your own solo careers and linked up a few times along the way. What was the exact moment that you decided to head back to the lab and hammer out another Reflection Eternal album?

Talib Kweli: Maybe about two years ago we decided. Hi-Tek had a bunch of records that he did on his own, a series of records. I was thinking about and he was ready to do something different. I was thinking about what my next record would sound like and I knew I wanted to work a lot with Hi-Tek, but it just made sense at the point in his career and in my career, where we was at, to do a record together.

YRB: Talib, you did another record with Madlib, the Liberation album. Tek, did you ever think about linking up with one particular emcee and doing that sort of thing as well?

Hi-Tek: Yeah, most definitely man. Not no one in particular, but really somebody who was interested in working with me.

YRB: When did you guys go back in the lab and start recording this album and how long did it actually take to come together?

Hi-Tek: It took about a year and a half. We started in April 2009, and we just wrapped up about three weeks ago.

YRB: Was it hard to get the creative juices flowing again?

Hi-Tek: Honestly, I think it goes up and down. Initially, it was always exciting. But the more serious you get about a project and the deeper you get into the project, it becomes challenging because you want to top some of the records that you have already recorded and done. So along with that, you've got scheduling conflicts with Kweli doing shows. I may have other production to do. So that was the more challenging aspect of it. The more you got towards the end of it, it got easier. You start to see the bigger picture of the album.

YRB: For fans of Train of Thought, do you think Revolutions Per Minute requires listeners to get into a new mindset and take in the group's music differently? Or is this something that flows in that same vein?

Hi-Tek: It definitely represents both me and Kweli well musically, no matter what. People gon' take it how they want to. They can always hold you to your first project, which I know they're gonna do, and I would never even try to compare or challenge myself to try to top that first album. You've got to look at the timing. That was like my whole life in that album. Now everything after that was like whatever timeframe I had or the budget that I had to create it. You know what I mean? Not that it's not hot, it's just that first one, a lot was put into that. Way more than a year and a half.

YRB: One track on the album that people are particularly gravitating towards is “Just Begun” featuring Jay Electronica, J. Cole and Mos Def. How'd that track come together in terms of getting all the guest artists on there?

Talib: Well Hi-Tek created that in the studio while I was out there working on the album with him. Young Guru was out there with us, and when he created it, I took it back to New York with me and I played around with it a little bit, went in the studio with Jay Electronica. Jay and I recorded it together and the idea was that it was going to be a song between me and Jay Electronica, and then a couple days later I was on the phone with J. Cole who's a new emcee who I really enjoy and is really doing big things, and I was looking for a way for him to participate. And I thought that would be a good record for him to hop on. And it just still didn't feel complete with Jay Electronica's verse being last, so we went and got Mos Def on the record. Then Hi-Tek came in town and mixed the record.

YRB: Train of Thought featured a lot of guest artists, too. Do you have a lot of features lined up for Revolutions Per Minute?

Hi-Tek: Not as many as the first one.

YRB: Was that a conscious decision, or did it just end up that way?

Talib: For my part, it was a conscious decision. A big part of us proving ourselves when we first came out is for me lyrically, to show that what we did, even though it was all our thing, there was no right or wrong with whatever emcee you were listening to. Whether you were a fan of Xzibit or Kool G Rap or Rah Digga, whoever we had on the first album, I wanted to show that what me and Hi-Tek did, how it lined up with other artists. And I think this album was more focused on what we do together, regardless of what other artists are doing.

YRB: Seeing how the game has changed over the past decade, most musically and culturally, do you feel like there was more pressure to deliver a harder-hitting record or something that raised the bar for Reflection Eternal as well as individually for each of you as musicians?

Hi-Tek: Musically, from my point, I think it's just important to make music from the heart and try to make it as strong as possible and still be aware of what's out there today, but mostly making it from the heart. And hopefully people receive it as well in that way. No matter what, like me trying to top the first album or trying to compete with what's going on, at the end of the day, just trying to put your foot into it and hope people will respect it.

YRB: How do you think the temporary cessation from the Reflection Eternal name gave you a better perspective on the working relationship?

Talib: Yeah, I definitely think absence makes the heart grow fonder. And being that we did this album together 10 years ago and people respond to it, the same way that you were responding to it now, it meant that it didn't just mean a lot to us. It meant a lot to a lot of people and it's revered. And we need to respect that. Certainly, the time that's passed and the fact that it still means so much to some people gives us a greater deal of respect for it than we already had. And that was a lot of respect that we already.

YRB: Now that the album's coming out, are you guys focused on your solo careers on the side as well? Talib, I know you're doing Idle Warship. Are you still thinking about doing the Prisoner of Consciousness record?

Talib: Prisoner of Consciousness was never a real album. That was something I said in an interview with Vibe years ago as a suggestion to something I might call a record, and that name has sort of stuck in folklore as the name of my next album. But that was never the plan to make an album like that.

YRB: Are you thinking about the next project?

Talib: Not right now, no, I'm not. I'm focused on this Reflection project.

YRB: What about you Tek? Are you thinking about doing another Hi-Teknology or something along those lines?

Hi-Tek: Like what Kweli said, I'm focused on Reflection Eternal right now. I'm definitely going to make another Hi-Teknology one day, but that's not where my heart is.

YRB: I actually made it out to one of your reunion shows at the Blue Note last year. Do you guys plan on doing more intimate shows for this album as opposed to taking it to bigger venues?

Talib: We're going to do all of it.

YRB: Something like a residency?

Hi-Tek: We're going to be coming right to your living room.