Pitchfork

Far from the creative spark ?uesto and Co. needed to regain the trust lost on The Tipping Point, this falls just left of center, is laced with a sharp Kool & the Gang sample, but still really drags despite the much-needed funk breakdown and flow switch-up three minutes in. Black Thought says, "This ain't a press junket and I ain't seeking responses"-- which is his problem, not ours. We can talk all day about breath control and technique, but B.T. has never been the gripping MC everyone wants him to be. His mellow, down-tuned vocal track belies all those rants about his centrality, and his verses are unmemorable and maybe inconsequential at this point.

The slophouse piano, Youssef's maddeningly repetitive chorus, and proper drums run game longer because Thought has never been the driving force of this group. Sometimes it's been Ahmir Thompson, sometimes jam band histrionics, and sometimes authentically funky hip-hop. But presupposing B.T. can catch wreck with the best is silly. Somebody needs to go wake Malik B up.