Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	79/100
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
HipHopDX
Pitchfork Media	9.1/10
PopMatters
Rolling Stone
Spin	8/10
Stylus Magazine	B
Uncut
Vibe
Yahoo! Music UK

Quality is the debut studio album by American rapper Talib Kweli. The album was released on November 19, 2002, by Rawkus Records. It received wide critical acclaim and had some commercial appeal from the song "Get By", produced by Kanye West. Kludge magazine included it on their list of best albums of 2002.

In 1998 Talib Kweli and Mos Def as duo Black Star released critically acclaimed album Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star. The duo planned to release their second album, but Mos Def was busy working on film The Italian Job. Meanwhile, Kweli decided to work on other projects. As part of Reflection Eternal duo with Hi-Tek he released Train of Thought in 2000. Then, following the success of his previous albums, Kweli decided to release his debut solo album.

The album was called Quality. In 2002 interview with Rolling Stone rapper explained the album's name:

It was just the best way of trying to describe what I wanted to do. The word just fit. I'm trying to focus on quality over quantity.

According to Billboard, the album's name is also a wordplay on rapper's similarly pronounced surname.

Quality was released on November 19, 2002 (November 25 in the UK), by Rawkus Records. Despite Kweli still being an underground rapper, album was commercially successful. It peaked at number 21 on Billboard 200 and number 6 on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums. Three singles were released from the album: "Good to You" with "Put It in the Air" as b-side, "Waitin' For The DJ" with "Guerilla Monsoon Rap" as b-side, and "Get By". First two didn't achieve success, so the label decided to not release the third one, considering it too underground. Then Talib Kweli and his manager made several copies of the single and sent them to radio DJs. With help from DJ Enuff, Power 106 crew, and some other DJs the single gained popularity, and was later released by Rawkus. "Get By" received radio airplay in early 2003 and charted on Billboard Hot 100, where it peaked at number 77. "Get By" became Kweli's biggest solo hit. Music video for the song was later released and official remix was recorded. The remix, featuring Kanye West, Mos Def, Jay Z, and Busta Rhymes, was aired briefly and was never officially released.

...
Wikipedia