“I’m a touring artist. I’m an artist that’s internationally known. I’m not just a local artist at this point in my career. I’m cognizant of the fact that what I do is beyond where it started. I’m trying to reach the apex of where I am now, but without turning my back on or dismissing what I’ve done before.”
Early hiphop found its BLACK STAR with a Brooklyn-based MC named Talib Kweli, whose first name means “seeker of knowledge, or student” in Arabic.
The days of freedom of expression evolving from concrete jungles to fuel an underground to mainstream rush like with Old School Hiphop, may be lying dormant but they are not gone forever.
Don’t Sleep! Talib Kweli shook the world with conscious lyrics like “N**z gettin’ caught in the trap for the cash, it’s the drugs, basketball or the rap – there’s more to us than that”, only to wake up our sometimes highly judgmental/ stereotypical society and keep us woke.
By far one of
the world’s most lyrically-gifted, socially aware and politically insightful rappers, Talib Kweli Greene well-better-damn should be – growing up in a family of education professionals and well-doers. From mother, Brenda Greene, an English professor at Medgar Evers College of the City University of New York to father, an administrator at Adelphi University, even his younger brother, Jamal Greene, is a professor of Constitutional Law at Columbia Law School, and a graduate of Yale Law School. Yet, although at times it would seem that Kweli would fail in academics, history would prove he would not be falling too far from the tree.
Debut in 1996, with the Ohio group Mood, soon after Kweli would meet DJ Hi-Tek with the two collaborating on a few well-received underground recordings, Reflection Eternal, including “Fortified Live” (1997), and “B-Boy Document 99/Chaos” (1999, featuring The High & Mighty). No sooner, his star would shine even brighter with a highly critical acclaimed collab with Mos Def and formation of the group, BlackStar. Kweli brought along Hi-Tek to produce the album that was hailed as “a renaissance of conscious.” A renaissance that started on the East coast only later with the help of Kweli, took over the world.
Whether working with Mos Def, partnering with producer Hi-Tek, forming his own label and artist’s management firm, releasing landmark solo material or collaborating with Kanye West, Pharrell Williams, Just Blaze, J Dilla, or Madlib, Talib commands attention by delivering top-tier lyricism, crafting captivating stories and showing the ability to rhyme over virtually any type of instrumental.
Catch Talib Kweli performing live with special guests, March 7th at The Regent. 448 S Main St, LA, CA 90013.
For Booking: info@javottimedia.com
