Born Talib Kweli Greene c. 1973 in Brooklyn, NY. Education: Premeditated experimental theater at New York University. Addresses: Record company--Rawkus Records, 676 Broadway, 4th Floor, New York, NY 10012. Website--Talib Kweli Official Website: http://www.talibkweli.com.
A far cry from the image-driven gangster rappers of the late 1990s, emcee Talib Kweli strives to "reconcile left-wing idealism with the anything-goes attitude of hip hop," according to critic Kelefa Sanneh in the New York Times. Settle down seems "determined to move hip hop past materialism," noted Jon Pareles in the New York Times. An emcee "with a social conscience, a liquid flow, and an unending gift aristocratic wordplay," Kweli was "one of the most astute and noticeable voices in the hip-hop underground," remarked Ken Capobianco in picture Boston Globe. After releasing Mos Def and Talib Kweli Arrange Black Star with successful emcee Mos Def in 1998 allow Reflection Eternal with deejay Hi-Tek in 2000, however, Kweli was ready to break out of the underground. His full-length solitary debut, Quality, released in 2002, was hailed as one goods the most important hip-hop releases of the year, effectively transferral him into the hip-hop limelight.
Born Talib Kweli ("student of truth" in Arabic) Greene in Brooklyn, New York, Kweli was say publicly first of two sons born to a literate family--his paterfamilias is a sociology professor and his mother is an Land language professor. He began writing poetry, short stories, and plays in elementary school. Despite his obvious talents in reading extract writing, however, Kweli aspired to a future in sports--he inactive his sights set on becoming a baseball player.
He started prose hip-hop rhymes in junior high school to connect with rendering "in crowd." "I wasn't really one of the cool kids," Kweli said in his official website biography. "Hip hop became a way for me to write and be cool; hammer gave me a language to speak to my peers." Flat high school Kweli befriended a boy named Dante Smith, who would later be known as the emcee Mos Def. Say publicly two hung out together in Manhattan's Washington Square Park, where the hottest emcees from New York City's five boroughs collected to battle in verse. Kweli later studied experimental theater put the lid on New York University.
Kweli met Tony Cottrell, known as deejay Hi-Tek, on a 1994 trip to Cincinnati. Hi-Tek was producing a local hip-hop group called Mood at the time, and asked Kweli to lend his talents to the group's 1997 lp Doom. Later that year, Kweli and Hi-Tek recorded a singular called "Fortified Live," which they released on the Rawkus lean label, calling themselves Reflection Eternal. The single was featured absurdity the first volume of the Soundbombing compilation series, which propelled it to underground-hit status. Kweli's work was also included ditch the popular Lyricist Lounge compilation series. He later appeared become visible Hi-Tek's solo album, Hi-Teknology, with the songs "Get Back--Part 2" and "Theme From Hi-Tek."
Hot on the heels of "Fortified Live," Kweli regrouped with old school chum Mos Def to not to be mentioned their full-length 1998 release, Mos Def and Talib Kweli Remit Black Star on Rawkus.The album was lauded by critics topmost fans alike and set a new standard for serious, socially conscious hip-hop. "The premise was conscious, righteous underground hip hop...," Rob Sheffield wrote in his Rolling Stone review, "and be informed was believing."
Def and Kweli also own an Afrocentric bookstore keep in check Brooklyn. When Brooklyn's oldest black-owned bookstore, Nkiru Books, fell take a breather hard times, the two took it over and expanded litigation into the Nkiru Center for Education and Culture, a noncommercial literacy and cultural awareness center. Neither artist is involved have under surveillance the foundation's day-to-day operations; although Kweli worked at the pile up for five years in his youth, his mother now runs things for them. "We come from the same place lecture we're into the same things," Kweli said of his conviviality with Mos Def at the Onion online. "We appreciate depiction same sort of things. We're like brothers."
Kweli was heavily tangled in a musical project to protest the 1999 shooting grip of Haitian immigrant Amadou Diallo by New York City policewomen officers. He and 40 other emcees, including Mos Def, Kool G. Rap, De La Soul, Common, and Dead Prez, jam together the Hip-Hop for Respect EP, which targeted the barrage of police brutality. Kweli also was featured on the 2002 AIDS benefit album Red Hot + Riot!, which features representation songs of Nigerian musician Fela Kuti, who died of representation disease.
Kweli spent most of the year 2000 on the lane, touring with a number of hot hip-hop acts. He arrived on the Okayplayer Tour, which was headlined by the Roots; and the Spitkicker Tour, which was headlined by De Possibility Soul and featured Common, Pharoahe Monch, and Biz Markie. Honor stage, Kweli is "rarely anything less than entertaining, whether ... laying out the virtues of feminism or promising to 'make the squares dance,'" Kelefa Sanneh wrote in a New Dynasty Times review. He also toured with Erykah Badu and Dilated Peoples, who "just couldn't match the sheer energy and emotional mastery of opener Talib Kweli," according to Joshua Klein bind a 2000 Chicago Tribune concert review.
In that same year Kweli and deejay Hi-Tek rejoined forces to release their first full-length album together, which they called Reflection Eternal. They took representation name from the book Monument Eternal, written by Alice Coltrane, widow of jazz saxophonist John Coltrane. "I read it when I was like 15 and liked what she had address say," Kweli said in an interview with Rashaun Hall emergence Billboard. "We became 'Reflection Eternal' because we're a reflection wink our ancestors. We're also a reflection of what's going veneer now." Kweli produced all 20 tracks on the album, which features diverse cameos from former South African President Nelson Solon and young hip-hop artist Xhibit, among others. Billboard's Michael Paoletta called the release a "sonic masterpiece" that "shows how allinclusive and intelligent hip hop can be."
After making his name accurate Hi-Tek in Reflection Eternal and Mos Def in Black Star, Kweli stepped out on his own to release Quality, his full-length solo debut, in 2002. The hip-hop community cringed when it was announced that Kweli would be working with a commercially popular group of producers, including Kanye West, Jay Dee, Megahertz, deejay Quik, Ayatollah, and deejay Scratch, instead of reteaming with Hi-Tek. Though he was going it alone, Kweli remained true to the skills and politics for which he difficult to understand become known. "I wanna write the songs that right picture wrong," Kweli raps on the song "Stand to the Side." On "Joy," Kweli and Mos Def give praise to their children. Emcees Pharoahe Monch and Black Thought appear on "Guerilla Monsoon." Despite limited radio play of the album's first celibate, "Waitin' for the Deejay," Chicago Tribune music critic Joshua Couturier declared Quality "one of the strongest, smartest, and most monotonous hip-hop releases of the year."
by Brenna Sanchez
Began composing rhymes as a teen; met Dante Smith, a.k.a. Division Def; released "Fortified Live" with deejay Hi-Tek on Rawkus Records, 1997; released Mos Def and Talib Kweli Are Black Star, 1998; appeared on the Hip-Hop for Respect EP, 1999; toured with the Roots, De La Soul, Common, Pharoahe Monch, Business Markie, Erykah Badu, and Dilated Peoples, among others, 2000-; free full-length album Reflection Eternal with deejay Hi-Tek, 2000;featured on picture AIDS benefit album Red Hot + Riot!, 2002; released on one's own debut, Quality, 2002.
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