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Talib Kweli (born Talib Kweli Greene in Brooklyn, NY on October 3, 1975) is an American rapper from Brooklyn, New York. He is one of the most prominent rappers in underground hip-hop, and is frequently critically acclaimed, despite not having significant commercial success. His name in Arabic, means "student of truth". His parents were both college professors: his mother an English professor, his father a sociology professor. As a youth, he was drawn to Afrocentric rappers, such as De La Soul and other members of the Native Tongues Posse and soon began recording with producer Hi-Tek and rapper Mos Def whom he had known since the two attended high school together.

History

Talib started his rap career in a rap group called Mood with DJ Hi-Tek as the group's producer and some unknown rappers back in Cincinnati. They had problems dealing with record labels and they never got a major distribution and promotion for their only effort - an album called Doom.

Rise to popularity

With Mos Def (together the pair were known as Black Star), Kweli achieved some mainstream success with the eponymously titled album Black Star (1998). While Mos Def went on to a successful solo career, Kweli released the Hi Tek-produced Reflection Eternal in 2000. He has since released a critically acclaimed solo debut, Quality, in 2002, which received some mainstream attention thanks to the Kanye West-produced single "Get By." In 2004, Kweli released his second solo album, The Beautiful Struggle, which features production more akin to commercial rap, while Kweli's lyrics retain their powerful social-political content. Kweli has created his own record label, Blacksmith Records and has recently signed acclaimed female rapper Jean Grae, with rumors continuing to grow that underground veteran MF DOOM is the next artist to be picked up (Kweli also appeared on the MF DOOM/Danger Mouse collaboration The Mouse and the Mask, on the song "Old School"). He left Geffen Records and has signed with the powerful Warner Music Group.

Template:Sample box start Template:Multi-listen start Template:Multi-listen item Template:Multi-listen item Template:Multi-listen item Template:Multi-listen item Template:Multi-listen item Template:Multi-listen item Template:Multi-listen end Template:Sample box end He has since broken through slightly more towards the mainstream, thanks in large part to an appearance on MTV's Wild'n Out, as well as several appearances on the comedy show Chappelle's Show with long-time collaborator Mos Def; this is due to a friendship between the host and creator of the show, comedian Dave Chappelle and the rapper. He also had a guest spot on friend Kanye West's widely successful debut album The College Dropout on the track "Get 'Em High". West has produced some of Kweli's songs, including his biggest commercial hit "Get By". Kweli can be seen in a commercial for the NCAA's Big Ten Conference, rapping about the league's basketball teams. He also provided the voice of the protagonist in the graffiti-themed video game Marc Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure, released in 2006.

Current state

In 2004 Talib toured with hip-hop legends the Beastie Boys on their "Pageant" tour. He said in an interview:

"My fondest memories were watching the Beastie Boys get prepped to come on stage. They had a lot of antics and they play a lot of basketball… then they were giving out cameras to the crowd, and performing from the bleachers… The most important thing I learnt was that you control your crowd, not the other way around. They would chastise the crowd for being too rowdy if it looked like people were gonna get hurt. That was cool."

Talib has two children: an older son, Amani Fele, and a younger daughter, Diyani Eshe.

He will release his 3rd solo album Eardrum this year (2006). He recently guested on Nick Cannon's MTV hit series, "Wild 'N Out".

The song "Funny Money" (was available on Kweli's myspace) produced by Madlib is reportedly from a collaborative album by the two artists. It may see a 2007 release and even be free of charge—unclear as to how this would be executed (, ).

Discography

Black Star (with Mos Def)

Album cover	Album information
	Black Star Released: August 26, 1998 Billboard 200 chart position: #53 R&B/Hip-Hop chart position: #13 Singles: "Definition"/"Twice Inna Lifetime", "Respiration"

Reflection Eternal (with Hi-Tek)

Solo albums

	Quality Released: November 19, 2002 Billboard 200 chart position: #21 R&B/Hip-Hop chart position: #6 Singles: "Waitin' for the DJ"/"Guerilla Monsoon Rap", "Good To You"/"Put It In The Air", "Get By"
	The Beautiful Struggle Released: September 28, 2004 Billboard 200 chart position: #14 R&B/Hip-Hop chart position: #3 Singles: "I Try", "Never Been In Love"/"A Game"/"Black Girl Pain"
File:Eardrum.jpg	Eardrum Released: November 7, 2006 Billboard 200 chart position: R&B/Hip-Hop chart position: Singles: "Listen!!!", "More Or Less"

Singles

Mixtapes

• Top Kwelity Classics Vol. 1 (2002)
• The Beautiful Mix CD (2004)
• The Beautiful Mixtape Vol. 2 (2005)
• Confidential Mixtape (2005)
• Right About Now: The Official Sucka Free Mix CD (2005, Blacksmith Records)
• The Guerilla Pimp Mixtape (2006, Blacksmith Records)
• Blacksmith: The Movement (TBA)

Bootlegs

• The Beautiful Struggle - Original Bootleg (2004, Internet)

Movies

• Dave Chappelle's Block Party (2006)

See Also

• Songs by Talib Kweli

External links

• TalibKweli.com - Official site (requires Flash)
• Official blog
• Talib Kweli - Unofficial site
• Talib Kweli signs Jean Grae to Blacksmith Music
• Talib Kweli Lyrics
• "Beautifull Struggle" Review
• Talib Kweli's Myspace

• 1975 births
• African American musicians
• American rappers
• Living people
• New York musicians