Biography

Early Life

Kweli grew up in a highly educated and literate household. His mother is an English professor and 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 an gall whom he had met in high school. Talib Kweli was a student at Cheshire Academy, a boarding school in Connecticut. He later studied experimental theater at New York University (NYU).

Career

Kweli made his professional debut in 1997, with an appearance on "DOOM," an album by Cincinnati, Ohio group, MOOD (Main Flow, Donte, Jahson). In Cincinnati, Kweli also met DJ Hi-Tek and the two collaborated on a few well received underground recordings as Reflection Eternal. Shortly afterwards, upon returning to New York, he reconnected with Mos Def and formed Black Star. Kweli brought along Hi-Tek to produce their first and only album, 1998's Mos Def and Talib Kweli Are Black Star. The album, released amidst a late '90s renaissance of conscious, Afrocentric hip hop, was immediately hailed by critics and achieved modest mainstream success. When Kweli and Mos Def parted ways shortly thereafter, Kweli and Hi-Tek continued their Reflection Eternal partnership on the 2000 album Train of Thought. The album, released, as Mos Def and Talib Kweli Are Black Star had been, on Rawkus Records, was likewise met with critical acclaim, but modest sales.

Following Train of Thought, Kweli and Hi-Tek split as well, and Kweli used his first truly solo debut to attempt a move toward a more mainstream sound. 2002's Quality, accomplished this goal to some extent, featuring production by a host of different producers, including Just Blaze, DJ Quik and Kanye West. The album continued his critical success and received some mainstream attention thanks to the West-produced single "Get By."

In 2004, he released his second solo album and final Rawkus release, The Beautiful Struggle. The album featured much more commercial production, and although Kweli's lyrics retained their socio-political content, he affected a somewhat harder persona. The album failed to cross over into the mainstream and suffered a critical backlash. Still, Kweli's stature continued to grow, particularly fueled by a line from Jay-Z's 2003 record, The Black Album: "If skills sold, truth be told/I'd probably be, lyrically, Talib Kweli."

On December 31, 2006, Kweli decided to release nine songs he recorded with acclaimed underground producer Madlib for free download on the internet. The album was entitled Liberation, of which Talib later was quoted by XXL magazine as stating releasing the album was liberating to him; "The idea that I could put out an album like that: record it in my house, put it out for free and get that type of response."

For his newest release Kweli formed his own record label, Blacksmith Records and has recently signed acclaimed rapper Jean Grae and the group Strong Arm Steady. He also signed a new distribution deal with with Warner Bros. Records for Blacksmith Records. His latest solo album is called Eardrum and was released on Aug 21, 2007. It debuted at #2 on the Billboard 200. The first single was Listen!!!.

Other / Related Activities

In 2004, Talib Kweli, along with Bob Moore's Amazing Mongrels, supported the Beastie Boys on their "Challah At Your Boy World Tour," participated in a photo shoot by the renown fashion/celebrity photographer Ben Fink Shaprio, and appeared in a few Dilated Peoples songs, including a live remix later featured on the video game NBA Street Vol. 2.

Kweli has used television appearances extensively to increase visibility, notably on MTV's Wild 'N Out, and several performances on Chappelle's Show with long-time collaborator Mos Def; these performances were a product of host Chappelle's friendship with Kweli. Chappelle in turn participated in a number of skits on Kweli's albums "Train of Thought" and "Quality"- impersonating several people including Nelson Mandela. Kweli also had a guest spot on 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 Eckō's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure, released in 2006.

Talib and fellow rapper artist Mos Def purchased Nkiru, which is Brooklyn's oldest black-owned bookstore, and converted it into the Nkiru Center for Education and Culture.

Current and Future activities

Kweli confirmed in a recent interview with VIBE magazine that the title of his next album will be "Prisoner of Conscious", simply because he feels that he has been labeled a conscious rapper.

Kweli is also about to embark on a national Australian tour in October 2007 visiting all capital cities for the first time ever.

Talib Kweli and DJ Hi-Tek have both said they intend to record a follow-up to the Reflection Eternal album.

Recently Talib has joined MTV's hit show MADE and filmed an episode in the small town of Arlington, Massachusetts. He was the coach of Colin Colt, a young man who wanted to be made into a rap star.

Personal

Kweli has two children: an older son, Amani Fela, who attends Medgar Evers Preparatory School and a younger daughter, Diani Eshe. The mother of his two children, Darcel Turner is the author of two books, Dana Dances on Paper and Lathered Layers. His younger brother, Jamal Greene, graduated from Yale Law School and is currently serving as a law clerk on the U.S. Supreme Court for Justice John Paul Stevens. Kweli has supported the Black August Benefit Concert since its inception, and performs at the show consistently every year.

Discography