Talib Kweli (November 2010) | Interview By: Jose Ho-Guanipa

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Interview was conducted in November 2010
 

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Related Media & Links
Talib Kweli Twitter

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Talib Kweli // Exclusive Video Interview // Dubcnn

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Dubcnn: Dubcnn.com I’m here with Talib Kweli. What’s up man how you doin’?

Talib Kweli: I’m chillin’, I’m literally chillin’, we’re in LA and it’s fuckin’ chilly.

Dubcnn: Wonderful.

Talib Kweli: it’s wonderful that’s it’s chilly in LA.

Dubcnn: It’s a rare occasion. So tell us about this new album that’ you’re about to put out, Gutter Rainbows.

Talib Kweli: Yeah coming up I used to see rainbows in the gutter, with oil in the dirt and the water mix. And being a little kid you never understand that it comes form pollution, and you think it’s beautiful. And the whole concept is finding beauty in unusual places. So the music on the album feels like beautiful music to me, beautiful music that I grew up listening to.

Dubcnn: I hear that you’re putting it out only digitally, what was the motivation behind that?

Talib Kweli: So I have another album coming out called Prisoners of Conscious and in the retail game they purchase albums for the store based on your last sales. Gutter Rainbows is a side project, it’s like a personal project. It’s something that I wanna put out quick for the people, direct to the people. I’m not going through the traditional channels. So I don’t want the retailers to look at that like my last sales, I want them to look at Eardrum. In order to put the music out for the people and still make sure Prisoners of Conscious hits the stores in the retail situation, I put it out digital.

Dubcnn: How is this a personal project, how is it gonna be different musically than the other one?

Talib Kweli: It’s different musically because it’s a lot of live instrumentation. I always use a lot of live instrumentation but I went into this one with the idea that I was gonna perform the songs with a band, so it’s even more live instrumentation. The subject matter is from friends and family, to Ain’t Waiting. When you hear it the subject matter is stuff that’s universal, whether you into hip-hop or not.

Dubcnn: You have your boys Strong Arm Steady out here tonight. Tell us about your relationship with them and how you linked up, they are one of the few West Coast acts that you do work with.

Talib Kweli: Yeah I met Strong Arm Steady through Xzibit and Strong Arm, Mitchy Slick, Krondon, Phil da Agony, they represent the West Coast very lovely but they represent for hip-hop. The album it’s produced by Jelly Roll and Terrace Martin and DJ Khalil and my man Crazy Toones sequenced it. It’s a straight west coast classic album, but it’s a beautiful album for hip-hop. Look out for that Strong Arm Steady featuring Too Short, On Point video out in about a week.

Dubcnn: Can you tell us about some of the production you’ve been working with on the new one and the one after that too?

Talib Kweli: Yeah Gutter Rainbows is Symbolic 1 from Dallas and eJones, and M-Phases and Nick Speed, a lot of wonderful producers. My man Shuko. And Prisoners of Conscious is still being developed, but I’m looking for some very interesting collaborations on that.

Dubcnn: One of the things that brought you on a bigger platform was when Jay-Z shouted you out and gave you a lot of recognition. How did that change your approach now that you had all these people lookin’ at you?

Talib Kweli: The Jay-Z thing was good, it’s like a celebrity thing, I had more name recognition. Btu my fan base was still the same, my fans know the music. I’m able to maneuver certain things, a lot of people know my name. The way that that came down is that a lot of people thing they should know me a lot more than people actually do know my content.

Dubcnn: Do you have a relationship with Jay-Z, how are you guys?

Talib Kweli: Jay-Z is one of my favorite artists and somebody I look up to the in the game and somebody that I’ve kicked it with a couple of times. It’s not like we do thanksgiving together, but Jay-Z the homie.

Dubcnn: A lot of your music is politically motivated, what’s your take on some of the most recent stuff that’s been going on politically? I know there’ been stuff with the security at the airports, I know we just had a midterm election recently.

Talib Kweli: A lot of that is hogwash, it’s just distraction. We lost our rights at the airport with the patriot act ears ago. The way that they build the story, there’s 69 of those machines, there’s 579 airports, so your chances of coming across those machines is slim. As far as the politics it’s just distraction, the truth of what needs to be done, whether you’re democrat or republican seems plain. There needs to be humanitarian efforts, you need to put your moral code in the forefront. But the bipartisanship, or the partisanship rather in politics it’s just sad because it becomes about the a popularity contest, which gang you’re in instead of actually trying to solve the problem, getting together and just solving the problem. It’s a distraction really. It’s for real people living real lives on the ground to revolution theyselves, not wait for the politicians to do it.

Dubcnn: Do you think that you as an artist have a platform that’s gonna help people change, are you trying to do that?

Talib Kweli: Without a doubt as an artist I got a platform. But the only reason I do is because I’m aware of it. There’s a lot of artists, particularly in hip-hop, who grew up in situations where they don’t have any role models in their life so they don’ t know they have to be role models. And you can’t blame somebody for something they don’t know. Because I have the knowledge I have the responsibility.

Dubcnn: How did you become as knowledgeable as you are coming from Brooklyn?

Talib Kweli: My parents are educators, they’re professors, they just made sure I looked beneath the surface when I was growing up. I attribute a lot of what I am to my parents.

Dubcnn: : Just let us know when the album’s coming out and where we can check it out.

Talib Kweli: Yeah Gutter Rainbows, January 25th. I want you to check for that Year of the Blacksmith Community Mixtape, it’s got new music from me Jean Grae, Strong arm steady, it’s mixed by Mick Boogie that’ll be out next week. Look out for that Strong steady video On Point featuring Too Short, look out for that Talib Kweli video Cold Rain, produced by Ski Beats, and we just doing it, Gutter Rainbows.