During his high school days, Brooklyn native Talib Kweli Greene (pronounced Ta-lib Qua-lee, translated from Arabic means, "Student of Truth") spent much of his free time in Manhattan's Washington Square Park hanging with other aspiring MCs who would face off against one another in freestyle rap battles."When I was a kid, the three artists whom I connected with the most were KRS-1, Ice Cube and Q-Tip," said Kweli. "There were distinct things in their styles that I would have wanted to have as an MC. I wanted to have the fire, passion and hardness of Ice Cube, I wanted the intelligence and skill of KRS-1, and I wanted the voice and style of Q-Tip."
Such informal competitions are what laid the foundation for Kweli's future fame as the member of the hip-hip duo Black Star with his noteworthy friend Mos Def, along with a successful solo career of his own.
"I learned a lot from Mos Def and he was able to experience the world in ways I wasn't familiar with, like acting," said Kweli. "The greatest thing about our relationship is I learn a lot from him and he learns a lot from me."
As a child, Kweli displayed a passion for writing both short stories and poetry with the encouragement of his parents, both of whom are college professors.
"I think of music as being poetry and music as poetry is not an exact science. Hip-hop is poetry, it's just the word to the beat," said Kweli. "I think it caught on because it's the truest form of poetry. "
Kweli, now in his late 20s, attended New York University in 1993 as a theater major and left school by the end of his freshman year to pursue a career as a hip-hop artist. Kweli migrated to Los Angeles and returned to New York in 1996.
In 1998, Black Star surfaced with its recording of "Mos Def and Talib Kweli are Black Star."
Def and Kweli are some of the few hip-hop artists who invest within their own community. Black Star recorded the album and used the profits to save Brooklyn's oldest black-owned bookstores from bankruptcy. They converted the bookstore into a nonprofit organization promoting literacy and multicultural awareness.
In 1999, Kweli and Def teamed up again with 41 of their fellow MCs such as De La Soul and Common to cut an album in protest of the death of an unarmed African immigrant shot 41 times by New York City police.
"Quality" is the follow-up to Kweli's "Reflection Eternal," recorded in 2000.
"When I recorded the 'Quality' album I set out to prove I could make music that was responsible that regular people could appreciate," said Kweli. "I feel like I've done that and now I don't feel like I have anything to prove so now I feel like I'll be making more music I really like to make. Before I was making good albums to prove I could make good albums, now I feel like I can make good albums for myself."
Kweli, who is the father of two young kids, talks about the births of his children on "Quality" along with a diverse range of topics such as commentaries on the Oklahoma City bombing and Sept. 11, 2001.
"I've shied away from making records with overt statements because there is no room for surprise and there's nothing left for the audience," said Kweli. "I haven't made a record that spoke about the state of the world for a long time. I decided to put everything that was bothering me on that record. Police brutality, the whole Timothy McVeigh being executed, my general surroundings and then when Sept. 11 happened, this was an event that deals directly with what I was talking about on the record. I didn't want it to seem like I was being insensitive, so I threw in a verse where I talk about Sept. 11. I did think about changing the song, but I realized what I'm seeing in the world is made more true rather than less true with Sept. 11."
Kweli arranges instrumental sounds of the guitar, organ, viola, trumpet, saxophone, shakers, cow bells and chimes with distinct live bass lines, DJ scratches and drumbeats to produce subtle and interesting layers of sounds. Kweli also uses numerous samples from artists such as Curtis Mayfield and Al Green. Singers Bilal and Res, along with DJ Quik, DJ Scratch, actor Michael Rappaport and tap dancer Savion Glover, show up on "Quality" as well.
"The music is first, the rhythm is the foundation so you got to have the music first," said Kweli. "I'm definitely someone who's going to search for different sounds in my music. Hip-hop has such a strong connection with the drum and the bass so the things you can do over it are very interesting." During his high school days, Brooklyn native Talib Kweli Greene (pronounced Ta-lib Qua-lee, translated from Arabic means, "Student of Truth") spent much of his free time in Manhattan's Washington Square Park hanging with other aspiring MCs who would face off against one another in freestyle rap battles.
"When I was a kid, the three artists whom I connected with the most were KRS-1, Ice Cube and Q-Tip," said Kweli. "There were distinct things in their styles that I would have wanted to have as an MC. I wanted to have the fire, passion and hardness of Ice Cube, I wanted the intelligence and skill of KRS-1, and I wanted the voice and style of Q-Tip."
Such informal competitions are what laid the foundation for Kweli's future fame as the member of the hip-hip duo Black Star with his noteworthy friend Mos Def, along with a successful solo career of his own.
"I learned a lot from Mos Def and he was able to experience the world in ways I wasn't familiar with, like acting," said Kweli. "The greatest thing about our relationship is I learn a lot from him and he learns a lot from me."
This Saturday, Kweli will showcase the work from his most recent album, entitled "Quality," (2002 Rawkus Records) at this year's Coachella Music and Arts Festival in Indio, Calif.
As a child, Kweli displayed a passion for writing both short stories and poetry with the encouragement of his parents, both of whom are college professors.
"I think of music as being poetry and music as poetry is not an exact science. Hip-hop is poetry, it's just the word to the beat," said Kweli. "I think it caught on because it's the truest form of poetry. "
Kweli, now in his late 20s, attended New York University in 1993 as a theater major and left school by the end of his freshman year to pursue a career as a hip-hop artist. Kweli migrated to Los Angeles and returned to New York in 1996.
In 1998, Black Star surfaced with its recording of "Mos Def and Talib Kweli are Black Star."
Def and Kweli are some of the few hip-hop artists who invest within their own community. Black Star recorded the album and used the profits to save Brooklyn's oldest black-owned bookstores from bankruptcy. They converted the bookstore into a nonprofit organization promoting literacy and multicultural awareness.
In 1999, Kweli and Def teamed up again with 41 of their fellow MCs such as De La Soul and Common to cut an album in protest of the death of an unarmed African immigrant shot 41 times by New York City police.
"Quality" is the follow-up to Kweli's "Reflection Eternal," recorded in 2000. "When I recorded the 'Quality' album I set out to prove I could make music that was responsible that regular people could appreciate," said Kweli. "I feel like I've done that and now I don't feel like I have anything to prove so now I feel like I'll be making more music I really like to make. Before I was making good albums to prove I could make good albums, now I feel like I can make good albums for myself."
Kweli, who is the father of two young kids, talks about the births of his children on "Quality" along with a diverse range of topics such as commentaries on the Oklahoma City bombing and Sept. 11, 2001.
"I've shied away from making records with overt statements because there is no room for surprise and there's nothing left for the audience," said Kweli. "I haven't made a record that spoke about the state of the world for a long time. I decided to put everything that was bothering me on that record. Police brutality, the whole Timothy McVeigh being executed, my general surroundings and then when Sept. 11 happened, this was an event that deals directly with what I was talking about on the record. I didn't want it to seem like I was being insensitive, so I threw in a verse where I talk about Sept. 11. I did think about changing the song, but I realized what I'm seeing in the world is made more true rather than less true with Sept. 11."
Kweli arranges instrumental sounds of the guitar, organ, viola, trumpet, saxophone, shakers, cow bells and chimes with distinct live bass lines, DJ scratches and drumbeats to produce subtle and interesting layers of sounds. Kweli also uses numerous samples from artists such as Curtis Mayfield and Al Green. Singers Bilal and Res, along with DJ Quik, DJ Scratch, actor Michael Rappaport and tap dancer Savion Glover, show up on "Quality" as well.
"The music is first, the rhythm is the foundation so you got to have the music first," said Kweli. "I'm definitely someone who's going to search for different sounds in my music. Hip-hop has such a strong connection with the drum and the bass so the things you can do over it are very interesting."
As a child, Kweli displayed a passion for writing both short stories and poetry with the encouragement of his parents, both of whom are college professors.
"I think of music as being poetry and music as poetry is not an exact science. Hip-hop is poetry, it's just the word to the beat," said Kweli. "I think it caught on because it's the truest form of poetry. "
Kweli, now in his late 20s, attended New York University in 1993 as a theater major and left school by the end of his freshman year to pursue a career as a hip-hop artist. Kweli migrated to Los Angeles and returned to New York in 1996.
In 1998, Black Star surfaced with its recording of "Mos Def and Talib Kweli are Black Star."
Def and Kweli are some of the few hip-hop artists who invest within their own community. Black Star recorded the album and used the profits to save Brooklyn's oldest black-owned bookstores from bankruptcy. They converted the bookstore into a nonprofit organization promoting literacy and multicultural awareness.
In 1999, Kweli and Def teamed up again with 41 of their fellow MCs such as De La Soul and Common to cut an album in protest of the death of an unarmed African immigrant shot 41 times by New York City police.
"Quality" is the follow-up to Kweli's "Reflection Eternal," recorded in 2000.
"When I recorded the 'Quality' album I set out to prove I could make music that was responsible that regular people could appreciate," said Kweli. "I feel like I've done that and now I don't feel like I have anything to prove so now I feel like I'll be making more music I really like to make. Before I was making good albums to prove I could make good albums, now I feel like I can make good albums for myself."
Kweli, who is the father of two young kids, talks about the births of his children on "Quality" along with a diverse range of topics such as commentaries on the Oklahoma City bombing and Sept. 11, 2001.
"I've shied away from making records with overt statements because there is no room for surprise and there's nothing left for the audience," said Kweli. "I haven't made a record that spoke about the state of the world for a long time. I decided to put everything that was bothering me on that record. Police brutality, the whole Timothy McVeigh being executed, my general surroundings and then when Sept. 11 happened, this was an event that deals directly with what I was talking about on the record. I didn't want it to seem like I was being insensitive, so I threw in a verse where I talk about Sept. 11. I did think about changing the song, but I realized what I'm seeing in the world is made more true rather than less true with Sept. 11."
Kweli arranges instrumental sounds of the guitar, organ, viola, trumpet, saxophone, shakers, cow bells and chimes with distinct live bass lines, DJ scratches and drumbeats to produce subtle and interesting layers of sounds. Kweli also uses numerous samples from artists such as Curtis Mayfield and Al Green. Singers Bilal and Res, along with DJ Quik, DJ Scratch, actor Michael Rappaport and tap dancer Savion Glover, show up on "Quality" as well.
"The music is first, the rhythm is the foundation so you got to have the music first," said Kweli. "I'm definitely someone who's going to search for different sounds in my music. Hip-hop has such a strong connection with the drum and the bass so the things you can do over it are very interesting." During his high school days, Brooklyn native Talib Kweli Greene (pronounced Ta-lib Qua-lee, translated from Arabic means, "Student of Truth") spent much of his free time in Manhattan's Washington Square Park hanging with other aspiring MCs who would face off against one another in freestyle rap battles.
"When I was a kid, the three artists whom I connected with the most were KRS-1, Ice Cube and Q-Tip," said Kweli. "There were distinct things in their styles that I would have wanted to have as an MC. I wanted to have the fire, passion and hardness of Ice Cube, I wanted the intelligence and skill of KRS-1, and I wanted the voice and style of Q-Tip."
Such informal competitions are what laid the foundation for Kweli's future fame as the member of the hip-hip duo Black Star with his noteworthy friend Mos Def, along with a successful solo career of his own.
"I learned a lot from Mos Def and he was able to experience the world in ways I wasn't familiar with, like acting," said Kweli. "The greatest thing about our relationship is I learn a lot from him and he learns a lot from me."
This Saturday, Kweli will showcase the work from his most recent album, entitled "Quality," (2002 Rawkus Records) at this year's Coachella Music and Arts Festival in Indio, Calif.
As a child, Kweli displayed a passion for writing both short stories and poetry with the encouragement of his parents, both of whom are college professors.
"I think of music as being poetry and music as poetry is not an exact science. Hip-hop is poetry, it's just the word to the beat," said Kweli. "I think it caught on because it's the truest form of poetry. "
Kweli, now in his late 20s, attended New York University in 1993 as a theater major and left school by the end of his freshman year to pursue a career as a hip-hop artist. Kweli migrated to Los Angeles and returned to New York in 1996.
In 1998, Black Star surfaced with its recording of "Mos Def and Talib Kweli are Black Star."
Def and Kweli are some of the few hip-hop artists who invest within their own community. Black Star recorded the album and used the profits to save Brooklyn's oldest black-owned bookstores from bankruptcy. They converted the bookstore into a nonprofit organization promoting literacy and multicultural awareness.
In 1999, Kweli and Def teamed up again with 41 of their fellow MCs such as De La Soul and Common to cut an album in protest of the death of an unarmed African immigrant shot 41 times by New York City police.
"Quality" is the follow-up to Kweli's "Reflection Eternal," recorded in 2000. "When I recorded the 'Quality' album I set out to prove I could make music that was responsible that regular people could appreciate," said Kweli. "I feel like I've done that and now I don't feel like I have anything to prove so now I feel like I'll be making more music I really like to make. Before I was making good albums to prove I could make good albums, now I feel like I can make good albums for myself."
Kweli, who is the father of two young kids, talks about the births of his children on "Quality" along with a diverse range of topics such as commentaries on the Oklahoma City bombing and Sept. 11, 2001.
"I've shied away from making records with overt statements because there is no room for surprise and there's nothing left for the audience," said Kweli. "I haven't made a record that spoke about the state of the world for a long time. I decided to put everything that was bothering me on that record. Police brutality, the whole Timothy McVeigh being executed, my general surroundings and then when Sept. 11 happened, this was an event that deals directly with what I was talking about on the record. I didn't want it to seem like I was being insensitive, so I threw in a verse where I talk about Sept. 11. I did think about changing the song, but I realized what I'm seeing in the world is made more true rather than less true with Sept. 11."
Kweli arranges instrumental sounds of the guitar, organ, viola, trumpet, saxophone, shakers, cow bells and chimes with distinct live bass lines, DJ scratches and drumbeats to produce subtle and interesting layers of sounds. Kweli also uses numerous samples from artists such as Curtis Mayfield and Al Green. Singers Bilal and Res, along with DJ Quik, DJ Scratch, actor Michael Rappaport and tap dancer Savion Glover, show up on "Quality" as well.
"The music is first, the rhythm is the foundation so you got to have the music first," said Kweli. "I'm definitely someone who's going to search for different sounds in my music. Hip-hop has such a strong connection with the drum and the bass so the things you can do over it are very interesting."
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