Talib Kweli

On Tour
Play Radio
Listen to Talib Kweli Radio, featuring artists like Reflection Eternal, Mos Def, Common, Hi-Tek and more…

10,121,386 plays (626,672 listeners)

Shop now at Amazon | Send Talib Kweli Ringtones to Cell
More options
Add to my Library

Brooklyn NY, United States (1995 – present)

Talib Kweli Greene (born October 3, 1975 in Brooklyn, New York) is an American MC known as one of the most prominent rappers in underground hip-hop, and is critically acclaimed frequently, despite not being commercially successful. Kweli first gained recognition through Black Star, a collaboration with fellow MC Mos Def. He released his solo debut album Quality in 2002 and has since released 2004’s The Beautiful Struggle, 2005’s mixtape album Right About Now, 2007’s Eardrum and 2011’s Gutter Rainbows. He has also released two albums with Hi-Tek under the name Reflection Eternal and a collaboration album with Madlib in 2007 plus two albums with Res under the name Idle Warship.

His name is Arabic, meaning ‘the seeker’ or ‘student of truth and knowledge’. 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 in 1995 began recording with producer Hi-Tek and rapper Mos Def who he met at central park, and later attended New York University with. With Mos Def (together the pair were known as Black Star), Kweli achieved some mainstream success with Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star (1998). Also noted are Kweli and Mos’ central input on Rawkus Records’ compilation album Soundbombing (1997). Soundbombing also include collaborations between Kweli and DJ Hi Tek as Reflection Eternal. Together they released Train of Thought in 2000, which sold better than most alternative hip hop albums at the time.
Read more… Edit

Popular tags: hip-hop, rap, hip hop, underground hip-hop, new york  See more

Shouts: 1,089 shouts

Share this artist:

Top Albums

See more

Top Tracks

1
1,434
2
530
3
462
4
374
5
371
6
321
7
320
8
305
9
294
10
274
11
241
12
233
13  
225
14  
217
15
204
Buy all tracks at Amazon MP3
See more

Shoutbox

Leave a comment. Log in to Last.fm or sign up (it’s free).
See all 1,089 shouts

Videos

See more

Events

See more Add event

News

Watch the rebroadcast of the Blacksmith vs. Duck Down Music CMJ Showcase on Myspace…

27 Oct 2011 | from blog.myspace.com/talibkweli

Watch the rebroadcast of the Blacksmith vs. Duck Down Music CMJ Showcase on Myspace TODAY! 5pm PST Hot Line-Up: Kidz In The Hall performing "Break it Down" off their …

Add comment

See more

Listening Now

Top Listeners

See more

Recent Activity

Related Journals

See more

Groups (312)

See more

More Information

Links
Labels

Email Newsletter

Universal Music Group Get exclusive tour, release & promotion updates on Talib Kweli from Universal Music.

“For a Hard-Earned Thirst, Last.fm.”

More Last.fm Sites: Blog | Music Manager | Build | Playground (Subscriber VIP zone) | Best of 2011

© 2012 Last.fm Ltd. All rights reserved. | Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | Updated Feb 11, 2009
Some user-contributed text on this page is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
Text may also be available under the GNU Free Documentation License.