Biography of Rapper Talib Kweli
Talib Kweli was born as Talib Kweli Greene on October 3, 1975 in Brooklyn, New York. His name means "the seeker" in Arabic by parents who were both intellectuals -
father a professor of sociology, mother professor of English. Growing up, Talib was attracted to rap music with a message. He listened to groups like De La Soul and grew
up with fellow rapper Mos Def. The two began making music with producer Hi-Tek and released their first album, the self titled "Black Star". Kweli
continued to champion social causes, performing in countless benefit concerts and helping organize the Hip Hop For Respect project.
By 1999 Mos Def left the group to seek greener pastures and saw Kweli and Hi-Tek do their own thing. The duo returned to the studio and released the "Reflection Eternal" album in 2000. It included a couple of minor hits like "Move Somethin'" and "The Blast". Things changed for the better when Talib released his Quality album in 2002. Now a completely solo artist, Talib Kweli collaborated with many artists, including a promising but unknown producer named Kanye West. He also had Megahertz, DJ Scratch, Dahoud Darien, Soulquarians, DJ Quick, J Dilla and Dave West produce tracks on the album.
In 2004, Kweli released his second solo album, The Beautiful Struggle, which which continued on his earlier trend of collaboration on the production and performance sides. Though the beats to closer to commercial rap, Kweli was still representing with his socially relevant rhymes. The Beautiful Struggle also featured performances by many hip hop heavyweights including Mary J. Blige, Faith Evans and Common.
Talib Kweli has also created his own record label, Blacksmith Records whose first artist is female rapper Jean Grae. He is a regular on the very popular comedy series Chappelle's Show and is good friends with the host and creator of the show, comedian Dave Chappelle. The next album from Talib Kweli is supposed to be released in 2006 and is titled, "Eardrum".