Talib Kweli earned recognition early on through his collaboration with fellow Brooklyn rapper Mos Def in 1997, when they formed the group Black Star.
45 Facts About Talib Kweli
2.
In 2011, Talib Kweli founded his own record label, Javotti Media.
3.
Talib Kweli's mother, Brenda Greene, is an English professor at Medgar Evers College of the City University of New York, and his father is an administrator at Adelphi University.
4.
Talib Kweli's younger brother, Jamal Greene, is a professor of constitutional law at Columbia Law School and a graduate of Harvard University and Yale Law School, and former clerk to Justice John Paul Stevens on the Supreme Court.
5.
Talib Kweli was a student at Cheshire Academy, a boarding school in Connecticut.
6.
Talib Kweli was previously a student at Brooklyn Technical High School.
7.
Talib Kweli later studied experimental theater at New York University.
8.
Talib Kweli made his debut in 1997, with featured five appearances on Doom, an album by Cincinnati, Ohio group Mood.
9.
An EP, Hip Hop for Respect, was organized by Mos Def and Talib Kweli to speak out against police brutality, specifically, the case of Amadou Diallo.
10.
In 2002, Talib Kweli contributed to the critically acclaimed Red Hot + Riot, a compilation CD created by the Red Hot Organization in tribute to the music and work of Nigerian musician Fela Kuti.
11.
Talib Kweli collaborated with fellow hip hop artists Dead Prez, Jorge Ben, and Bilal to remake the Fela Kuti song "Shuffering and Shmiling", for the album.
12.
In 2002, Talib Kweli released his first solo album, Quality which featured production from a variety of producers, including DJ Quik and Kanye West.
13.
In February 2004, Talib Kweli featured on Kanye West's "Get 'Em High" off of West's debut album The College Dropout.
14.
Talib Kweli made a total of three appearances on Dave Chappelle's Chappelle's Show.
15.
Talib Kweli was the second musical guest on the show, which aired on January 29,2003.
16.
In 2005, Talib Kweli had appeared in an episode of Trippin, a 2005 MTV environmental documentary television series hosted by Cameron Diaz, featuring Justin Timberlake, and Jimmy Fallon.
17.
In 2005, Talib Kweli released a mixtape-CD with his newly formed Blacksmith Records called Right About Now: The Official Sucka Free Mix CD, a title which is considered a response to the criticism of The Beautiful Struggle.
18.
In 2006, Talib Kweli signed a distribution deal with Warner Bros.
19.
In February 2006, Talib Kweli provided the voice of the protagonist in the graffiti-themed video game Marc Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure.
20.
In October 2006, Talib Kweli performed on MTV's Wild 'N Out, hosted by Nick Cannon.
21.
On December 31,2006, Talib Kweli released nine songs he recorded with underground producer Madlib for free download in conjunction with the web site for Stones Throw Records, the label to which Madlib is signed.
22.
In 2007 Talib Kweli signed rapper Jean Grae and the group Strong Arm Steady to Blacksmith Records.
23.
Also in 2007, Talib Kweli released his third solo album, Eardrum, on August 21.
24.
Talib Kweli embarked on a national Australian tour in October 2007.
25.
In March 2008, Talib Kweli was featured on MTV's TV show Made as the coach of Colin Colt, a young man who wanted to be made into a rap star.
26.
Talib Kweli was a featured artist on the 9th Wonder and Buckshot album The Formula, released on April 29,2008.
27.
Talib Kweli was featured at the fifth installment of Hot 97 radio personality Peter Rosenberg's acclaimed live interview series "Noisemakers with Peter Rosenberg" on October 21,2009.
28.
Talib Kweli recorded a mixtape entitled Party Robot with singer Res and musician Graph Nobel under the group alias Idle Warship.
29.
In February 2009, it was announced that Talib Kweli would be featured in the graphic novel-turned-animated series Blokhedz on Missiong.
30.
In 2011, Talib Kweli was featured on the soundtrack for the film Beat the World with the song "Infinite Love".
31.
Talib Kweli published his memoir, Vibrate Higher: A Rap Story, in 2021.
32.
Talib Kweli confirmed that he plans to reunite with Madlib to offer Liberation 2 and Mos Def for a sophomore Black Star release.
33.
In 2018, Res posted screenshots of Talib Kweli apologizing for attempting to kiss her to her Instagram account.
34.
Talib Kweli is known for his strong political views and activism, specifically on topics of racial stereotypes and police brutality.
35.
Talib Kweli is an advocate on behalf of political prisoners and a supporter of community organizations like the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement.
36.
Talib Kweli has spoken often to inner-city high school and college students.
37.
Talib Kweli urged people to ask hip-hop artists questions in order to engage them politically, but warned not to get frustrated if artists do not "give you what you want" in their replies.
38.
Talib Kweli said that musicians bear an unfair burden to use their music as a platform because they have the ability to influence people.
39.
In 2017, rapper Remedy and Talib Kweli feuded on Twitter regarding Remedy's pro-Israel political stance, which conflicts with Talib Kweli's criticism of Israel's occupation of Palestine, and his criticism of Zionism.
40.
Talib Kweli has stated his belief that activism cannot be done by just sitting at a computer.
41.
On June 1,2019, Talib Kweli was disinvited from the Open Source Festival in Dusseldorf because of his support for BDS which has been classified as antisemitic by the German parliament and his tour of Germany was cancelled.
42.
Talib Kweli visited the Occupy Wall Street camp in October 2011 to show support for the protestors.
43.
On October 1,2012, Talib Kweli spoke at a rally at city hall to urge the NYPD police to end their stop-and-frisk policy.
44.
Talib Kweli joined South African artist Cassper Nyovest on a new remix of his single "Doc Shebeleza", a tribute to the Kwaito music icon of the same name.
45.
In 2015, Talib Kweli held two concerts to mark the one year anniversary of Michael Brown's death.