Talib Kweli
Talib Kweli

Hip-hop is a vehicle.

Talib Kweli
Talib Kweli

You know, there's a lot of activism that doesn't deal with empowerment, and you have to empower yourself in order to be relevant to any type of struggle.

Talib Kweli
Talib Kweli

Skip the religion and politics, head straight to the compassion. Everything else is a distraction.

Talib Kweli
Talib Kweli

Things are fluid in this world, and if you don't remain fluid, you get lost in the sauce.

Talib Kweli
Talib Kweli

That's what hip-hop is: It's sociology and English put to a beat, you know.

Talib Kweli
Talib Kweli

There just needs to be a gay rapper. He doesn't have to be flamboyant, just a rapper who identifies as gay - who's better than everybody. Unfortunately hip-hop is so competitive that in order for fringe groups to get in, you gotta be better than whoever's the best.

Talib Kweli
Talib Kweli

I'm at a loss for words. But even my loss is amplified.

Talib Kweli
Talib Kweli

You have to know when to be arrogant. You have to when to be humble. You have to know when to be hard and you have to know when to be soft.

Talib Kweli
Talib Kweli

The only way for me to be an artist is to be honest in my craft. If I veer from that, I'm not giving the investors what they want. Sometimes it's my job as an artist to know what I want to do, even when the fans tell me different.

Talib Kweli
Talib Kweli

So I just had to step up how I was doing it and the moment that I stepped up and the moment I focused all my energy on that is when things started to happen. So there's a direct relationship between my inspiration and my output.

Talib Kweli
Talib Kweli

The problem with our role is Americans live in a world of illusion.

Talib Kweli
Talib Kweli

I think once you're in the public eye, whether you're a boss, a teacher or whatever you do, that you're automatically in the position of role model. You have people looking up to you, so whether you choose to accept it or not is a different question.

Talib Kweli
Talib Kweli

But you have to be creative on how you sell yourself and market yourself.

Talib Kweli
Talib Kweli

I remember looking back on a photo of me... wearing a suit that was, like, two sizes too big for me. I think a lot of guys don't know what fits.

Talib Kweli
Talib Kweli

The way I see it, if people truly love my music, they will support me in some way down the road.

Talib Kweli
Talib Kweli

I think the line is where you're in the studio, you're creating. That belongs to you as an artist. Nothing should taint that. I shouldn't be thinking about what the fans want, I shouldn't be thinking about what the radio wants, what the label wants, what your manager wants, a song for the chicks, a song for the street.

Talib Kweli
Talib Kweli

My fondest memories were watching the Beastie Boys get prepped to come on stage. They had a lot of antics and they play a lot of basketball... then they were giving out cameras to the crowd, and performing from the bleachers. The most important thing I learned was that you control your crowd, not the other way around.

Talib Kweli
Talib Kweli

If you look at my career, doing albums with Norah Jones, Justin Timberlake, Gucci Mane and Lil Wayne or KRS-One and Jean Grae, I can't be pigeonholed.

Talib Kweli
Talib Kweli

I not only wanted to showcase lyrical skills but also continue to drop knowledge on the hiphop community. I'm looking to elevate through my music, and through my music I educate.

Talib Kweli
Talib Kweli

If I'm performing with a DJ, it's all on me to draw the energy. I like the camaraderie of a band.