Talib Kweli

Talib Kweli Greene, known on the scene as Talib Kweli, was born on October 3, 1975 in New York. Talib's parents are professors, his mother teaches English, while his father is a sociologist. The younger brother of the rapper Jamal Greene studied law and works in the court for now. Talib, in his turn, showed the ability for writing from the early age, creating poems and short stories. As he grew up in Brooklyn, no wonder that in his teens Talib got involved into a group of young rappers, being fascinated by this genre and realizing that rap is his devotion. In high school, Kweli made friends with Dante Smith, more known as MC Mos Def. Young men united their creative power, calling their band Black Star. In 1997, Kweli became a guest vocalist on the album Doom by the band Mood. For this purpose he made a trip to Cincinnati, Ohio, where Talib met the third Black Star participant DJ Hi-Tek. In 1998, the debut self-titled album by Black Star was released. After this event Mos Def left the group in order to pursue his successful solo career.

A large part of Black Star's popularity resulted from its members' multiple appearances in the comedy program Chappelle's Show, hosted by comedian Dave Chappelle. The other guests of this show were Fugees, Kanye West, Erykah Badu and other hip-hop and R&B celebrities. In 2000, Talib Kweli and DJ Hi-Tek released the album Reflection Eternal, after which DJ Hi-Tek went in for producing, while Kweli decided to go solo. That was the way the first artist's work Quality saw light, produced by Kanye West, unknown to the wide public by that moment. Their collaboration Get By became the major hit from the album, resulting again in a wave of amused critical reviews on Talib's creativity. In the fall of 2004, the full-length titled The Beautiful Struggle hit the shelves. One its collaborator was Jay-Z, calling himself a fan of Kweli's texts. Along with Jay-Z the work was touched by the hands of The Neptunes, Just Blaze, Kanye West and soul diva Mary J. Blige.

After this brilliant work Talib organized his minor label the Blacksmith Records, on which he finished the disc Eardrum by the fall of 2007. As usually, Kweli worked with the first-rate producing command, including long-time collaborator Kanye West and Will.I.Am from The Black Eyed Peas. The Eardrum album brought Kweli not only a new storm of astonished overviews, but also the long time deserved financial success. The lead single Listen immediately caught the attention of the listeners with its energy, combined with the witty rhymes. The album features a touching tribute to Talib's children, My Stars. Kweli is married to writer Darcel Turner. The artist is also well known for his charity activities. For example, Kweli along with his colleague and friend Mos Def bought the oldest book store, owned by Afro-Americans, and made there the Nkiru Center For Education And Culture. In 2008, Kweli plans to release his new work tiled Prisoner Of Conscious.