Home
Authors
Tags
App
Get QuoteDark Inspirational Quotes App
" Before Eminem, the idea that there would be a white rapper that anybody would really check for was fantastic or amazing or impossible. "
Talib Kweli
Amazing
Rapper
Impossible
Related Quotes:
" Being called a conscious rapper is quite a compliment. It's a great thing to be. But as an artist, my nature is to not be in a box. "
Talib Kweli
Great
Rapper
Artist
" I tour whether I have album out or not. I tour more than any other hip-hop artist. "
Talib Kweli
Hip-Hop
More
Tour
" My musical influence is really from my father. He was a DJ in college. My parents met at New York University. So he listened to, you know, Motown, and he listened to Bob Dylan. He listened to Grateful Dead and Rolling Stones, but he also listened to reggae music. And he collected vinyl. "
Talib Kweli
Grateful
Parents
Music
" 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
Looking
Community
Knowledge
" I think music sharing of any kind is great. "
Talib Kweli
Sharing
Kind
Music
" What is Norah Jones' style? Is it just the albums that we've heard? She has a rock group where she plays guitar in, downtown in New York, so do we really know her style? "
Talib Kweli
New York
Know
Style
" But it becomes disrespectful when the artist's process is not respected. "
Talib Kweli
Becomes
Artist
Process
" Skip the religion and politics, head straight to the compassion. Everything else is a distraction. "
Talib Kweli
Politics
Head
Compassion
" 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
You
Artist
Think
" Once you're signed to a label you compromise. "
Talib Kweli
Label
Signed
You
" 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
Better
Gay
Hip-Hop
" 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
Know
Think
Me
" People can be inspired the way I've been inspired by music. "
Talib Kweli
Way
People
Been
" I met Mos Def around that time but I didn't hook up with him until I was about 17 or 18. "
Talib Kweli
Until
Hook
Him
" I don't go into any album with pressing issues. I just try to write songs. "
Talib Kweli
Try
Write
Just
" 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
Know
Empower
Struggle
" The way I see it, if people truly love my music, they will support me in some way down the road. "
Talib Kweli
Love
Me
Music
" You have to learn how to harness technology so you can use it for positive stuff without being disconnected from nature. "
Talib Kweli
Nature
Technology
Positive
" The responsibility of an artist is to be honest with themselves. "
Talib Kweli
Responsibility
Honest
Artist
" The problem with our role is Americans live in a world of illusion. "
Talib Kweli
Live
Role
Problem
" But you have to be creative on how you sell yourself and market yourself. "
Talib Kweli
You
Yourself
Sell
" Being called 'conscious' is a great thing to be, but it's the connotations and preconceived notions that come with the buying audience about what conscious music can be. "
Talib Kweli
Come
Buying
Audience
" There's consciousness in my music, and my music comes from a conscious place. And when people say that, I certainly take it as a compliment. But my job, in terms of selling my music, is to be universal and to try to get it to everybody. "
Talib Kweli
Music
Job
Compliment
" There are staples to my show. I have to be conscious about switching things up because I know people who saw me last year will say, 'He did that last time.' But if certain things work, they work. "
Talib Kweli
Work
Me
Time
" So I think hip-hop is moving and is going to continue to move in the direction of rappers just being honest with themselves, whether you're talking about Common and Mos Def or Nas and 50 cent. "
Talib Kweli
Hip-Hop
You
Think
" I will never do a record without some sense of responsibility. "
Talib Kweli
Without
Responsibility
Never
" I'm at a loss for words. But even my loss is amplified. "
Talib Kweli
Loss
Amplified
Even
" I think hip hop is a dance music that's rebellious by nature. "
Talib Kweli
Think
Rebellious
Nature
" It doesn't get any more underground, conscious or indie than Macklemore, Ryan Lewis, but because they got a couple of really big pop hits, actually some of the biggest pop hits that hip-hop has ever seen, people are missing that part of their story. People are not counting that blessing. "
Talib Kweli
Story
More
Hip-Hop
" Hip-hop isn't as complex as a woman is. "
Talib Kweli
Complex
Hip-Hop
Woman