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" I think that I am seeing the Internet and seeing technology take and seeing how the work I do through music directly affects people's lives better than any politician I've ever met. "

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" 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

Hip-Hop

" 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

Giving

Sometimes

" Honestly, you have to take care of yourself. That's probably something I have learned on the road. "

" People can be inspired the way I've been inspired by music. "

" My personal take on politics is I deal with social situations and cultural situations in my music and in my life. I have said on record many times that I haven't voted. I'm not the type of person who says, 'I'm never going to vote.' I think it's clear to me that our system has failed us. "

Talib Kweli

Life

Music

" 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. "

" 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. "

" Well if somebody's giving me a script, I'll consider it. But it's not something I'm chasing. "

Talib Kweli

Somebody

Well

" 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

" You know, I've learned a lot from every person I've collaborated with, from Madlib to Jean Grae and Hi-Tek, to Mos to DJ Quik, to even somebody like Jermaine Dupri. I've taken something important away from every experience. "

" 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. "

" I met Mos Def around that time but I didn't hook up with him until I was about 17 or 18. "

" I don't think that early hip hop stood out to be a social critique. A lot of fans of mine think that hip hop's ultimate responsibility is to critique social structures. "

" People consider Black Star a great album, and I think it's a classic album. But the fact is, both me and Mos Def have made better albums since Black Star. "

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

" But it becomes disrespectful when the artist's process is not respected. "

" I take certain steps to make sure I'm relevant artistically. I always have new music and a reason to be on the road. I'm not just playing 'Get By' over and over. I have 12 albums. "

" When I look at the arc of my career, my focus is on lyricism, right? I own that. "

" I'm not an artist that has a big, huge radio record that's going to be on BET. "

" 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. "

" I tour whether I have album out or not. I tour more than any other hip-hop artist. "

Talib Kweli

Hip-Hop

Tour

" 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. "

" We're in an illusion about what our role is in world politics and foreign affairs, and our policies are killing and destroying and doing a lot of things that we are not aware of. "

" 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. "

" I don't go into any album with pressing issues. I just try to write songs. "

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

" Artists look at the environment, and the best artists correctly diagnose the problem. I'm not saying artists can't be leaders, but that's not the job of art, to lead. Bob Marley, Nina Simone, Harry Belafonte - there are artists all through history who have become leaders, but that was already in them, nothing to do with their art. "

" 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. "

" Even an independent label is looking for a hit, they're not looking for a record that's not gonna do well. "

" And you know, art as commerce, doesn't really make too much sense, they don't go together. "

Talib Kweli

Too Much

You