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" 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
Order
Empower
Yourself
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" 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. "
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" I like collaboration because, first of all, I'm good at writing lyrics. I don't know how to make beats. I don't play instruments. I'm not a good singer. So even when you see a solo album of mine, it's still a collaboration. "
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" I think hip-hop is no more misogynistic than America is as a society. I just think hip-hop is a lot more brash, a lot more bold, a lot more loquacious. There are a lot more words that go into a hip-hop song than go into a regular song. "
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" 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. "
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" I will never do a record without some sense of responsibility. "
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" You'll be fooled if you only get your hip-hop from the mainstream, you know. The things that move people are not just found in the mainstream cultures. And when we talk about hip-hop in general, hip-hop's basically preoccupied with life. "
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" 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. "
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Memories
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Control
" That's what hip-hop is: It's sociology and English put to a beat, you know. "
Talib Kweli
Hip-Hop
Beat
Know
" When I'm in the studio, I'm strictly thinking about the beats, the rhymes and the song. The decision I make once the songs are created, and there's a barcode put on the package, and I'm out there in the street selling it, those decisions as a businessman are different than the creative decisions you make. "
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Decision
Decisions
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" 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. "
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Music
Always
New
" And you know, art as commerce, doesn't really make too much sense, they don't go together. "
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" War is not civilized. "
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War
" I think hip hop is a dance music that's rebellious by nature. "
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Think
Rebellious
Nature
" If I focus on being an activist and my job is to be a rapper, I'm not going to be as good of a rapper. I need to focus on hip-hop and focus on making the music, so that when the activists come to me and they need my voice to create a platform, then I've got enough people listening to me. Not because I'm conscious, but because I'm dope. "
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Music
" Honestly, you have to take care of yourself. That's probably something I have learned on the road. "
Talib Kweli
Yourself
Road
Take Care
" I tour whether I have album out or not. I tour more than any other hip-hop artist. "
Talib Kweli
Hip-Hop
More
Tour
" You make knowledge relevant to life and you make it important for children to learn things that will really relate to things going on in their lives, and not abstract. "
Talib Kweli
Learn
Children
Life
" 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
" But it becomes disrespectful when the artist's process is not respected. "
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Becomes
Artist
Process
" 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. "
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Hip-Hop
You
Think
" 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. "
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Step
Relationship
Moment
" The materialism, the brashness, the misogyny - everything in hip-hop is amplified. Misogyny is a good example of something that is completely amplified in hip-hop. I do think there is more than enough of a balance, though, for fans who are willing to search it out. "
Talib Kweli
Balance
Enough
Search
" When Occupy Wall Street happened, I took my money out of Citibank. I already had problems with all the banks - Citibank, Bank of America - but I was kind of just too lazy to take my money out until I saw how Citibank responded to Occupy Wall Street. "
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Money
America
Lazy
" If I'm performing with a DJ, it's all on me to draw the energy. I like the camaraderie of a band. "
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" The beautiful thing about hip-hop is it's like an audio collage. You can take any form of music and do it in a hip-hop way and it'll be a hip-hop song. That's the only music you can do that with. "
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Song
You
Beautiful
" The responsibility of an artist is to be honest with themselves. "
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Responsibility
Honest
Artist
" Even an independent label is looking for a hit, they're not looking for a record that's not gonna do well. "
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Even
Independent
Looking
" Ain't nobody making music to not be heard and the easiest way to be heard is to be on the radio, but you should never compromise who you are, your values or your morals. "
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" I am not a prisoner of conscious, but people try to make me one sometimes. It is both a gift and a curse. It's a high honour but can create limitations - I have to be fluid. "
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" I started rapping because I wanted people to hear what I have to say, I want as many people to hear me as possible, and I do everything in my power to make that pop. "
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