As this year's Spring Fair headliner Talib Kweli brings real hip-hop back to the Hopkins community. After the selection of Guster last year, Talib might seem like an abrupt 180, but in reality both artists share a similar broad appeal that most of the campus can groove to. With smart rhymes and smooth jazzy beats, Kweli has a reputation as an eloquent street poet and as a passionate artist reciting lyrics that paint a portrait as well as any of the soul and jazz artists he samples for beats.
Kweli's story begins in Brooklyn, NY, where he was born to two scholars and named the Arabic equivalent of "student of truth." He picked up hip-hop and emceeing in junior high school, where his raps earned him friends and fame. Taking a cue from his name, Talib says his raps have always been about "being who I am and staying true to myself." By the time he reached high school, he had met up with fellow rhymer and truth-seeker Dante Smith (aka Mos Def) and impressed a young producer named Hi-Tek of the Cincinnati based crew Mood.
Hi-Tek's recommendation got Talib a place on Mood's 1997 album Doom and within the year the duo teamed up under the moniker Reflection Eternal, which made its official debut on the Rawkus compilation Soundbombing. A year later Kweli caught up with Mos Def again, working under the name Black Star. The album they produced, Mos Def and Talib Kweli are Black Star, was an instant hit and has already achieved early classic status. Hits like "Definition" and "Thieves in the Night" created a huge buzz in the industry, not to mention Common collaboration "Respiration" which is arguably one of the greatest hip-hop tracks ever pressed. Black Star solidified the reputations of both emcees and earned the respect of heads in the underground and on the pop scene.
After the success with Mos Def, Kweli went back to Hi-Tek again for 2000's critically acclaimed Reflection Eternal. Even more than Black Star had, RE put Talib's name high up on the list of talented new emcees. Despite the masterpiece the duo had put out, pop rappers like Nelly were still lording over the airwaves on MTV and local radio stations across the country. With this in mind, Talib set out to make an album that could survive on the pop scene while at the same time maintaining authenticity. He also decided at this time that his next album would be solo, in order to show the world he could survive on his own.
What came next was the dope yet ill-received Quality album. Despite the Kanye West-produced hit "Get By," the record stalled commercially and it seemed like Talib's individual rhyming talent would once again be overlooked by the mainstream. Critics and underground heads still gave props, but for whatever reason the album just wouldn't sell and Kweli moved on towards his next project.
Beautiful Struggle is his newest release and it shows Kweli again attempting to combine a pop sensibility with hard-hitting social consciousness. Critically the album seems to have done very well though it's a bit early to comment on the sales. The beats sound slightly more generic (as the temptation to become more pop has hindered the jazzy brilliance that defined his earlier releases), but Talib's lyrics are still on point and his delivery is as sharp as ever. When I asked him about his goals with the album he reiterated his commitment to staying true and said, "I'm trying to make it as honest as I possibly can."
Many Hopkins students will only know Kweli from the Jay-Z Black Album shout-out ("If skills sold truth be told, I'd probably be, lyrically Talib Kweli,"), but after this show it's likely that he will have converted a new base of fans interested in quality, intelligent music. During the interview, I asked Talib if hip-hop was a broad enough genre for Spring Fair. He explained that "there's music for the clubs, music to listen to Sunday mornings, hip-hop for all types of stuff."
When asked specifically what albums and tracks he planned to show off at the show, he replied, "whatever rocks the crowds, whatever they're feeling."
Having seen Talib rock the mic before, I can testify that the man has skills. On stage he stomps about and demands the audience's attention with passionate and clear wordplay. Always on top of the beat, Kweli interacts with his deejay enough to make the man behind the decks (for this show it will be DJ Chaps) vital as part of the show rather than just a necessary prop on stage.
This ain't no Nelly stage show; this emcee holds the crowd through pure talent and doesn't bother with stage gimmickry that is typical of more pop rap shows. Even hesitant Guster fans will be nodding by the second track of this show.
Talib Kweli performs as part of Spring Fair at the Ralph S. O'Connor Recreation Center, on Saturday, April 29, at 8 p.m. Tickets can be purchased at the Mattin Center for $8.
