-My next guest is a highly acclaimed rapper and an activist
who has written a memoir called "Vibrate Higher."
It's in stores February 16th.
Here he is, Talib Kweli.
That's what I'm talking about. It's so good to see you.
-What's up, Jimmy? How you feeling?
-I'm feeling good, man, knock on wood.
Congrats on this thing. I'm so excited about this,
'cause, look, you know I'm a fan of yours,
but this, for anyone who's a fan of hip-hop in general,
you should read this. -Yes.
-You have stories in here that I was looking at earlier
about Tupac and Biggie, and you would --
This is before your music career took off.
You were just out, what, promoting events
around New York?
-Yeah, well, shout-out to Jessica Rosenblum,
one of the great New York party promoters.
She worked with Diddy back in the day.
He was called Puffy back then.
And I used to work for her.
Biggie would be at these parties she would throw.
And Biggie and Tupac used to hang out together
back in the day.
-That's crazy. -Tupac was a big, huge rap star
before Biggie was known as a rap star.
And Tupac would come and hang out in New York
and get that authentic New York experience
for Biggie and Puff and all them.
And every club they would go to, he would be at those clubs.
So when I would do promoting parties for Jessica,
just in the street handing out flyers --
I used to hand out flyers.
I've been in the clubs partying with Tupac and Biggie
and seen their real friendship.
-I also saw in the book that after you performed,
you got offstage, and you saw Q-Tip,
and he was smiling, and he was like --
-Yeah, yeah, yeah. That was Lyricist Lounge.
Shout-out to Danny and Anthony, Lyricist Lounge.
They had me perform at the Lyricist Lounge,
at SOB's, legendary SOB's in New York.
And one of my first performances, my hero,
musical hero Q-Tip gave me props on one of my first performances.
-So many people hold you in high regard.
You're on everyone's top five.
I mean, but rappers, real rappers
hold you in super high regard, including Jay-Z.
There's a story about how you found out
that you were in a Jay-Z song.
Do you remember? Can you tell us what happened?
-Jay-Z has a song called "Moment of Clarity"
where he shouts out myself and my good brother Common,
who's also one of my favorite emcees and favorite people.
Jay-Z had rapped on the remix for my biggest song, "Get By."
And we had a little burgeoning relationship.
And it was Busta Rhymes
that called me and told me about this.
I was in the studio 2004
working on my album "Beautiful Struggle."
And Busta called me and said,
"Have you heard the new Hove album?
And he shouts you out."
And he said on the song, "If skills sold, truth be told,
I'd probably be lyrically Talib Kweli."
And it just made me feel like I was in the right place
that I needed to be in.
It made me feel like, you know, I spent all this time
trying to be the best rapper.
Jay-Z's considered the best rapper by so many people,
and he's mentioning my name.
That means I did may job at being the best rapper.
But then I thought, well, if I rap more about money,
maybe I'd have a lot more money.
You know what I'm sayin'? -[ Laughs ]
-But then I realized if I rap more about money,
I'd just be a fake Jay-Z,
and then Jay-Z would never say my name.
I just have to be authentic for what I do.
-I think what people should take from this
is just there's so many parts of you that make you,
and that's what I love.
That's what I can't wait to dive in.
But what do you want people to take away?
-I mean, Jimmy, we're all a collection of our memories,
you know? This body we have is just a vessel.
We have to protect it, and we have to stand up for our bodies
while we're here on earth, but it's just a vessel.
We're just passing through here.
And we're a collection of our memories, and it's who we are.
And I've been blessed and highly favored and uniquely positioned
to be in the back rooms of all different type of history.
That's a quote I got from Harry Belafonte,
who's a man I also was able to establish a friendship with.
He said he was in the back rooms of history,
and that's where I want to be at.
Those are the people I look at.
I don't look at what's going on trend-wise.
I'm not trying to compare myself to other rappers right now.
Like, as a writer, I'm looking at James Baldwin,
and I'm looking at Maya Angelou,
and I'm looking at Richard Wright,
and I'm looking at people who told their story
halfway through their lives.
I'm in my 40s, you know?
I have a lot more living to do.
-You've always been an artist who did things your own way.
And last year, you announced
that you'd be the first major artist
to release an album on Patreon.
Patreon is this -- Basically, you pay as you go,
you sign up, and it goes right to the artist.
Why did you decide to try that?
-Well, Patreon is built by artists for artists.
It's like FUBU but for artists.
-[ Chuckles ]
-And, you know, it allows me to connect with my fans directly,
and it allows me to pinpoint
the people who want to spend money on art.
We have a generation of people, it's not even their fault,
because the free market has decided
that art is just not something you spend money on.
You spend money on speakers. You spend money on pot.
You spend money on cellphones,
but you don't want to spend money on giving an artist money.
You'd rather give it to Spotify or whatever.
And that's fine, because the onus is on the artist
to bring the fan to them.
But where are the fans that want to
and have the privilege to spend the money, you know?
And to be able to go and find them
and tap in with them is great.
And I want to say "privilege,"
because not every fan has the money.
Not every fan can go on a Patreon and spend it,
which is why you can still find --
kweliclub.com is my website.
I have music up there for free.
You can still talk to me for free on Facebook
and YouTube and Instagram,
but if you're somebody who wants to support the art,
we have to provide a space for you to support it.
-Are you working on a new album, too, as well?
-Yes, I am. I'm very excited about my next project.
My next project is featuring one of the legendary
hip-hop producers, one of the founders of this culture
an icon. His name is Diamond D.
Diamond D is here with me.
You know, we are staying safe.
And I form a bubble around myself, Jimmy,
so me and my friends can hang out.
But I want to say Diamond D is in the house.
-No way. -Say what's up.
-Yo, yo! -Diamond D!
I can't wait to hear this. I can't wait to hear some stuff.
-Yeah, yeah, you know, the new album is crazy.
And, you know, it's that feeling back.
And I'm just proud to be a part of it.
-You got to sneak some stuff over to me, please.
I want to hear some stuff before anyone else gets it.
-No doubt, Jimmy. A'ight, man.
-Congrats. -No doubt. I'm-a get you a copy.
The album is called "Gotham." It's a dedication to New York.
And, you know, that's where we from, Jimmy!
-I love it, bud. Congrats on this.
"Vibrate Higher" is available February 16th.
-Yes. -Talib Kweli.
-Preorder it right now.
-Come on, bud. It's so good to see you.
Thank you so much again.