We get it, we get it; Talib Kweli is mean on Twitter, he fits too many syllables in, and he dropped an album on a mean, stupid podcast app. He’s reverse racist and Mos Def carried Black Star. He’s friends with Dave Chappelle who’s transphobic. Riveting analysis, everyone.
I’m not gonna get into the whole argument of Talib’s abrasive online personality. I think its overblown, but its ultimately a case of separating the art from the artist. He seems most guilty of just standing by his beliefs, which rubs some cacs the wrong way. A weird thing to stop you from enjoying a rapper, but at least there’s some motive behind this aspect of the circlejerk.
Talib is the quintessential conscious, backpack MC. His music has always been hip-hop at its purist, with a revolutionary attitude, themes of social justice, and a source of empowerment for the community. He spat to get by, an essential part of some of hip-hop’s most essential movements and classics, yet so often reduced to a sidekick or, more recently, to a regressive hack.
Now, when he finally has a chance to capitalize on his status, these are the thanks he gets. There’s hardly a single sentence of discourse on the internet regarding the actual music behind No Fear of Time and Liberation 2 (and it’s a shame because they’re phenomenal and some of his best work ever). As one ever so smug Redditor puts it: “My everlasting love for hip hop still won’t bring me to download this fucking app sorry”. Sure, everlasting love. Hip-hop heads who apparently didn’t live through the blog era (as they so fondly refer to it) or ever learn to Google “Liberation 2 .zip download”. God forbid you ever had to go to a record store.
Talib‘s podcast, “The People’s Party”, is some of the best, most informed hip-hop content out
The discourse against Talib runs far deeper than kids being cheap and lazy though. Everyone is an ally and wants to see black men succeed until they actually do. Jay-Z is an evil billionaire who never did a thing for the community. The slightest inconvenience turns them from voice of the people to Elon Musk and out of touch.
Talib is not stupid; though we don’t know the details of the Luminary deal, he obviously got paid a ton upfront for this, which is a much safer bet than banking on fractions of a penny for streams. How are you going to complain artists don’t get paid enough on Spotify and then complain about this? Hypocrisy.
Thus, if he really was paid upfront, then it hardly makes a difference if you pirate it, so don’t let your infallible morals stop you. You’re missing out on powerful, quality hip-hop and wearing out bottom of the barrel jokes. You’re not clever and you’re not gonna change his mind.
Just like he raps on the single “Best Year Ever” (available on YouTube no less): “Please, you for the people but musicians can’t eat though? I don’t really care how you might feel, unless you gonna put in on this light bill, my advice is chill”. If you don’t like his rapping, that’s fine; but don’t let recent events impact your opinion of the music, because your opinion doesn’t matter. Money matters.
So to sum it up: You’re entitled to nothing. You can still listen to his music very easily. There’s a free fucking trial. Talib is a legend in hip-hop culture (beyond music). So keep bitching, miss out on amazing music, and make yourself look ignorant for the dopamine rush of a like on your worn-out meme.