walking upstream…
Talib Kweli
photo: tuomas vitikainen · cc by-sa 3.0 ↗Talib Kweli
Talib Kweli Greene emerged from Brooklyn in the late 1990s as one of the standard-bearers of conscious, lyric-first hip hop, first drawing wide notice as half of Black Star with Mos Def before a run of acclaimed solo and collaborative albums on Rawkus Records. Steeped in the Afrocentric Native Tongues tradition and the dense wordplay of golden-age lyricists, he built a reputation for tightly packed internal rhymes and socially engaged writing. His 2003 single 'Get By,' produced by Kanye West, remains his signature crossover moment.
the sound in question
2003
Get ByTalib Kweli
walk the tributaries ↓
Eric B. & Rakim1980s · Hip hop / Golden age hip hop / Boom bap
Kweli has said he built Black Star's style on 'a little Big Daddy Kane/Slick Rick/Rakim-esque lyricism,' and in 2012 he ranked Rakim's opening verse on 'Follow the Leader' the single greatest hip-hop verse of all time on his own list of 25 favorites. You can hear that lineage in the way Kweli threads dense internal rhymes through the middle of a bar rather than just at the line's end.
listen: upstream & here
1988
Follow the LeaderEric B. & Rakim
1998
DefinitionTalib Kweli
listen forFollow the Leader's cool, unhurried torrent of internal rhymes next to Black Star's 'Definition' — notice how both rappers keep a conversational, even tone while the wordplay never lets up, rhyming inside the line rather than only at the end.
A Tribe Called Quest1990s · Hip-hop / Jazz rap
Kweli has written that watching Q-Tip describe 'banging on the tables' at his old high school in the documentary Beats, Rhymes and Life was 'a full circle moment' for him, and that Tribe's jazz-sampling, laid-back approach helped set the template Black Star built on.
listen: upstream & here
1993
Electric RelaxationA Tribe Called Quest
2000
The BlastTalib Kweli
listen forPlay Tribe's smooth, upright-bass-driven 'Electric Relaxation' and then Reflection Eternal's 'The Blast' — both ride a relaxed jazz loop and a conversational cadence that makes the rhyming feel like an easy hang.
De La Soul1980s–90s · Hip hop / Alternative hip hop / Jazz rap
Kweli has said it was De La Soul that first drew him into the Native Tongues fold, and that Black Star was 'quite literally our take on what De La, Tribe and Jungle Brothers were doing years before us' — their playful, positive, sample-collage sensibility feeds his celebratory, community-minded songs.
listen: upstream & here
1989
Me Myself and IDe La Soul
1998
Brown Skin LadyTalib Kweli
listen forSet De La Soul's sunny, sample-happy 'Me Myself and I' beside Black Star's 'Brown Skin Lady' — hear the same warm, affirming tone and crate-dug soul textures used to build someone up rather than to boast.