Talib Kweli

Park Slope Roots

Talib Kweli Greene was born on October 3, 1975, in Brooklyn, New York, and grew up in Park Slope. His mother, Brenda Greene, is an English professor at Medgar Evers College (CUNY), and his father worked as an administrator at Adelphi University. He attended Brooklyn Technical High School and Cheshire Academy, a boarding school in Connecticut, and earned a BA in experimental theater from New York University.

Black Star and Reflection Eternal

Kweli came to wider attention in the late 1990s through Rawkus Records. With fellow Brooklyn MC Mos Def he formed Black Star, whose 1998 album Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star produced the single "Definition," which entered the Billboard Hot 100. With producer Hi-Tek he recorded as Reflection Eternal, releasing Train of Thought in 2000 and Revolutions Per Minute in 2010. He also worked with Madlib on Liberation (2006/2007) and Liberation 2 (2023).

Solo Career

His solo debut, Quality (2002), included "Get By," which peaked at No. 77 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was followed by The Beautiful Struggle (2004), which featured "I Try" with Mary J. Blige, then Eardrum (2007), Gutter Rainbows (2011), Prisoner of Conscious (2013), Gravitas (2013) and Radio Silence (2017). Over his career he has released music through Rawkus, Geffen, Warner Bros., Koch and his own companies. In 2007 his Blacksmith Records signed Jean Grae and Strong Arm Steady, and in 2011 he founded the independent label Javotti Media.

Writing and Media

Kweli has been a member of the Soulquarians collective and the group Idle Warship, and he has worked often with Common, De La Soul and Pharoahe Monch. In 2000 he and Mos Def co-organized "Hip Hop for Respect," a project against police brutality. In June 2019 he launched the interview podcast The People's Party with Uproxx, and in 2020 he co-hosted The Midnight Miracle with Yasiin Bey and Dave Chappelle. His memoir, Vibrate Higher: A Rap Story, was published in 2021 and won the PEN Oakland - Josephine Miles Literary Award in 2022. In 2022 Black Star released No Fear of Time, produced by Madlib, and performed on Saturday Night Live that November.