234 Quotes by Talib Kweli

I’d like to work with Outkast, I’d like to work with RZA, I’d like to work with Timbaland, York, a whole bunch of people.

I feel like your city – with hip hop in particular, because we’re always beating our chest and shouting where we’re from – your city is just as influential as your parents. Even the grimy, hardcore gangster rap from New York – KRS-One and Wu Tang, the stuff acknowledges it.

As far as being on a major label, some labels get it and get what they have to do, and some labels don’t. I don’t think the label I’m on necessarily gets it, but I think over time they’re gonna have to.

What’s more condescending and corny than someone telling you how much more money they have than you and telling you basically, ‘I don’t care about poor people,’ which is a large part of what you hear of corporate hip-hop on the radio.

As far as my New York influence, one thing I’m proud of in my career is, I rep Brooklyn, New York all day. But people don’t look at my music as New York music. People consider my music underground music.

There are staples to my show. I have to be conscious about switching things up because I know people who saw me last year will say, ‘He did that last time.’ But if certain things work, they work.

Please, this is no disrespect to whoever your man is though. This relationship is strictly musical like D’Angelo.

The beautiful thing about hip-hop is it’s like an audio collage. You can take any form of music and do it in a hip-hop way and it’ll be a hip-hop song. That’s the only music you can do that with.

I think once you’re in the public eye, whether you’re a boss, a teacher or whatever you do, that you’re automatically in the position of role model. You have people looking up to you, so whether you choose to accept it or not is a different question.