Talib Kweli

Talib Kweli on his career.

Talib Kweli made a name for himself in the late ‘90s as one half of the hip hop duo Black Star, with Mos Def. Since then, Kweli has carried on the tradition of socially conscious hi...

WNYC's Soundcheck presented Brooklyn-based rapper Talib Kweli live in The Greene Space on April 24. Kweli previewed new music from his fifth album, Prisoner of Conscious, coming out this May.

Host John Schaefer asked Kweli about the album's title and the term "conscious hip hop." The title, Kweli said, doesn't refer to his own sense of confinement, but to people's perception of him as an artist.

"When I first started, you just did hip hop," Kweli said. "It wasn't like, okay De La Soul, that's conscious rap and N.W.A is gangster rap. It was like, this is just hip hop. ...People who are very passionate about music like to break music down into sub genres."

On his new album, he challenged himself to go more upbeat and focus on the musicality. "I can't lose focus of my job as an entertainer by making my stuff overtly conscious," Kweli said. "It has to sound good and feel good first." 

Brooklyn-based rapper Talib Kweli performs in WNYC's Greene Space.

Before this election, rapper Talib Kweli (like one-third of Americans) didn’t vote. But that doesn’t mean his music isn’t politically engaged. His latest record, Ear Drum, is full of socially conscious lyrics that buck trends in hip hop.

From Talib Kweli's album Ear Drum (Warner Bros / Wea).

"Country Cousins" from Talib Kweli's Ear Drum, to be released August 21. (Warner Bros / Wea)

In the mid ‘90s, Talib Kweli started the duo Black Star with another young New York rapper, Mos Def -- and he's been a strong voice in underground hip-hop ever since. Kweli weighs in on the controversies coursing through the scene.