Talib Kweli Couldn't Tell His Story Without Also Telling the Story of Hip-Hop

In the prologue of Vibrate Higher: A Rap Story, Talib Kweli takes pains to say that his first book shouldn't be treated as a manifesto, a guidebook, or "a rallying cry for real hip-hop." Rather, his memoir outlines the evolution of hip-hop and Kweli's experiences in that ecosystem, and traces his journey from the Five Percent Nation to boarding school in Connecticut to eventually reaching the "top of the nerd food chain" by establishing a career that's spanned decades and found Kweli routinely collaborating with the biggest names in rap. While he delights in recounting his successes, he's just as quick to dedicate chapters to tales of going broke, screwing up, and letting people down.

Kweli also writes in his book about the necessity of reaching across generational lines to uplift artists who came before and after, the value of carefully curating what you consume, and even the pitfalls of internet culture, from the early message board days to the ceaseless chaos of Twitter. During a conversation with AllMusic, he discussed the experiences and mindset that guided his career, the internal contradictions that successful artists have to learn to navigate, and when this lifelong student of hip-hop realized he no longer felt obligated to keep up with the relentless influx of new artists and styles. Vibrate Higher: A Rap Story is out now.

full interview here

https://www.allmusic.com/blog/post/talib-kweli-interview?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2021-03-05