After amassing critical acclaim with his first two solo LP's, Talib Kweli's current buzz is likely to land him the commercial success that has eluded him to date.
Here, Kweli speaks on Black Star, his record label and 'conscious' rap.
It's already been six years since Black Star's first and only record. As fans impatiently await the reunion, Kweli breaks down the reasoning behind the group's extended hiatus.
"Timing is everything. The assumption is the fans want it so that's a good enough reason to do it.
It's not, That would disrespect the music. The reason to do it would be, just because the timing is right" Kweli said.
"Me and Mos have talked about it for a long time. I was friends with him before I did that album. Our relationship is based on a friendship, not based on a rap group.
I see Mos all the time. There's no pressure between me and him. I'm more interested in Mos Def as my friend than Mos Def as my partner in Black Star and it's hard to explain that to people because they want the album.
I wanna hear the album too, I would love to hear the album, but we can't be doing it just because."
Meanwhile, Mos is quickly gaining respect in Hollywood. However, Kweli isn't concerned about venturing onto the big screen.
"I went to acting school and I got the chops for it," Kweli revealed regarding a possible acting career.
"Any time people ask that question I say, yeah if you got a script. But I'm not about to pursue it."
Since the release of his last album, Kweli has been busy touring the world as well as putting out his Beautiful Struggle mixtape.
With heavyweights like Jay-Z and 50 Cent praising his skills and an album leaked, the BK emcee is presently enjoying the biggest buzz of his career. However, his record label seems to be out of the loop on how hot he really is right now.
"They're still a little slow on the buzz. They're just now getting it over the last couple of weeks. I've really been grinding" Kweli offered.
"Geffen's office is in Santa Monica, California. It's a beautiful place, but they're isolated.
These people in those offices, they go to work every day and they sit around in meetings trying to figure out who's hot.
That don't really work. You gotta be out in the world. And it's nothing against them.
I had to learn how to work within their systems and it's just been a little foreign to me.
But now, I'm starting to learn how to make it pop a little bit. My only recourse is to develop and be so large that they can't ignore it."
Part of Kweli's buzz is arguably due to the current re-emergence of 'conscious' Hip-Hop.
Within the past year, Black Eyed Peas and Jadakiss have both hit big with political records.
Here, Kweli weighs in on the success of thought-provoking singles.
"Jadakiss has a song on his last album called "Optimistic" with the girl from Sounds Of Blackness singing on it.
Very, very conscious record. He even released it as his third single. But the climate was a little bit different.
It's not that Jadakiss wasn't on that sh!t. It's just now the climate is right for him to do it" Talib explained.
"If Jadakiss released that 'Optimistic' song right now, that sh!t would be platinum and playing right along 'Jesus Walks.'
I do agree that it's a little bit easier now and I do agree that Kanye had a lot to do with it."
Earlier this year, an unmixed, un-mastered version of Talib's The Beautiful Struggle was leaked onto the streets, causing the LP to be pushed back and forcing him to make numerous changes on the CD.
Now with the new version ready to go, Talib feels confident his third solo effort will be successful.
"I like this album. It's beautiful. I'm very proud of it. I can't wait for it to come out because I think the people deserve this album, especially the people that went and got the bootleg version and the unmixed version. I think they deserve to hear how it's supposed to sound."
The Beautiful Struggle hits the streets officially this summer.
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