Talib Kweli speaks on Nelson Mandela in a special Black History Month Interview for Okayplayer TV
Talib Kweli speaks on Nelson Mandela in a special Black History Month Interview for Okayplayer TV
Talib Kweli spoke to OKP TV on the respective legacies of Nelson Mandela and Amiri Baraka recently for a special Black History Month edition of "The Questions." When our cameras caught up with the ebony man/Apollo legend, he was parring with Raekwon and R.A. The Rugged Man on the set of the video shoot for his new track "Violations" but gave generously of his time to hold forth on fallen heroes Mandela and Baraka and their influence on the world of music (not to mention the world of 'the world'), shouting out dead prez, Immortal Technique and Jasiri X as rap cats who are also activists in real life--as well as refocusing the conversation about Nelson Mandela on the political prisoners who still languish behind bars because of their resistance to the system--chief among them Mumia Abu-Jamal.
Kweli also ventured into less weighty areas of Black History, addressing running down his favorite hood movies of the 90s (especially appropriate since in his beard and knit cap Kweli was mogglin' a look best described as Frank-Serpico-as-played-by-Chiwitel-Ejiofor) and dropping jewels about his involvement in some high powered collabos both actual ("...me and Ryan Lewis got some things we're cookin' up right now") and dream-team ("Maybe me and Big Boi could do a group--we could call it BlackKast"--Dungeon fam, let's talk). With the Jean Grae v. Cam beatjacking controversy still fresh on our minds, we also asked Kweli where he draws the line between sampling and beatjacking. To get Kweli's thoughts on that and much more, press play on "The Questions" below:
Videographer: Lance Steagall
Editor: Imani Lindsey
Theme Music by Desert_Head
