Talib Kweli

Talib Kweli (born Talib Kweli Greene, October 3, 1975) is an American rapper from Brooklyn, New York. He is one of the most prominent rappers in underground hip-hop, and is frequently critically acclaimed, despite not having significant commercial success. His name is Arabic, meaning "the seeker" or "student of truth and knowledge". His parents were both college professors: his mother an English professor, his father a sociology professor. As a youth, he was drawn to Afrocentric rappers, such as De La Soul and other members of the Native Tongues Posse and soon began recording with producer Hi-Tek and rapper Mos Def whom he had known since the two attended high school together.

Talib started his rap career in a rap group called Mood with DJ Hi-Tek as the group's producer and some unknown rappers back in Cincinnati. They had problems dealing with record labels and they never got a major distribution and promotion for their only effort - an album called Doom.

With Mos Def (together the pair were known as Black Star), Kweli achieved some mainstream success with the eponymously titled album Black Star. (1998) While Mos ...