Quote

And you know, art as commerce, doesn't really make too much sense, they don't go together.

Talib Kweli

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Talib Kweli
Age: 49
Born: 1975
Born: October 3
Musician
Poet
Rapper
Singer
Songwriter
Brooklyn
New York
Talib Kweli Greene
Doesn
Art
Together
Much
Really
Make
Commerce
Sense

More quotes by Talib Kweli

Image
Life is a beautiful struggle.
Talib Kweli
Image
If lyrics sold then truth be told/I'd probably be just as rich and famous as Jay-Z.
Talib Kweli
Image
Young kids should be doing music that has shock value. They'll grow out of it.
Talib Kweli
Image
Unfortunately hip-hop is so competitive that in order for fringe groups to get in, you gotta be better than whoever's the best. So before Eminem, the idea that there would be a white rapper that anybody would really check for was fantastic or amazing or impossible.
Talib Kweli
Image
By the time you get into other kinds of music - R&B, country, or whatever - it becomes something that's romantic. It becomes something unattainable. Never-ending undying love. And in hip hop, we're still taking direct inspiration.
Talib Kweli
Image
My parents are my biggest influences. My parents and my city. Brooklyn, New York, New York City, the community I grew up. I don't feel like I'm special in that. I feel like that's everybody.
Talib Kweli
Image
The problem with our role is Americans live in a world of illusion.
Talib Kweli
Image
When you have a voice and a platform and you know better, it becomes your moral obligation to support that community. And by extension, you're supporting your family.
Talib Kweli
Image
There just needs to be a gay rapper who's better than everybody. That's when that question will no longer be able to be asked.
Talib Kweli
Image
What is Norah Jones' style? Is it just the albums that we've heard? She has a rock group where she plays guitar in, downtown in New York, so do we really know her style?
Talib Kweli
Image
I look at the deejay thing as a tier thing. If I'm not going to compete on that level, I'm just going to do it as a hobby.
Talib Kweli
Image
I listened to a mind joint, and I wanted to do my own version of it, and what you hear on my mixtape is my take on what the whole CD sounds like.
Talib Kweli
Image
Artists look at the environment, and the best artists correctly diagnose the problem. I'm not saying artists can't be leaders, but that's not the job of art, to lead. Bob Marley, Nina Simone, Harry Belafonte - there are artists all through history who have become leaders, but that was already in them, nothing to do with their art.
Talib Kweli
Image
I'm not looking to set a standard... but, I believe I have offered a challenge to others with my work.
Talib Kweli
Image
You can have your own opinion, but not your own facts.
Talib Kweli
Image
When I met you it was magic... We polar opposites, but attracted like we was magnets.
Talib Kweli
Image
Even an independent label is looking for a hit, they're not looking for a record that's not gonna do well.
Talib Kweli
Image
Harry Belafonte hit me to the Dream Defenders and I liked what they were about. When I asked them how I could help their movement, they said, You can help by coming down here you can tweet.
Talib Kweli
Image
I have such respect for the art of deejaying. I hesitate to even call myself a deejay.
Talib Kweli
Image
To be honest, that whole exchange with Crunk Feminist actually made me write the song because I realize there's a lot of young women out there so hurt by the misogynistic images in hip-hop they paint it with such a broad brush stroke that they think anybody that defends hip-hop is defending misogyny.
Talib Kweli