![\"TALIB-KWELI-Issue-No26\"](\"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/TALIB-KWELI-Issue-No26.jpg\")
TALIB KWELI<\/b><\/h1>\nTALIB KWELI<\/b><\/h1>\nProving labels can\u2019t confine or define him on \u00a0 his latest project<\/b>\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n
Talib Kweli has a well-earned reputation for being a smart, socially and politically aware lyricist. But with Prisoner of Conscious<\/i>, his fifth solo album, Kweli is hoping to show he\u2019s in touch with his emotional side. \u201cJust calling the album Prisoner of Conscious<\/i>,\u201d says the rapper.\u00a0\u201cI don\u2019t see myself as a prisoner of conscience, so I set out to make an album\u00a0that proved that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Prisoner of Conscious<\/i> is replete with insight fans have come to expect, but also reflects an effort to tap more personal sentiments. \u201cI made the album less political. But some fans may not like to hear that,\u201d he says. \u201cHopefully that\u2019ll change when they hear what I did.\u201d More than just shifting the focus of his lyrics, Kweli also took a new approach to songwriting. \u201cMy focus has always been the lyrics first. But this time I put the music first. I\u2019ve worked with great musicians\u2014Kanye West, J Dilla, Madlib. But for this album, I stayed less in the confines of traditional hip-hop beats and picked tracks that musically take it other places.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kweli, 37, went into the studio with a list of collaborators in mind, including hip-hop artists Busta Rhymes, Kendrick Lamar and Nelly, as well as singers including Melanie \u00a0Fiona, Seu Jorge and Abby Dobson. Kweli\u00a0offered them a long leash. \u201cI found tracks that went with them. I had the collaborators in mind, and I let people pick out tracks,\u201d says Kweli. \u201cKendrick and Curren$y, they both chose \u2018Push Thru.\u2019 Seu Jorge and\u00a0I sat in the studio for hours before he\u00a0chose \u2018Favela Love.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Prisoner of Conscious<\/i> is Kweli\u2019s second album through his own label, Javotti, named for his grandmother. Calling the shots on his own projects has altered how Kweli executes his albums. \u201cI\u2019m able to bring the record in under budget,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019m able to be more in control of how it\u2019s out there.\u201d<\/p>\n
More than anything, Kweli sees his latest album as a chance to break free of certain labels that have been used to interpret his music. \u201cI think despite my best efforts I have been pigeonholed,\u201d he says. \u201cMost of the media outlets and industry types who really don\u2019t know my albums just deal with perception.\u201d But he doesn\u2019t feel the new record is a radical departure from his earlier work. \u201cI\u2019m on my 15th album. If you put it all together and listen to all the songs, you can\u2019t just say I\u2019m a conscious rapper who only is known for one thing. I\u2019ve done it all.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2013Amanda Farah<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
TALIB KWELI Proving labels can\u2019t confine or define him on \u00a0 his latest project\u00a0 Talib Kweli has a well-earned reputation for being a smart, socially and politically aware lyricist. But with Prisoner of Conscious, his fifth solo album, Kweli is hoping to show he\u2019s in touch with his emotional side. \u201cJust calling the album Prisoner […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[6598,6218,6372,6596,3795,2716,6595,6597,10156,1478],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9914"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9914"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9914\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9917,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9914\/revisions\/9917"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}