Talib Kweli on Black Star's return: 'We stand tall on the shoulders of our ancestors'

Talib Kweli on Black Star's return: 'We stand tall on the shoulders of our ancestors'

Transcript¹

The first Black Star album was released in Sept. 1998 to critical acclaim², immediately launching the solo careers for the duo of Talib Kweli and Yasiin Bey, formerly³ known as Mos Def. The pair of New Yorkers became two of the most noteworthy voices in what's sometimes called "conscious" rap.

Today, Bey and Kweli's second album as Black Star, No Fear of Time, will debut⁴ via the subscription⁵ podcast platform Luminary⁶. It's an unusual place to release music, but Talib Kweli says it is a statement about artists getting both the respect and the pay that they deserve.

"People spend money on things that are important to them," he says. "But when you ask them to support art, they balk⁷. Because why wouldn't somebody go to a Spotify where you could pay $10 to hear any song you want? The onus⁸ is on me as the creator to figure out and set the price point and tell the people what my art is worth."

This conversation has been edited and condensed. To hear the broadcast version, use the audio player at the top of this page.

Leila Fadel, Morning Edition: This album is a return to some of Black Star's themes — black excellence⁹, unity¹⁰, confronting racism¹¹, Pan-Africanism, elevating consciousness. How do you see these themes resonating today in a world that is markedly different than it was 24 years ago?

Talib Kweli, Black Star: Sure, I agree with that. Social media, I think more than anything we've seen in our lifetime, has changed the landscape and changed the conversation. The fans have a lot more access to the artists, and so that can be a gift and that can be a curse. I've experienced both gift and curse when it comes to that.

I'm glad that you mentioned Pan-Africanism in particular. Black Star — we're named for the honorable Marcus Garvey, famously a Jamaican immigrant who came to America and was trying to build ships, the Black Star Line, to get Americans back to Africa. [That] is the sort of beginning of Pan-Africanism and a push for reparations. So with Black Star, we've always been about hip-hop, about Pan-Africanism, spirituality, all these things that are necessary for the liberation of our people. And I think it's timely that we come back now.

Cover art for Black Star's No Fear of Time.

Courtesy of the artist

Releasing this album in this moment where we've seen the reinvigoration of the Movement for Black Lives, but also an extreme reaction to it, to stop it. What is the message here?

The messaging on the Black Star album, the first one [Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star, released in 1998], resonates now. And we weren't saying anything that much different than, you know, people like Amiri Baraka in the Black Arts movement and what Nina Simone was saying onstage towards the end of her career. We stand tall on the shoulders of our ancestors. The canon of black art is amazing, and it is the lifeblood of all great art that comes from America in particular. Black people in America have been the moral compass, and we have been the ones who have elevated the art and we have been the ones who have made the most original American things.

Black Star started in Brooklyn, but at this point we are citizens of the world, and I feel like this album represents that type of growth for us.

I mean, maybe it's because I was listening in Ramadan, but the record felt really spiritual, addressing the fleetingness of this life, about the coming of the afterlife.

You're right on point with that. I mean, I have a decidedly Muslim name — I don't call myself a Muslim, but I definitely align¹² with Islam in many, many ways. And many of my closest friends, from Dave Chappelle to Yasiin Bey, are Muslims.

Yasiin is very open about his Muslim identity. It's very much a part of his art.

Absolutely — to the point where we were supposed to release this album earlier, but he refused to release it during Ramadan. He said, "I don't want to distract my fellow Muslims from focusing on Ramadan." He stood his ground on that, where people were like, "No, we have to release it now." He's like, "Nope, I'm not releasing it now." As a writer, Yasiin is always trying to get closer to God. He starts all his albums with the Basmala. And me as his partner, I write different. His focus on spirituality helps me as a man and makes me write with a different sort of intentionality.

Is there a particular track off this new album that represents what Black Star is?

Mmhmm. The title track, "No Fear of Time." We're laying out a manifesto¹³, and we sample a speech by Greg Tate, rest in peace, [who is] sort of our OG. He [was] a journalist, and the world that Greg Tate was describing — Black Star, we're the children of that world.

I want to go back to how you're releasing the album and the statement that you're making with it, but it's also a risk putting your music behind a paywall like that.

It's a risk for who?

I mean, maybe that's the wrong question. But putting it behind a paywall means...

That means the artists get paid. If you are truly a fan of Black Star, then you will respect the fact that what made sense for us, business-wise, was for us to put it on Luminary and get paid regardless of what happens in the music business. If you bought the Black Star album in the last 20 years, you paid Universal Records, which is one of the biggest companies on Earth. You know who you did not pay? You did not pay Black Star, because we didn't see any of that money. You know, people come and say, "Hey, what about what I want? I want the vinyl. I want it on Spotify. I want..." What you want does not matter. Know what I'm sayin'? What Black Star wants matters.

What would you say is the main message of this album?

I would say that the main message is "no fear of time" — to not let time, money, clout¹⁴, trends dictate¹⁵ how you move. And to be closer to whatever your core is, whether it's a belief in God, whether it's a set of morals that you follow. Getting closer to what your core is.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 acclaim   

v.向…欢呼，公认；n.欢呼，喝彩，称赞

参考例句：

• He was welcomed with great acclaim.他受到十分热烈的欢迎。
• His achievements earned him the acclaim of the scientific community.他的成就赢得了科学界的赞誉。

3 formerly   

adv.从前，以前

参考例句：

• We now enjoy these comforts of which formerly we had only heard.我们现在享受到了过去只是听说过的那些舒适条件。
• This boat was formerly used on the rivers of China.这船从前航行在中国内河里。

4 debut   

n.首次演出，初次露面

参考例句：

• That same year he made his Broadway debut, playing a suave radio journalist.在那同一年里，他初次在百老汇登台，扮演一个温文而雅的电台记者。
• The actress made her debut in the new comedy.这位演员在那出新喜剧中首次登台演出。

5 subscription   

n.预订，预订费，亲笔签名，调配法，下标（处方）

参考例句：

• We paid a subscription of 5 pounds yearly.我们按年度缴纳5英镑的订阅费。
• Subscription selling bloomed splendidly.订阅销售量激增。

6 luminary   

n.名人，天体

参考例句：

• That luminary gazed earnestly at some papers before him.那个大好佬在用心细看面前的报纸。
• Now that a new light shone upon the horizon,this older luminary paled in the west.现在东方地平线上升起了一轮朝阳，这弯残月就在西边天际失去了光泽。

7 balk   

n.大方木料；v.妨碍；不愿前进或从事某事

参考例句：

• We get strong indications that his agent would balk at that request.我们得到的强烈暗示是他的经纪人会回避那个要求。
• He shored up the wall with a thick balk of wood.他用一根粗大的木头把墙撑住。

8 onus   

n.负担；责任

参考例句：

• The onus is on government departments to show cause why information cannot bedisclosed.政府部门有责任说明不能把信息公开的理由。
• The onus of proof lies with you.你有责任提供证据。

9 excellence   

n.优秀，杰出，(pl.)优点，美德

参考例句：

• His art has reached a high degree of excellence.他的艺术已达到炉火纯青的地步。
• My performance is far below excellence.我的表演离优秀还差得远呢。

10 unity   

n.团结，联合，统一；和睦，协调

参考例句：

• When we speak of unity,we do not mean unprincipled peace.所谓团结，并非一团和气。
• We must strengthen our unity in the face of powerful enemies.大敌当前，我们必须加强团结。

11 racism   

n.民族主义；种族歧视(意识)

参考例句：

• He said that racism is endemic in this country.他说种族主义在该国很普遍。
• Racism causes political instability and violence.种族主义道致政治动荡和暴力事件。

12 align   

vt.使成一线，结盟，调节；vi.成一线，结盟

参考例句：

• Align the ruler and the middle of the paper.使尺子与纸张的中部成一条直线。
• There are signs that the prime minister is aligning himself with the liberals.有迹象表明首相正在与自由党人结盟。

13 manifesto   

n.宣言，声明

参考例句：

• I was involved in the preparation of Labour's manifesto.我参与了工党宣言的起草工作。
• His manifesto promised measures to protect them.他在宣言里保证要为他们采取保护措施。

14 clout   

n.用手猛击；权力，影响力

参考例句：

• The queen may have privilege but she has no real political clout.女王有特权，但无真正的政治影响力。
• He gave the little boy a clout on the head.他在那小男孩的头部打了一下。

15 dictate   

v.口授；(使)听写；指令，指示，命令

参考例句：

• It took him a long time to dictate this letter.口述这封信花了他很长时间。
• What right have you to dictate to others?你有什么资格向别人发号施令？