Preview: Talib Kweli at Emo's Tonight

If the closest you come to contemporary hip hop is dodging the Spiro's crowd on your way to Emo's, then we have news for you: there IS more out there. No, you need not subject yourself to the abrasive and, dare we say, bastardized sounds of Dirty South hip hop, nor need you dig up your old De La albums (though you should anyway) because tonight Talib Kweli is at Emo's to show you the light.

Talib Kweli (pronounced Tal-EEB KWAL-y) is at the vanguard of the alternative hip hop movement, which includes acts like Common, MF DOOM, Dangermouse, Mos Def, Kanye West, The Roots, and the like. Raised by two professor parents in Brooklyn, Kweli began avidly writing as a kid, and in the late 1990s began rapping with Mos Def under the moniker Black Star. It took Kweli a bit longer than Mos Def to break out with a successful solo career, but in 2002 he released Quality, which earned positive criticism and spearheaded Kweli's movement into the mainstream; you might remember the album's Kanye West-produced single "Get By". Kweli has released one other album since then (2004's The Beautiful Struggle) and will release Ear Drum in two weeks on his own Blacksmith Records (Warner Bros. will distribute). The new album features Kanye, Norah Jones, and Hi-Tek, who produced for Black Star in Brooklyn. Talib Kweli is known for his more intelligent, socio-political lyrics, straying from violence but maintaining an aggressive aesthetic. In an interview with britishhiphop.co.uk, Kweli said it's more about "hard beats and hard lyrical content, which deals with hard subjects." DJ Chaps opens the show. Come: there is hope yet for hip hop.

Talib Kweli w/ DJ Chaps
Wednesday, August 8th
Emo's outside [map]
Doors at 9pm, show at 10pm

Talib Kweli [Official Site]
Talib Kweli on [MySpace]

Photo courtesy Talib Kweli's web site

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By mercedeskraus in Arts & Entertainment on August 8, 2007 1:40 PM 0 Comments

Comments [rss]

guest

the streets as in mike skinner? hmm, yeah, i guess triple platinum artists are pretty darn "underground."

i wholeheartedly second jean grae. dizzee rascal too. mostly because of the britishisms.

& did anyone actually go to this show? how was it?

erikamay

jean grae is a personal favorite of mine...i think she's worth a listen for anyone that gives a shizz about underground/alt hip hop.

also: edan.

seth

MerSkrilla-

Sorry to go on the rant about street cred. Pretty much what set me off was the photo last week accompanying the blurb about Austin's new skate park-- it was a photo of a rollerblader flying through the air.

Keep up the good articles.

Oh, if people are looking for different rap, try the "streets" from England. Not the actual streets you walk on. That's the name you need to search.

Seth

mercedeskraus

thank you dear ones for being so kind and considerate! yes, in fact, i stuck to the mainstream for a reason. and yes, in fact, sometimes the alternative/accessible is a difficult line. thanks for keeping me on my toes, though. --MerSkrilla

guest

Good point. It's hard to explain alternative to people who only know mainstream and thecoolhunter.net

guest

go, craig, go!!

truecraig

I do believe she only put Kanye in there because he's worked so closely with others on that list (and Talib). Also, by "alternative", I think she meant "alternative to braggin' rap", not "alternative to mainstream" (because ALL the artists listed there are mainstream). Sure, she could have thrown in a bunch of Rhymesayers references, maybe some Lifesavas, perhaps some backpacker El-P/Aesop, or even a dated Goodie Mobb, KMD, Lost Boyz, J5, or Hieroglyphics nod.

But in terms of authenticity, those aren't the current contemporaries of Talib.

I believe Mercedes knows plenty enough about that which she writes. Beyond that, I readily admit Seth's advice concerning a fear of losing the reader is very solid.

oh steph

MF Doom was the most incredible free day show that I saw during sxsw2006.

Seth and guest #1, who are some of the alternative hip hop acts that you would suggest? I certainly have no "street cred" in this area, but am a willing and eager student.

seth

seriously. austinist would develop street cred if it would speak with authenticity on such topics. kanye is no more 'alternative' than snoop is 'old school.'

Austinist is a wonderful, new web publisher. in this case, the austinist wanted to reference the obscure while not losing the reader. difficult to do. I recommend risking losing the reader.

seth

guest

Kayne? Alternative Hip Hop...what??? I'll give you Common and Mos Def, but there is a huge list of true alternative artists that you are missing. Looks like you made a list of the most mainstream of the "alternative"

Regardless, Talib puts on a great live show.