Honestly, you have to take care of yourself. That's probably something I have learned on the road. Talib Kweli More Quotes by Talib Kweli More Quotes From Talib Kweli 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 rapperorderideas They ask me what I'm writing for - I'm writing to show you what we're fighting for. Talib Kweli ask-mefightingwriting I was kind of just too lazy to take my money out of the bank until I saw how Citi Bank responded to Occupy Wall Street. Talib Kweli lazysawswall If you go to a college campus and you do stop and frisk, you're going to find a lot of drugs there too. Talib Kweli campusdrugcollege I support the idea that artists have to make a stand. I'm with that - you're putting the discussion on the table and you're letting people know. You're being brave as an artist and responsible to the community. Talib Kweli artistpeopleideas Why give you the cure when the disease makes money? Talib Kweli raphip-hopgiving It’s very seductive to focus on what you don’t like as opposed to celebrating all that it is that you do. Talib Kweli celebrateseductivefocus We're in an illusion about what our role is in world politics and foreign affairs, and our policies are killing and destroying and doing a lot of things that we are not aware of. Talib Kweli affairrolesworld Or is it the mind state that's ill, creating crime rates to fill the new prisons the build Talib Kweli creatingprisonmind Even an independent label is looking for a hit, they're not looking for a record that's not gonna do well. Talib Kweli recordslabelsindependent You see somebody rapping and you're like, "Nah, my cousin can do that." You're spoiled by the experience. Overseas, it's still something that people can appreciate. Talib Kweli cousinrappeople But there's so many things in life like women, like children, like God and family that transcends the world of hip-hop. Talib Kweli things-in-lifehip-hopchildren But Rawkus is integral to what I do, because the cats who started Rawkus are the first ones who really saw my vision, and gave me a platform to get it out there, so I'm definitely totally grateful for that. Talib Kweli gratefulvisioncat Hopefully, we learn to appreciate hip-hop here so that it doesn't go the way of jazz. Talib Kweli appreciatehip-hopway Hip hop has always been, for us, for artists who are pure to the craft - any place overseas, whether it's Australia, any place in Asia, Germany, Africa, it becomes something where you can still go and work. Hip hop is an import culture. We're spoiled by it here. It's homegrown. Talib Kweli hip-hopaustraliaartist Jazz is the greatest American art form and our greatest export. We don't pay attention to the youth of jazz, don't stoke the fires creatively for the youth coming up. I feel like jazz musicians became too much of purists - with Donald Byrd doing funk jazz in the '70s. Talib Kweli musicianfireart I just got a new manager. He's like, "So what do you want to do with the deejay thing?" I'm like, "The deejay thing for me is more my hobby." It's great when you can supplement your income, when you have a weekly or something, it's fun. It's really a hobby, because I don't want it to take away from what I do, which is emceeing. Talib Kweli hobbiesincomefun Coltrane had a sax, Dale Earnhardt drives a race car and everybody has their tools. Talib Kweli cartoolsrace Fortunately, artists can live off their works, if you're creative at how you do it. If you just depend on the videos and the radio, you're at a loss. Talib Kweli creativeartistloss Music is not an exact science so depending on the time and the mode and the energy when we do it that will determine what happens with it. Talib Kweli music-isdetermineenergy
