When I look at the arc of my career, my focus is on lyricism, right? I own that. Talib Kweli More Quotes by Talib Kweli More Quotes From Talib Kweli Who you? Your name smaller than fine grains in couscous Talib Kweli deuceship-hopnames My rhymes are like shot clocks, Talib Kweli copflowblood We speak the love language, they speak from pain and anguish. Talib Kweli raphip-hoppain Love is blind, you just see bright light Talib Kweli blindlightlove-is "Art Imitates life," of course, is that phrase by Oscar Wilde. I called that song "Art Imitates Life" because Oh No was in the studio and he actually came up with that hook. When I was trying to figure out a name for the record, it just kind of made sense. Talib Kweli namessongart My fans like to be romantic. I feel like I'm creating at least at the same level or even a higher level of creativity than I was at twenty-one. I've gotten better as an artist. Talib Kweli creatingcreativityartist I feel like I have way more resources, way more experience. I'm better. But my fans romanticize the earlier stuff, and I don't think it's just like a nostalgia thing of "He's not as good" - I think it's because that earlier stuff was aggressively marketed as a lifestyle to them. Talib Kweli fansstuffthinking I'm spinning records and I look across the restaurant and I see somebody who looks Asian. And I'm like, "Yo, that looks like Yoko Ono." I'm like, oh, I can just meet - that's going to be great. Then I look carefully and I'm like, "That's not Yoko Ono, that's Bruno Mars." And it was Bruno Mars. That just happened recently. I was bugging out. Because that was totally not Yoko Ono at all. Talib Kweli marsasianlooks So I just had to step up how I was doing it and the moment that I stepped up and the moment I focused all my energy on that is when things started to happen. So there's a direct relationship between my inspiration and my output. Talib Kweli energyinspirationsteps Things are fluid in this world, and if you don't remain fluid, you get lost in the sauce. Talib Kweli thingsyoulostworld You'll be fooled if you only get your hip-hop from the mainstream, you know. The things that move people are not just found in the mainstream cultures. And when we talk about hip-hop in general, hip-hop's basically preoccupied with life. Talib Kweli knowyoulifepeople That's what hip-hop is: It's sociology and English put to a beat, you know. Talib Kweli beathip-hopknowyou There just needs to be a gay rapper. He doesn't have to be flamboyant, just a rapper who identifies as gay - who's better than everybody. Unfortunately hip-hop is so competitive that in order for fringe groups to get in, you gotta be better than whoever's the best. Talib Kweli betterbestyougay Hi-Tek is on three or four songs on the new record. Talib Kweli songsnewfourthree
