TALIB KWELI - NEW ALBUM GRAVITAS OFFICIAL ALBUM THREAD

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New interview discussing the album name and the reasons for selling it through Fan Bridge and Kweli Club. Part 2 isn't up yet. Shorty is cute as hell and that accent is the business.

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http://www.frank151.com/news/the-guilty-five-talib-kweli.html#.UoudUSdx7mR

The Guilty Five With Talib Kweli
Crustaceans
I love em' all—lobster, scallops, shrimp, crab. I could have em' at every meal so I have to pace myself.

Fruit-Flavored Soda
A truly guilty pleasure, because they say all Black people love grape and orange soda. I'm sure that's not true, but I do, so I may have a couple of grape or orange sodas a year. Any more than that and I'm down the rabbit hole.

Judge Mathis
This is one of my favorite shows, straight comedy. The guests are oblivious and I can often tell the outcome of each trial in the first 30 seconds. As silly as the show can get, I also respect that Mathis speaks up on social issues like Troy Davis.

Nightclubs
People think I don't turn up because of the way I'm perceived musically, but those who know me know I come from clubs, that's how I broke in this business. I don't go out as much as I used to, but if I go, I'm GONE.

Rum
I'll fly down to Old San Juan like Hunter S. Thompson and get caught up in a Puerto Rican rum spell. I get a lot done creatively but rum is full of sugar, which I try to stay away from.
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A Journey Into Consciousness With Talib Kweli

You address the highly controversial subject of the illuminati in your single The Wormhole. What brought this on?

I just kind of get frustrated with people who seriously participate in the dissemination of misinformation, when you don’t really know the history of what you’re reading... That goes for books. That goes for YouTube clips. So if you don’t understand who this person is that’s posting on YouTube or what their actual agenda is then why are you taking their word as gospel? And I find that this generation with internet does that a lot. They don’t actually research tidbits of information. They take everything they see at face value. As far as conspiracy theories go, sure there are secret societies. But as far as what is being done to us that is negative? Everything is being documented. Things in the world are sinister enough without having to make up occults worshiping the devil. There are occults that do that, but is there a devil worshiping occult that is controlling rappers? That’s ridiculous. Any small amount of research will tell you that.

Is that the premise of the entire album?

That’s just one subject. That’s just one song. I touch on a whole bunch of other things. But, the most important thing about is that it’s available exclusively on my website KweliClub.com. No middle man distributions

What do you think about critics who are saying upcoming rappers are a part of the illuminati?

Only a fool would believe that some kid in the hood is making a blood sacrifice. I mean it’s got damn ridiculous. It’s so ridiculous! That’s why I made a song about it because there is no sort of standard for information that people past to each other. There is no accountability. You must be accountable for what you say if you want to try and prove something to me. Show and prove. Don’t just utter facts out your mouth that you can’t back up. The reason I made that song I wanted to put factual information into a song. I’ve had people challenged me on what I said but no one has actually challenged me on my facts. Now the way we interrupt facts that can be your opinion. We don’t have to agree on your interpretation, but we have to agree on the facts.

J.Cole. Kendrick Lamar. Tyler the Creator….How do you feel about these upcoming rappers in the game?

I love just about all those rappers you named. Kendrick Lamar is on my new album. J Cole is on my new album. We produced the last song on the album. I work with J Cole extensively.

Not too many know about your relationship with Kanye. Do the two of you still keep in contact?

I see Kanye a couple times a year. He moves around a lot. I’m not in the same circles as him at this point in my life. But yeah, I reach out to him and we chop it up a few times a year.

You and Mos Def. Will there be another album?

Probably not another album. But that’s my brother. We do a lot of shows together

You just recently launched an internet radio station. Tell me about that

Javotti radio is on Radionomy. But I got pulled in with that from my friends at TuneIn. But, I’m excited about it because I like music and I like to curate and program music

You had a song with Bilal called “Talk to you.” Extremely poetic and well articulate way of expressing your love to a woman. It’s no secret that in today’s music there is a lot of disrespect and derogatory comments. Why do you think that is?

The pathologies that are in our communities exist in the music. And hip hop artist, as people closest to ground zero of what’s going on in the hoods, we rap about that stuff good and bad. So when you hear negativity in a rap song whether it’s super violent, or super misogynist, or just super sexual, you got to understand that’s an artist reflecting our very, very accurate reality. If we want to change the way our music sounds we have to change the conditions of where we live. We can’t expect artists to not paint accurate pictures, and they do. It’s our job as people who care about the music to celebrate artists who have diversity or have balance. If we don’t do that we can’t blame anybody else for that. There are root causes that make us wants to hear ourselves degraded and have no problem with it. It’s a mistake to focus on the music when we talk about those issues. Those are serious, serious issues in the community and that’s where the music comes from.
I’m glad you touched on that because it seems our community is obsessed with the negative image projected in the reality TV show Love & Hip Hop. What do you think about that?

One, reality TV is the farthest thing from reality on television. Especially for Love & Hip Hop what people have to understand is, as entertaining as it is and it can be, it has nothing to do with love and it has nothing to do with hip hop. So that’s a misnomer. It’s like yeah, we can watch people act ratchet and be gossipy and petty and that can be entertaining to watch someone embarrass themselves because your life is not where you want it to be so you want to see somebody else spiral out of control. It’s human nature for us to watch a car crash. But it’s not about love and it’s not about hip hop and that’s really the only real problem that I have with it. That it’s being associated with something it’s not. Just because its people who have been in the music industry doesn’t mean its hip hop.
Would you consider doing a reality TV show?

I would do a reality TV show that would be under my control, but never one of those produced by those people who do that type of stuff. I would never subject myself to that.
You’re big in activism and very well versed in politics. What is your stance on President Obama’s performance and the backlash he is receiving from the Affordable Care Act?

I admire and respect the president and my view on politics is, yes there are politics in politics. People shouldn’t be surprised by that. Once someone becomes a politician, once they win their offices, they might have been an activist or a grassroots campaign or whatever, but then your job becomes keeping that office. That’s just the reality of politics and if you don’t like it don’t play that game. I think as far as the game of politics he plays it well. I think he messed up this time with the affordable care act. I mean is that a bigger mess up than no weapons of mass destruction? There’s levels to it. What I admire about Obama, that is being played in the media as a negative on both sides, is you don’t see people in politics willing to be like ‘I messed that up’ and he’s done that a few times. That’s all you can ask of a man. You can’t ask anybody to be perfect all you can ask is somebody be responsible when they do make mistakes. He’s someone I do see as taking responsibility. I never heard George Bush apologize for lying to us about getting us into Iraq.
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NEW YORK, NY (DECEMBER 3RD, 2013) - Critically acclaimed hip hop artist Talib Kweli releases the incredibly personal Gravitas on Javotti Media, December 15th, 2013. Gravitas was recorded while Talib was on the road with Macklemore and Ryan Lewis during the Heist tour, and it will be available digital only, solely at Kweli’s website www.kweliclub.com. This is an innovative way to connect to fans by selling directly to them as opposed to thru a middle man. Many of today’s music fans express interest in supporting the artist they like directly rather than depending on a major corporation to provide them with music. This is a unique opportunity for fans of Talib Kweli’s music to do that. The vinyl and CD of Gravitaswill be available thru Javotti Media’s partnership with Fat Beats on February 25th, 2014. This gives those willing to join www.kweliclub.com an opportunity to get the album two months before it’s physical release date.

Gravitas, Talib Kweli’s sixth solo album, began to take shape in May, during the weeks following the release of Kweli’s fifth solo album, Prisoner of Conscious. Loaded with guests, Prisoner of Conscious was well received and reviewed, and gained Talib many new fans to add to his already large following. However, Kweli soon found himself wanting to record more personal material and really document his journey thru music. When singer Ryan Leslie, who created the platform that Kweli is using to sell Gravitas, approached him with the idea of selling direct to fan, songs that were just rough ideas began to fully form in Kweli’s head.

"One of my favorite things about today’s hip hop is the honesty," says Kweli. Today’s most popular rappers aren’t always politically correct or deep, but the best are unflinchingly honest. While my story may be documented, I have never truly told my story thru music. My true fans have heard bits and pieces thru the years, but Gravitas sums up my experience until now."

The new songs reflect a continued determination and drive in Talib Kweli, impressive because of the fact that Prisoner of Conscious was released less than six months ago. Considered one of the top tier lyricist of all time and name dropped in songs by everyone from Jay-Z to 2 Chainz, Talib Kweli has defied the odds and remained relevant while never compromising his art, quite a feat in today’s music business. The respect he is given is evident when Raekwon from the Wu Tang Clan drops by to spit on Violations. Talib Kweli has also showcased new artists throughout his storied career, giving breaks to people like Kanye West, Kendrick Lamar and J. Cole long before they were embraced by the mainstream. This streak continues with Brooklyn’s own UnderAchievers, who pop up on the Statik Selektah produced New Leaders. The Oh No produced Art Imitates Life features classic lyricism from Kweli, Rah Digga and Black Thought from the legendary Roots, and Austin’s guitar prodigy Gary Clarke Jr. shows up for Demonology. All of this leads up to Gravitas' final track, Colors of You, featuring Mike Posner and produced by the late, great J Dilla of Slum Village fame.

Gravitas is available for pre-order right now at www.kweliclub.com. On December 15th, 2013, everyone who purchased it will get a download of the album. Gravitas will only be available at www.kweliclub.com, even when the physical is released on February 25th, 2014.

Gravitas Track Listing and Producers

1. Inner Monologue - produced by Khrysis

2. Demonology - featuring Gary Clarke Jr., produced by Lord Quest

3. State of Grace - featuring Abby Dobson, produced by Lord Quest

4. Violations - featuring Raekwon, produced by Thaddeus Dixon

5. Rare Portraits - produced by Oh No

6. New Leaders - featuring UnderAchievers, produced by Statik Selektah

7. The Wormhole - produced by Oh No

8. What’s Real - featuring RES, produced by Rich Kidd

9. Art Imitates Life - featuring Black Thought, Rah Digga & ALBe. Back, produced by OhNo

10. Lover’s Peak - produced by 6th Sense

11. Colors of You - featuring Mike Posner, produced by J Dilla
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Now we have the full track list and production credits. Add to that the confirmation of CD and LP. I expect normal prices for both. Now the wait begins.

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@Kenyan West @flyry @We Major @Kaydigi @mrken12 @diggy @CheckMate @Insensitive @realdarkphoenix @Atsym Sknyfs @IronFist @Recca Gatsby @Thatrogueassdiaz
 
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Sensitive Blake Griffin

Sensitive Blake Griffin

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Hades said:
People are trying to front on POC. That album is great. Same with Gutter Rainbows and Revolutions Per Minute. People front on Talib in favor of Mos but Mos doesn't put out work like that. Mannie said OMFGOD was done and we haven't heard a peep since then. Now Talib is about to drop another album on top on POC and Attack The Block. I'm holding out for more info but if there is a CD release, it's getting snatched with the quickness.

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I had a lot more appreciation for Gutter Rainbows after seeing it performed live. Talib is a GREAT performer.
 
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