His legendary status in the music industry has set him apart from his fellow rappers, but Talib Kweli has been under scrutiny lately. He was recently banned from Twitter after participating in what some have called a weeks-long harassment campaign against a woman named Maya Moody. The exchange started after Moody replied to a tweet from a random Twitter user who named off Black rappers, including Talib, married to Black women. She implied that all of the rappers listed were guilty of colorism as their partners were light-skinned, setting off a firestorm exchange before she eventually blocked the Black Star emcee.
His fans would go on to doxx Moody and Talib later would get on Instagram Live and trash his opponent. Moody responded with a few petty tweets of her own, causing Talib to continue, as he sees it, to defend himself against people who speak "lies" about his personal life. After the story made its way through the media and Talib was accused of harassing a Black woman undeservingly, the rapper has come forward to speak with The Grio about the controversy and clear up misconceptions.
"She was implying that the only reason these rappers married these women is because they’re light-skinned," Kweli said. "So now you’re saying that every rapper on that list is potentially a colorist. I wanted to get clarity so I responded to Maya, 'Are you talking about my wife? Are you talking about a woman that you think that I’m involved with? Or is this any of your business?' Which I felt was not just fair, but also polite questions. I also started my tweet with, 'Nah, let’s have that conversation today.'"
"I went back and forth with her for the same amount of time she went back and forth with me," he added. "I push back against the narrative that she blocked me. She was talking about me every day behind the block. Is that somehow more virtuous than me, because I was talking about her without blocking her? Yeah, I tweeted her for two, almost three weeks. "
Another topic that angered Talib Kweli was that Moody brought up previous accusations that he sexually assaulted Philly singer Res. "That’s harassment. I’ve never raped anyone in my life," said Kweli. "I already went to court and the judge dismissed the case because I didn’t sexually harass Res. She also said that I raped children. She got that from a white supremacist’s blog, Turtle Boy Sports. When you’re accusing a Black man in White America of raping children, these are offenses that Black men used to get hung from f**king trees for."
Talib also told the publication that his ex was harassed online as well as his daughter. He denies accusations that he's a colorist or specifically target Black women, and emphasized that he has used his art and platform to uplift Black culture for decades.
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