Brooklyn spitter Talib Kweli is a legendary emcee who has been hot since his 1998 collabo album with Mos Def, Black Star. He continues to make relevant music and has taken on an ambassadorial role as a veteran emcee. When stopping by Sway In The Morning recently, the BK rapper weighed in on the styles and influence of modern mainstream artists Drake and Big Sean. Kweli says he appreciates the emotion Drake evokes when rhyming, and Sean’s experimentation.
Discussing mainstream emcees, rappers who get played on the radio often, Talib says he has the utmost respect for Kanye West whom he believes paved the way for the modern era of rappers, “What I like about somebody like Kanye, and what he’s done for artists like Drake, and Big Sean, and Lupe [Fiasco], and other artists that you hear about in the mainstream that’s not always bustin guns or poppin bottles.” He adds that even when these rappers do touch on the stereotypical rapper life that fans sometimes don’t buy into it, “They do that every once in awhile, and when they do do it, you sometimes don’t even believe them.”
Drake gets some negative feedback that he can be overly emotional on wax, and is at the forefront of “emo-rap”, but Kweli comes to his defense and feels more rappers should emulate him, “I like hearing the different influences in the mainstream. I like hearing Drake being emotional, people make fun of his raps for being emotional but I think we need to hear more of that.”
Talking about young Detroit rapper Big Sean, the Black Star emcee is a fan of his ad libs, and his unconventional style, “ I like Big Sean, playing with the cadences and playing with the flows, going off the wall with it...I just like the different experimentation, and still coming up with records that work for the mainstream.”
Check out the interview below which includes a nice freestyle from Talib Kweli.