THE BLACK HISTORY MIXTAPE

THE BLACK HISTORY MIXTAPE

1.    SELF DESTRUCTION - #MALCOLMX   

2.    BLACK N PROUD - #BRANDNUBIAN

3.    DREAM FT MLK JR - COMMON

4.    YOU MUST LEARN - #KRS1

5.    WHO'S GONNA TAKE THE WEIGHT? - #GANGSTARR

6.    EMBRACE YOUR TRUE NAME - #TUPAC

7.    WORD TO THE MOTHERLAND - #BIGDADDYKANE

8.    VERBAL MILK - #XCLAN

9.    THE FEELING - KONCEPT

10. STILL I RISE - #MAYAANGELOU

11. BLACK WOMAN - #JUNGLEBROTHERS

12. AFRICA DREAM - #TALIBKWELI

13. GHETTOS OF THE MIND - #PETEROCKandCLSMOOTH

14. BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY - MALCOLM X

15. BY THE TIME I GET TO ARIZONA - #PUBLICENEMY

16. BLACK WISH - #THELASTPOETS

17. BE REAL BLACK FOR ME - #ROBERTAFLACK AND #DONNYHATHAWAY

18. I AM THE BLACK GOLD OF THE SUN - #ATRIBECALLEDQUEST

J DILLA, PETE ROCK -THE YANCEY PHILLIPS PROJECT

DJ TIGER PRESENTS THE YANCEY PHILLIPS PROJECT: THE TRUEST HIP HOP AND RNB SOUL ARTISTS BLENDED OVER J DILLA & PETE ROCK PRODUCTION FEATURING MOS DEF, TALIB KWELI, JILL SCOTT, ANTHONY HAMILTON, BILAL, DWELE, THE BRAND NEW HEAVIES, WUTANG, MOBB DEEP, XZIBIT, J COLE, JAY ELECTRONICA, DJ PREMIER, COMMON, GURU, STYLES P, BUSTA RHYMES, ROYCE 5'9", NAS, QTIP, DE LA SOUL, BUCKSHOT AND LARGE PROFESSOR

NAS, DJ PREMIER, QTIP AND TALIB KWELI SPEAK ON GURU OF GANG STARR

Hip-hop lost one of its most distinct voices on April 19th when Guru, whose collaboration with DJ Premier as Gang Starr expanded the genre's scope, died after a year-long struggle with cancer. He was 48.

Guru ˜ born Keith Elam ˜ grew up in the Roxbury section of Boston. His father was that city's first black municipal judge and his mother was a library director in the city's public schools. Elam graduated from Morehouse College, worked as a social worker, and began graduate school at Manhattan's Fashion Institute of Technology before he dropped out in the mid-'80s, dove headlong into New York's burgeoning hip-hop underground and began his rap career as MC Keith E.

Over a 14-year span, Gang Starr released six albums, all universally acclaimed, and despite the duo's uncompromising music, which was often dense and rarely radio-friendly, had two gold albums and several Top 10 singles, including "Mass Appeal." As a solo artist, Guru recorded four editions of his Jazzmatazz series, rhyming over jazz arrangements featuring the likes of Herbie Hancock, Roy Ayers, and Branford Marsalis.

NAS - "Guru was like a vanguard of rap, Gang Starr were right there, at the forefront of style on the New York streets."

DJ PREMIER -  "I'm gonna miss hearing his signature monotone voice when he walks in the room, but the songs will always bring it back to me," we had planned to reunite for a seventh album when the time was right, tragically we will never reach that day."

QTIP - "He had one of the most distinctive voices in music, If you wanted to understand rapping, story-telling, if you want to get thugged out, if you want to get political, you could listen to Gang Starr. They just encompassed everything that hip-hop embodied."

TALIB KWELI - "Gang Starr's music was the soundtrack to me falling in love with hip hop, when we first met, Guru and his crew snuck me and my crew in at New York's New Music Seminar back in 1990.  Guru was a friend, a mentor, and a legend and will be forever missed."

Talib Kweli "Violations" Feat. Raekwon

By Ralo

Tali Kweli is back with "Gravitas", his sixth studio album. He began as a member of Reflection Eternal with DJ/Producer Hi-Tek and has completed 10 albums as a solo act, with Refection Eternal and with Mos Def as Black Star. "Gravitas" is Kwelis' second album in less than a year. He dropped "Prisoner Of Conscious" in May of 2013.

 This time around he decided to do things differently, he released "Gravitas" digitally online on December 15th exclusively through his website talibkweli.com with the help of Javotti Media. The hard copy was released in stores on February 12th through Fat Beats.

Producers on the album include J Dilla, Statik Selektah, DJ Booth and Rich Kid. There are also guest vocal appearances from Black Thought, Raekwon, Rah Digga, Mike Posner, The Underachievers and Res.

Kweli said  "When you pre order my newest project, Gravitas, available Dec 15th, you will be buying it directly from me, no middleman, and I will now have a direct relationship with you. Who needs this industry when we have each other. The technology exists for me to have this relationship with the fans, and vice versa. It is a grand experiment. Lets go for it! Gravitas is my sixth solo album. It will feature production from OhNo, Q-Tip, Lord Quest Rich Kid and more.

"Although I am known as a leader in the indie movement, I have been distributed by majors for most of my career, even while I was on Rawkus. The first truly indie album I did was Gutter Rainbows on Javotti/3D. Gravitas takes it up a notch. I am following the lead of Ryan Leslie who provided the www.kweliclub.com platform for me. He's a genius for it. The advantages are: I will get the fans' emails. Everyone who sells music online gets consumer emails but the actual artist, it's not fair. Now I can communicate with actual fans who actually buy. I can look at my database and see who's buying what and where, and the money will come directly to me as opposed to a third party. Honestly, I don't know if people mean it when they say they want to support artists directly. I will know after this, I've left you no excuse. Another disadvantage is: people are used to getting music where they are used to getting music. It will take a sec to get them to understand Gravitas is ONLY available at www.kweliclub.com.

He went on to say "One of my favorite things about today's hip hop is the honesty. 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".

When asked about the meaning of the word Gravitas he said "The word gravitas is used to describe someone whose words and actions have importance and weight. I felt it was time to introduce some gravitas into hip-hop."

Before hard copies of "Gravitas" was available in stores, Talib spoke about being able to purchase his music exclusively online.  "Although I am known as a leader in the indie movement, I have been distributed by majors for most of my career, even while I was on Rawkus. The first truly indie album I did was Gutter Rainbows on Javotti/3D. Gravitas takes it up a notch. I am following the lead of Ryan Leslie who provided the www.kweliclub.com platform for me. He's a genius for it. The advantages are: I will get the fans' emails. Everyone who sells music online gets consumer emails but the actual artist, it's not fair. Now I can communicate with actual fans who actually buy. I can look at my database and see who's buying what and where, and the money will come directly to me as opposed to a third party. Honestly, I don't know if people mean it when they say they want to support artists directly. I will know after this, I've left you no excuse. Another disadvantage is: people are used to getting music where they are used to getting music. It will take a sec to get them to understand Gravitas is ONLY available at www.kweliclub.com."

This is "Violations" featuring Raekwon from "Gravitas". In stores now!

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OFF THE CORNER MIXTAPE VOL 3

THE OFF THE CORNER MIXTAPE SERIES CONTINUES WIT NEW MUSIC FROM SKYZOO, JOEY BADA$$, SAMSSUN,TALIB KWELI, MASTA ACE, AND MANY MORE

Talib Kweli Talks 'Prisoner of Conscious' Album

Source : Billboard.com

Talib Kweli always has somethinginsightful to say on the social and political fronts. But "Prisoner ofConscious," due May 7 on Javotti Media/Caroline Distribution, travelsbeyond the issues that established Kweli as a rap pioneer and gets morepersonal.

Throughout his career, theBrooklyn-based rapper has channeled his creative muse through variousincarnations: As half of Black Star with Mos Def, partnering with producerHi-Tek for "Reflection Eternal" and, most recently, teaming withsinger and longtime collaborator Res as Idle Warship on 2011's "Habits ofthe Heart."

Kweli notes, however, that hissocially and politically charged reputation sometimes means that people don't"necessarily understand the musicality behind what I do." So with'Prisoner of Conscious,' he "tried to stretch my wings a bit and bringsomething that was less beholden to the world of hip-hop and more existing inthe world in general; to celebrate my hip-hop roots but still have it in newerpackages."

Those packages come wrapped withan impressive string of guests. Miguel teams with Kweli on the upbeat Motownthrowback "Come Here," while Melanie Fiona joins in on the driving"Ready Set Go." Nelly, with singer Abby Dobson, shines on theintrospective music-and-life-themed "Before He Walked." One of themore unlikely pairings is with Brazilian singer/actor Seu Jorge on the carefree"Favela Love," inspired by a trip to Sao Paulo. Additional guestsinclude Kendrick Lamar, Curren$y, Busta Rhymes and Ryan Leslie. Productioncollaborators range from Oh No and J. Cole to RZA, Sean C & LV and SymbolicOne.  Kweli's fifth solo studio album isbeing released under his Javotti Media banner. Named after his paternalgrandmother, the label is the successor to his earlier indie venture,Blacksmith Records, originally distributed by Warner Bros. Javotti's firstrelease was Kweli's 2011 album Gutter Rainbows, distributed by 3D. Now CarolineDistribution is onboard for Prisoner of Conscious, also complementing the projectwith radio and online promotion.

"Talib's mentality and workethic are a very good fit for what we do," says Michael Harris, executiveVP/GM of EMI Label Services/Caroline. "The indie world doesn't work foreveryone; some artists need that major-label support. But Talib is almost likea one-man machine. He's very hands-on. Gutter Rainbows was an indication of hisfan base and what he can do, with no promotion, so to speak."

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