Talib Kweli Greene was born in the New York borough of Brooklyn.He was brought up in a rough neighborhood by very literate parents who where extremely proud of their african roots.These morals where instilled in Talib so that he knew who he was and that he had an important role to play in the world.In fact his first name means in arabian ´a seeker or student´ and his middle name means ´of truth or knowledge´ in Ghanian.From an early age he tended to stay away from the bad elements that surrounded him,so he often wrote alot of literacy includin poetry,rhymes and even storys.Infact in his teenage years he was employed at a local book store in Brooklyn,he would often try to encourage children from the block to read aswell.In 1994 Kweli met the DJ Hi -Tek in Cincinnati.The two formed a good friendship and soon became a duo.Known as
´Reflection Eternal´ they began performing whenever and wherever they could,jumpin on hot compilation albums.In ´95 Talib met fellow Mc Mos Def at New York University,where they both studied theatre.They struck up a friendship and formed the group ´Black Star´.Together they released the self titled album in 1998 to critical acclaim even though it was not a huge seller.This was mainly due to their style which was the complete opposite of gangsta.Shortly after this release Kweli signed to Rawkus records where he dropped a reflection eternal album with producer Hi Tek.The album was another success and in the summer of 2002 Talib released his first solo album entitled ´Quality´.The joint was a hit with critics again,but didnt go platinum which was a huge disappointment to Kweli.This year however he faced his first real taste of
of controversay when a web user calling himself ´I am rick james´ posted a link on a site to Kwelis new album ´Beautiful Struggle´.Talib was furious and posted a reply tellin James that he was stealin food from his childrens mouths.The online spat is only a minor blip in his short career that continues to blossom.
