In a year where many musicians are sadly passing away all too young, it’s understandable that many are feeling the nostalgia and doubting that the musicians of today will be able to hold candles to the giants they stand on. Earlier this week however, Talib Kweli came out against a Twitter user who was doing exactly that, who claimed that A Tribe Called Quest and Rakim can’t be compared to the sounds of today.
I disagree. RTJ, Joey Badass, Kendrick, Cole, Rapsody, anderson paak, chance, all great on they way to legend https://t.co/Ka6gxCcS0o
— Talib Kweli Greene (@TalibKweli) May 17, 2016
Over a number of tweets, Talib named Run The Jewels, Joey Bada$$, Kendrick Lamar, J. Cole, Rapsody, Anderson .Paak and Chance The Rapper as artists “all great, on [their] way to legend.” All of these artists are absolutely killing it at the moment – constantly releasing well-received music and each with their own distinct sound – but kind words from the one and only Talib Kweli can’t do anything but help their reputation and their self-confidence. In the same post Kweli also addressed the ease of finding good and original music in the age we live in.
“You are pretending that finding good music is harder than it used to be. That is false. It’s way easier… People forget the primary subject of real hiphop from 20-30 years ago was the ubiquitous ‘wacl MC’. Cuz there was a lot of wack shit out.”
People forget the primary subject of real hiphop from 20-30 years ago was the ubiquitous "wack MC." Cuz there was a lot of wack shit out.
— Talib Kweli Greene (@TalibKweli) May 17, 2016
Indeed, when we interviewed Kweli last year he told us, ” [To Pimp A Butterfly] is an experimentation in hip-hop, it’s funk and jazz, and he’s talking about the black experience as a kid from Compton. Kendrick is the number one most popular rapper right now, with the exception of maybe Drake. So to me, that signals a really healthy market for real music… People know the names of the artists that play club music, but people have nothing invested in these artists. People have something invested in Kendrick, and Run The Jewels, and J Cole and A$AP Rocky.”
Some wise words from one of the biggest names in biz. It’s an exciting time for music that we live in, and living in the past is getting no one anywhere interesting. Let’s wait and see if Talib’s predictions are true, and these acts all become legends – we’re pretty confident they will.
Check out our review of Talib Kweli alongside Common in Melbourne here.
Image: oogeewoogee