Talib Kweli Quotes

There was a time when people would go search out underground records. Now, underground means free, and people don't really care for it. So now artists tend to go more pop and look for the radio. You know, the radio never wanted you to speak about anything, so the music is kinda influenced by the hands of the radio which wants to homogenize it and dilute it and sanitize it. And for the most part, nobody's takin' the time to seek out the cats that are still tryin' to talk, so they have a difficult time being heard, like Chuck D said.

We've got great fans that rock and roll won't have, because you can have a one-hit record and country music used to, not so much anymore and you have a fan forever.

I work so I don't need to make rent through my songs, and I think if more people engaged with music without needing it to provide for their welfare, you're not beholden to anyone.

I've got more creative control when I do music.

I associate creativity with independent music.

I started growing my audience in small clubs through word-of-mouth. I started making music that isn't necessarily commercially viable, and it's not necessarily marketable to my peers to a certain extent.

I want to be role model for people to be like, 'I don't need a major label to be a successful artist and to have a successful song.'

Our music is being played on MTV and the radio. That's something that still blows us away. And we did it our way.

I'm into indie music. I think indie is going to bring back the spirit in music. There was a time when it was all about accommodating the music business, the music was getting tasteless, but the spirit is back.

My dream is to do whatever I want without any interference from the record company.

It's not really into the big mass movement in music that I want to do, you know.

I never pigeonholed myself - the only reason you'd want to pigeonhole is to monetize your business and, as a person, I don't see the importance of doing that. My music took off above the rest of those things: You can just make a song, put it on a CD, and get it out to all these people.

I'm really surprised at how popular 'Starstruck' has become, but I'm so thankful because we worked so hard on it, and I'm happy that so many kids enjoy it. I'm also really happy at how the soundtrack turned out!

When I first started, in 2006, it was an exciting time. Independent, cool, weird artists were being successful, and magazines were writing about them, and people were getting played on radio that were, like, really good.

What's important to me is that my songs can exist without any material anything. It's very reflective of my ideology.

A band can define their own success.

To be a legend, we have to make a lot of right moves and great music.

In 2011, I released my first album called 'International Villager.' I had no support, and whatever money I had made, I put it all in the album. I shot the music video for 'Brown Rang' with one lakh dollars. I spent so much money, as I just wanted to put it up on YouTube, as I knew that my market was there, and it became a huge hit.

A moment for me that changed everything was hearing my song on the radio for the first time.

Everything around me is surreal. I get picked up in cars and go to celebrity bashes, and I get sponsorship on clothes, and it's great, and I really enjoy it. But you should remember where it all started: the music. That's the key.

We was able to become real successful in the mixtape space.

I think there's good music out there. I just think that radio stations don't play it.

So, I play in a band. It's a really underground band. Super underground. Very underground. Like, we don't even actually play.

The painting has a life of its own

I suppose it never occurs to these people that a man might just want to write a piece of music.