Talib Kweli
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Madlib is one of the best producers in Hip-Hop and his deft touch behind the boards extends far beyond the genre most associate him with. The Oxnard, Calif. native joined his brother Talib Kweli on Shade 45’s Sway In The Morning, revealing that he’s got albums with the late Mac Miller, Planet Asia, and Erykah Badu in the tuck.
Madlib, who doesn’t do a ton of media appearances, spoke briefly on the aforementioned projects, and considering he has a history with the trio of artists, fans should expect more of that Beat Konducta magic.
“Right now, I’m finishing up the Mac Miller album, Planet Asia album, Erykah Badu album, different stuff,” Madlib said, with Sway Calloway following up to ask if the estate is in support of Madlib working on the Miller project, to which he confirmed they’ve given their blessing. Sway noted that Miller appears on Liberation 2, the joint project featuring the producer and Kweli.
Fans of Planet Asia are well aware of the track Madlib remixed titled “Definition Of Ill,” which stamped the Fresno, Calif. rapper as one of the best lyricists just ahead of the turn of the century in 1999. The Gold Chain Music honcho has remained busy over the past two decades with a number of high-quality projects and this upcoming body of work will add to that.
The Bad Kid also worked in the past with Badu on the albums New Amerykah Part One (4th World War) and New Amerykah Part Two (Return of the Ankh), released in 2008 and 2010 respectively.
Check out Talib Kweli and Madlib on Sway In The Morning below.
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Veteran rapper Bun B took time to reflect on Jay-Z’s apparent usage of his lyrics for one of his hits and on their relationship in an interview.
The “Still Trill” rapper sat down as the guest on the most recent episode of the People’s Party with Talib Kweli podcast. At about the halfway mark the discussion soon turned to his feelings about the revelation that the first four lines of the third verse of Jay-Z’s “99 Problems” were taken from Bun B’s verse from the UGK song “Touched.” The track was on their iconic 1996 album Ridin’ Dirty. “99 Problems” would go on to be one of the standout hits from The Black Album.
“I feel like enough people know,” the Port Arthur, Texas native said. “But I don’t feel like it’s that big of a deal. I would call it mutual respect. We do this a lot in Hip-Hop, right? Where we have artists who have said, ‘Fuck that was dope, the way he said that.’ And sometimes you wanna pay homage to that wordplay. How many songs, Kweli, have you listened to and been like, ‘I woulda rhymed that last part like this.’”
He continued plainly: And I think that’s what happens. I think you feel like, ‘This is a dope rhyme, I don’t think enough people heard this shit. I’m finna drop this shit in here.’ Sometimes you take a dope rhyme and make it a hook, and then people gotta go back and figure it out. But nah, I don’t think a lot of people know that. I don’t think it’s a big deal that they don’t know. Or a big deal if they do.”
The Trill Burgers founder has often spoken about his connection with Jay-Z, dating back to Pimp C’s guest verse on “Big Pimpin” from Vol. 3… Life and Times of S. Carter. In the years since Pimp C’s passing, Bun B has shared that his UGK partner had initial misgivings about appearing on the track out of respect for the late 2Pac.
“So, 2Pac was not a Jay-Z fan, this is very well-known,” Bun B said in another podcast interview. “Jay-Z had been introduced to UGK by a big DJ in New York named Clark Kent. And he’s like, ‘I like these guys, I wanna work with them.’ And Pimp C did not want to fuck with people that 2Pac did not fuck with, because he thought 2Pac was the best judge of character.”
Check out the entire podcast episode below.
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