“If I focus on being an activist and my job is to be a rapper, I'm not going to be as good of a rapper. I need to focus on hip-hop and focus on making the music, so that when the activists come to me and they need my voice to create a platform, then I've got enough people listening to me. Not because I'm conscious, but because I'm dope.”

American rapper

Talib Kweli Greene is an American rapper, known for his work as one half of the hip-hop duo Black Star. He formed the group in 1997 with fellow Brooklyn rapper Yasiin Bey. Black Star’s 1998 single “Definition” reached the Billboard Hot 100 and led to the duo’s self-titled debut album later that year, which entered the Billboard 200. Kweli and Bey then pursued solo careers, though they later released one more Black Star album, No Fear of Time, in 2022.