Adding to the Résumé

Talib Kweli Goes from MC to Co-CEO

By Corey Bloom | Photo by D-Nice

Talib Kweli’s legacy in hip-hop is ever expanding. As one of the premier artists on the once great, now defunct Rawkus records with groups Reflection Eternal and Black Star, Kweli was recognized as the truth; an MC with raw skill, ingenuity and a purpose that exceeded stacking greenbacks. While his preceding albums Quality and The Beautiful Struggle found the underground hero trading in his independent status for a major label budget, he retained his clarity and devotion towards the art and culture. His next move came as a surprise to Kweli himself but was made based on natural progression. With friend Corey Smyth, co-founder of Spitkicker—a hip-hop collective which promotes unification and positivity amongst like-minded entertainers—Kweli recently launched Blacksmith Music, a label backed by Warner Brothers but free of any political constraints.

After releasing his as yet untitled third solo album, Blacksmith will follow with fellow Spitkicker Jean Grae’s major label debut. Invigorated and inspired by his latest venture Kweli openly discussed his newfound position as artist/label co-CEO.

How and when did you meet up with your partner Corey Smyth?
I met Corey when I was looking for Common to do “Respiration” on the Black Star album. Corey had recognized me from being around Mos Def, and he happened to be chilling on Common’s tour bus. He came up to me and asked me if I needed any help. I didn’t recognize him, so I was like, “yeah, I’m trying to talk to Common to get him on this song,” so he brought me on the bus. From there he started calling me, and getting me work in Japan and whatnot, and that’s when I elected him to be my manager.

How did the whole business thing go down with you guys?
Our business is real loose, and our relationship is truly based on trust. He saw what we were doing as practical, like he never made any grandiose promises like, “I’m gonna make you a star,” he just was like, “I’ll always keep you working,” and anything else was up to me. That’s the relationship I enjoyed, because I didn’t want anybody giving me false hopes.

I understand they’re two separate entities, but how closely do Spitkicker and Blacksmith operate?
Well, for a long time Spitkicker operated out of the Blacksmith offices. Spitkicker was started by Corey, his best friend Rene John-Sandy and Dave and Pos from De La Soul. So Spitkicker is a way for artists on Blacksmith—or other artists who are doing music that is like-minded with what we’re doing—to have another outlet. It started together, but you’re right to say it’s not necessarily the same thing. Blacksmith is a way for us to dictate how we want our music to come out, instead of having it dictated to us.

Each album you’ve put out has been on a different label. Has that been unnerving for you as an artist?
It doesn’t feel like that to me. The Black Star album and the Reflection Eternal album were both on Rawkus, and they did their thing. The Quality album was on Geffen, which wasn’t as grassroots as the Rawkus approach was, but even though it was a different staff, it was still kinda Rawkus. After Quality, it felt different, like with The Beautiful Struggle, even though it was still on the same label. So instead of Geffen through Interscope, it was MCA through Interscope.

What did you learn from Rawkus in terms of running a label? And what did you learn not to do?
I learned that you always return every phone call, and you always pay your bills on time because that’s what you’re supposed to do. I also learned not to put any trust in these promotion companies, to not give your whole business to them, just use them sparingly and to do all your own work yourself.

Jean mentioned signing an artist like herself who is out of the norm was a risk, do you feel the same?
It’s a risk if I’m depending on Jean Grae to make me go platinum, but that’s what’s beautiful about what this is. It’s really an artist-friendly situation, where it’s about the music. We can always create money market opportunities for ourselves, but if we focus on signing artists just because they’re gonna sell us records, that takes away from everything. That’s the direction the industry is going, and the reason the industry is failing. We need to get back to the art, and Jean is one of the purest artists out there, so to me it’s not a risk at all. It makes perfect sense.

Do you see yourself as an out-of-the-norm artist?
I think the artist who has to depend on one hit single, and depend on a record label, those are the ones who are out of the norm. The normal ones are the ones who have jobs, 9-to-5s, and do hip-hop for a hobby because they love it, and are not dependent on the music industry.

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