Post by fugees-online on Nov 18, 2005 12:06:15 GMT 1
Mr. Kweli Honors Ms. Hill
Rapper pays musical tribute to Fugee on new CD
Talib Kweli always has a lot on his mind. On last year's The Beautiful Struggle, the rapper offered up socially conscious rhymes set everywhere from ghettos across the U.S. to battlefields of Iraq. On the follow-up, Right About Now... (due November 22nd), a certain woman has crept into his brain: The song "Ms. Hill" is an ode to the eccentric, "lost but now found" hip-hop star Lauryn Hill.
Over a sample of Ben Kweller's "In Other Words" -- yep, Kweli's a fan -- the rapper salutes the female Fugee with lyrics like "Ms. Hill got skills/ . . . What you spit got the power to uplift a hill."
"Those are personal feelings I have about Lauryn," says Kweli, who toured Europe with Hill after her 1998 blockbuster solo debut, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. "All of us who really love her music and cared about her have felt those feelings before. She was, and is, the hottest."
Right About Now...'s other shout-outs go to Kanye West, Common, the Beastie Boys and Kweli's native Brooklyn. He also gets in a few jabs at the likes of Interscope Records labelhead Jimmy Iovine, once in command of Kweli's former label, the now-defunct MCA Records, which Kweli dubs the "Music Cemetery of America."
"It's a little bit more raw and stripped-down and not as produced as my last couple of albums," Kweli says. "It's called Right About Now... because I got it right about now. It means I gotta write about what's going on right now, and it's what's happening with me right about now."
The album is Kweli's third since he and Black Star mate Mos Def went their separate ways. The two remain friends, and Mos Def joins in on the energetic "Supreme Supreme." Other guests include South African MC Jean Grae, who adds her soulful, floetic stylings to "Where Ya Gonna Run," and lost-and-found comedian Dave Chappelle, who adds commentary to the title track.
"I usually work with people I have good relationships with and enjoy," Kweli says. "People were just coming into the studio and just vibing out and exchanging things."
To carry on that vibe, Kweli, Mos Def, Grae and Pharoahe Monch teamed for the Breed Love Odyssey tour, which began October 28th in Sacramento.
As for a Black Star reunion record, Kweli is coy. "The Black Star experience is what it is," he says. "That album came out of us doing shows, so the best way for people to experience Black Star is to see us live. As far as doing another album, we'll see . . . It would be real dope though."
TRACEY FORD
(Posted Nov 17, 2005)
source: RollingStone magazine
www.rollingstone.com/news/story/_/id/8835077/talibkweli?pageid=rs.Home&pageregion=single1&rnd=1132311704351&has-player=unknown
Rapper pays musical tribute to Fugee on new CD
Talib Kweli always has a lot on his mind. On last year's The Beautiful Struggle, the rapper offered up socially conscious rhymes set everywhere from ghettos across the U.S. to battlefields of Iraq. On the follow-up, Right About Now... (due November 22nd), a certain woman has crept into his brain: The song "Ms. Hill" is an ode to the eccentric, "lost but now found" hip-hop star Lauryn Hill.
Over a sample of Ben Kweller's "In Other Words" -- yep, Kweli's a fan -- the rapper salutes the female Fugee with lyrics like "Ms. Hill got skills/ . . . What you spit got the power to uplift a hill."
"Those are personal feelings I have about Lauryn," says Kweli, who toured Europe with Hill after her 1998 blockbuster solo debut, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. "All of us who really love her music and cared about her have felt those feelings before. She was, and is, the hottest."
Right About Now...'s other shout-outs go to Kanye West, Common, the Beastie Boys and Kweli's native Brooklyn. He also gets in a few jabs at the likes of Interscope Records labelhead Jimmy Iovine, once in command of Kweli's former label, the now-defunct MCA Records, which Kweli dubs the "Music Cemetery of America."
"It's a little bit more raw and stripped-down and not as produced as my last couple of albums," Kweli says. "It's called Right About Now... because I got it right about now. It means I gotta write about what's going on right now, and it's what's happening with me right about now."
The album is Kweli's third since he and Black Star mate Mos Def went their separate ways. The two remain friends, and Mos Def joins in on the energetic "Supreme Supreme." Other guests include South African MC Jean Grae, who adds her soulful, floetic stylings to "Where Ya Gonna Run," and lost-and-found comedian Dave Chappelle, who adds commentary to the title track.
"I usually work with people I have good relationships with and enjoy," Kweli says. "People were just coming into the studio and just vibing out and exchanging things."
To carry on that vibe, Kweli, Mos Def, Grae and Pharoahe Monch teamed for the Breed Love Odyssey tour, which began October 28th in Sacramento.
As for a Black Star reunion record, Kweli is coy. "The Black Star experience is what it is," he says. "That album came out of us doing shows, so the best way for people to experience Black Star is to see us live. As far as doing another album, we'll see . . . It would be real dope though."
TRACEY FORD
(Posted Nov 17, 2005)
source: RollingStone magazine
www.rollingstone.com/news/story/_/id/8835077/talibkweli?pageid=rs.Home&pageregion=single1&rnd=1132311704351&has-player=unknown
