Talib Kweli Greene, born on October 3, 1975, in Brooklyn, New York, is an American rapper and music producer.

He first gained recognition in the late 1990s for his collaboration with Mos Def, forming the group Black Star.

Here are some of the best quotes from Talib Kweli:

1. “As an artist, I have to be a leader of my fans, not, like, follow them. Because if I chose to follow them, you know, they could do it. You know, it’s me who’s doing it.”
2. “I like collaboration because, first of all, I’m good at writing lyrics. I don’t know how to make beats. I don’t play instruments. I’m not a good singer. So even when you see a solo album of mine, it’s still a collaboration.”
3. “There’s a lot of activism that doesn’t deal with empowerment, and you have to empower yourself in order to be relevant to any type of struggle.”
4. “I take certain steps to make sure I’m relevant artistically. I always have new music and a reason to be on the road. I’m not just playing ‘Get By’ over and over. I have 12 albums.”
5. “I am not a prisoner of conscious, but people try to make me one sometimes. It is both a gift and a curse. It’s a high honor but can create limitations — I have to be fluid.”
6. “It doesn’t get any more underground, conscious or indie than Macklemore, Ryan Lewis, but because they got a couple of really big pop hits, actually some of the biggest pop hits that hip-hop has ever seen, people are missing that part of their story. People are not counting that blessing.”
7. “My personal take on politics is I deal with social situations and cultural situations in my music and in my life. I have said on record many times that I haven’t voted. I’m not the type of person who says, ‘I’m never going to vote.’ I think it’s clear to me that our system has failed us.”
8. “When I’m in the studio, I’m strictly thinking about the beats, the rhymes and the song. The decision I make once the songs are created, and there’s a barcode put on the package, and I’m out there in the street selling it, those decisions as a businessman are different than the creative decisions you make.”