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Talib Kweli Read Patti Smith's Memoir to Prep For His Autobiography

Rock Lit is where Hive discusses the intersection of literature and music.

It’s clear when you listen to Talib Kweli’s music -- whether it’s his solo disc or work with various other projects including Black Star -- that the rapper has a slew of literary influences. From Kweli’s 2002 debut solo effort Quality, to his new album Prisoner of Conscious, out May 7 via his own label Javotti Music, Kweli has been interested in creating his own narrative. This idea of finding one’s own story comes from Kweli’s years of reading biographies and autobiographies, particularly those of historical figures like Malcolm X, and resonates throughout all of his musical endeavors.

Kweli, who was raised by parents who worked in universities and helped foster his love of reading as kid, has transition his love of reading biographies into the process of penning his own. The rapper signed a book deal recently and is part way through what sounds like an extensive memoir expected out in 2014. And he sees this emerging book as just another way to express and contextualize his own history, one that will reveal new facets of himself that fans haven’t yet experiences in his music. Kweli told Hive how he developed his love of biographies, how certain books have trickled into his own lyrics and what people can expect from his upcoming memoir.

"I don’t know if it’s an arrogant thing, but I see myself in a historical context: What’s my place in history? What’s my place in the world?"

Was there a certain type of book you preferred as you were growing up?

When I was a teenager I got into biographies. Iceberg Slim’s Pimp was more interesting to me than his fictional writing. Malcolm X’s autobiography. Miles Davis’ autobiography. Those things I was really into more than fiction. Fiction didn’t really hold my interest, although I loved To Kill a Mockingbird. There was a science fiction book called Brave New World. Some of that black science fiction like Octavia Butler and stuff like that, I got into a little bit.

What is it about biography that you find compelling?

I don’t know if it’s an arrogant thing, but I see myself in a historical context: What’s my place in history? What’s my place in the world? And I use other people for inspiration. So people’s stories are just extremely interesting to me, especially people that I can relate to on certain levels. Those books in particular, there’s something in each one of those stories that I can relate to.

Has anything you’ve read ever appeared in your songs?

One of my earliest songs is called “2000 Seasons.” It was the first song that really put me on the map lyrically. It’s named after a book called 2000 Seasons by an African writer named Ayi Kwei Armah. It’s a novel but it talks about the definition of Africa. Some of the things that had been going on in Ghana at the time. The whole rhyme -- the song is one long rhyme -- but it’s based on this quote that was in the intro of the book. I don’t remember the quote right now but I say the quote but I say the quote on the intro of the song as well. Another good one was in Blackstar on the record Thieves of the Night. One of the last songs is almost verbatim the last paragraph of The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison. Now that I’m in the conversation with you, I’m remembering some other stuff that I’ve written that I forgot about. Toni Morrison’s Bluest Eye was a huge influence on me.

When you’re reading a book, do lines stand out to you as something that could be potentially worked into the lyrics?

Yeah. With hip hop you get away with a little bit of plagiarism. You do. Because you’re adding melody to it. Hip-hop artists do it all the time. I’ve heard Nas do it. I’ve heard Jay-Z do it. I’ve heard them say things out of books, or things that are just sayings that people say. Sometimes it’s actually it’s a quote from such and such that a rapper paraphrased and made a lyric out of it. Rappers do that all the time. We do that with beats – we sample and chop drums and take inspiration from other places and beats – and we do it in lyrics as well.

What are you currently into reading?

Actually, biographies. I read Keith Richards and Patti Smith. I’m writing a book, a memoir, so I’m reading memoirs right now.

How far are you into your own memoir?

I’ve written 20 chapters but they’re unedited, so I don’t know what that may be. I’m like 22 years old in the book right now, so it’s almost a chapter each year.

Do you have a sense of when it would come out?

It’s gonna come out next year. I just did a book deal.

How does one go from being a lyricist to writing actual prose?

I wrote a lot when I was younger. The hip-hop comes out of that. I don’t know if it’s like riding a bike but it’s definitely a muscle that you have to flex. I just got this book deal recently, in the last couple of months, but I started writing this book three years ago. I’m definitely better at it now than I was when I first started. I took a trip to Puerto Rico and spent a week just doing nothing but writing this book. So I knocked out the first five or ten chapters just in that trip. I feel myself getting better.

Do you have a goal with the memoir?

Honesty. Miles Davis to me was honest, man. What’s interesting is that, using Miles Davis’ book as a reference, I wrote super honest, even unflattering things. The guy I was working with on the editing suggested I take it out for the meeting [with the book publisher]. And the first thing that they said in the meeting was, “I want you to go deeper.” So I showed them this other stuff I wrote and it was like, “Oh well why wasn’t this in there?” But I think I got that from Miles autobiography -- he was not a nice guy and he was honest about it.

So when this memoir comes out, will there be facets of your personality or your experience that people couldn’t see through your songs?

Definitely. I think for a fan of mine – there might be people who know me just through music but don’t get certain things about me – I think it’ll help connect the dots. You have to know someone’s experience to know why they’re saying what they’re saying or doing what they’re doing. For people who care – and I’m not sure how many of them there are – but for people who care, it’ll be like “I get why he raps like this or why he made this song or why he did this, why this happened.”

If someone’s been a fan of your music for a long time, what are a couple books you recommend they read?

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. Autobiography of Malcolm X. Breath Eyes Memory by Edwidge Danticat.

Prisoner of Consciousness is out May 7 via Javotti/EMI/Capitol.

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