- Talib Kweli
Noch bevor sein neues Album „Eardrum“ im Juli erscheint, hat Talib Kweli die Zeit gefunden Gangsta bzw. Hardcore Rap zu kritisieren. So soll laut Kweli die Verkaufszahlen von Gangsta Rappern aus dem simplen Grund stetig zurückgehen, dass die Musik nicht gut genug sei:
„I do see it [hardcore rap] getting less play, but it has nothing to do with Don Imus or anything like that. It has to do with the fact that people aren’t buying that music anymore.If you look at the CD sales of rappers who are talking about that stuff, it’s on the decline. It’s been on the decline for years. And it’s not because it’s misogynistic, and it’s not because they calling them hoes, it’s because a lot of it ain’t good. The art of the music has suffered where everyone wanted to get in the game and just hustle. There’s nothing wrong with hustling and getting your money, but when no one focuses on the art, when the art means nothing then people are gonna stop buying.“ Weiterhin bemängelt der ehemalige Rawkus Rapper: „High School Musical! is still selling millions, R&B, there’s certain country acts and certain people who take their music seriously that the music is still selling. But hardcore hip-hop, because it’s fraudulent, it’s not based on reality, it’s not selling.“
Zudem sprach Kweli von seinem eigenem Label Blacksmith Records, das über Warner vertrieben wird, und seiner Rolle als Label Chef:
„It’s been tough. Only because it’s hard for the major to accept my position as an executive. They still treat me like an artist like I need to be protected and I don’t feel like they keep it real with me all the time. And I stress for them to keep it real with me. The other part is that I’ve had to step my game up and be responsible and pay attention to things I’ve never paid attention to.“
Schlußendlich ging der Rapper nochmals auf die Gerüchte ein, er wäre bei einer Party in 50 Cent’s Haus von einer Frau geschlagen worden. Dabei rechnet er vor allem mit denjenigen ab, die solche Gerüchte verbreiten:
„What’s crazy though is that you realize that you’re a public figure and these people don’t have lives. You would think that somebody who’s at a 50 party is pretty comfortable with theyself because they successful, they doing they thing. But there’s a lot of these dudes who need to be DJs spinning records that’s actually gossiping like chicks. It’s funny to them, what happened is my negative situation becomes entertainment and I gotta live with that because I’m a public figure. I was just surprised with a lot of these people. They supposed to be all gangsta, but they all in my business like chicks.“
Ich bin sicher, dass ein Talib Kweli mit „Eardrum“ nie so gut verkaufen wird wie ein Young Jeezy. Ob man das gut oder schlecht findet, sei mal dahingestellt. Aber warum hat er mit Mitchy Slick einen bekennenden Gangbanger auf Blacksmith gesignt?
BY: BJ AN
