Fast auf den Tag genau 12 Jahre nach dem Release von „The Proud“ warte ich im Backstag-Bereich auf Talib Kweli. Der zündet sich noch gemütlich einen Blunt an und hört konzentriert einer Diskussion zu, die zwei Typen neben ihm führen. Als die Debatte zu Ende ging, quetschten wir uns zwischen Taschen und Rucksäcken auf die Couch. Er blättert interessiert ein paar alte Ausgaben unseres Magazines durch und wir quatschen über ein paar persönliche Sachen, als hätten wir uns schon mal gesehen. Ich frage ihn noch, ob es ihm etwas ausmacht, wenn wir gleich politisch werden – einen so hochkarätiger Gast hat man ja selten neben sich auf der Couch vom Flex sitzen. Er lacht kurz auf, klopft mir freundschaftlich auf die Schulter. Ich habe das einfach als ein „Ja“ verstanden.
Bilder und Review zum Konzert gibt es hier.
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Interview: Wanja Bierbaum (edHardygirl14)
„Stand tall or don’t stand at all.“
(Talib Kweli – The Proud)
TM: The Ferguson incident is a hot topic on Twitter. Do you think Twitter is pushing the real demonstrating to the back of the mind of the peolpe?
Talib Kweli: I think it’s very good. It doesn’t replace actual activism. And I think sometimes people get confused and they replace the activism with the social networks. It’s good too. But it doesn’t replace actual activism.
But it’s not a real counterweight to actual activism like going out on the streets to demonstrate?
It’s a good tool for that. It’s a good way to organize. But it’s not so good that you can’t go out there and demonstrate. I wouldn’t even say it’s lazy. People don’t know better. That’s all they know.
There are some parallels to the Josef Grey incident and the Amadou Diallo shooting. What is different now?
The social networking is different now. We’re able to communicate better and faster. I think you’re right to be critical about it and it doesn’t have the effect without the actual activism.
“41 shots to the body is what he can expect.”
Is America a real democracy form your point of view?
America is a republic that pretends to be a democracy. America was built with democratic values. America was built with very noble and righteous, democratic values and ideas. Thomas Jefferson for example was an intelligent men with great ideas. But they all were also slave owners and so they also didn’t understand a certain aspect of compassion and a certain aspect of morality. It was very high minded and ambitious. But these men who put those morals down, doesn’t want to live up to those. So that’s why America can go around the world and act as if we have this high moral ground. But it’s not as it seems.
“(People) … become patriots when they way of life is threatened”
Killer Mike has delivered a genius speech at one of his concerts. J.Cole tweeted a lot. Macklemore was in crowd in Seattle during the protests. Does HipHop react in a proper way to the situation?
I think HipHop always has. I think without the same people caught up and been so focused on corporate HipHop and mainstream HipHop. And they focus on rappers who get played on the radio. Besides J.Cole none of these radio rappers have the balls to say anything. But that’s just a small percent of what HipHop actually is. I think people focus too much on success.
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When we remember the times when Jay-Z dropped “Minority Report”, a very critical song. Where is the criticism now in major HipHop?
Being a celebrity and even say once more a thing about an issue draws a lot of unwanted attention. Look at the St. Louis Rams, they just put their hands up and now people want the coach to punish them. So it’s very hard to be a celebrity if you don’t want to talk all this responsibility at this point of your life. And me as a man, I can’t ask anybody to take responsibility. I can only do what I know how to do. Jay-Z has given a lot to the culture. Kanye has given a lot to the culture. Do I wish they would raise their voices concerning Ferguson? Yes, I wish. But if they’re not, I don’t hold it against them. I doesn’t’ make them less of an activist or an artist. I reserve that judgment for the people who are our true enemies.
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You were there, in Ferguson. What were your own impressions?
Being in Ferguson was important. You know, I look up to people like Yasiin Bey and Killer Mike and people like these. These are my contemporaries but I always look up to them. And I try to imagine what they would do. I thought about Yasiin Bay how he stood up at the MTV-Awards during the whole Katrina thing. And I was like, what would Yasiin do in this situation? He would go. And that’s why I went there. And Harry Belafonte and all these people who are influential to me – and I know them and I love them.
“(The) battle of Americas soul, the devils winning.”
You are a very spiritual person. May I say that?
You may say that. That’s an accurate description.
So how can faith help in these situations?
You know, it’s very hard to see the situation and see the silver line. It’s hard to look at what’s going on in Ferguson and feel like it’s worth fighting for. It’s hard to feel like it’s anything good to come. That’s what faith comes in. That’s what belief or something higher than us comes in. Caus’ we got to understand that it’s gonna be hard, it’s gonna be violent, it’s gonna be negative. But if you gonna have faith there is no reason to even surrender.
“Cops shot off of ten G’s but they got glocks to”
What you think about the armament of the police in connection with the Ferguson incident? In which way should it be controlled and who should control it?
I mean the police is paid by taxes to serve as protectors. At the point where they have to arm their self against us as people that means a breakdown of the system. And it’s not working for us – it’s working against us. It should be based on a positive interaction and relationship with the community. They have to understand the needs of the community. They need a committee which is charged with serving.
So what would be the right way for leaders like Obama to do in this situation?
To show up, first of all. That would be the first thing I would love Obama to do – to show up and be present. But Obama is a politician; he is a very good politician. He might be one of the best politicians we have ever seen. But as a politician he is the president of America. He is not the president of black America. So it’s hard for him to weigh into racial issues where he get’s so much criticism. He get’s so much criticism whenever he speaks about race, even a little bit. It becomes hard for him to do his job. He is trying not to make it hard to do his job. But at the same time my personal feeling – and I am not a politician, so I can say this freely – is: He is in his last term. He has already proven that he is one of the best presidents we ever had. So he could just speak up a little bit. And if he would do it, he would get a lot of criticism. It’s gonna be a shitstorm of criticism but he can fucking take it. He could fucking take it man!
Will you go back to Ferguson?
Yes, I got to. I raised money on the Ferguson Defensive Fund. I raised a lot of money. I gotta go there. Please contribute to the Ferguson Defensive Fund, because that money goes straight to the protestors on the ground.
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