Talib Kweli Setlist
Listen!!!
Rocket Ships
Palookas
Never Been in Love
State of Grace
You Know What Love Is (J-Dilla tribute)
Down for the Count
In this World
Floss > ? (feat. Niko Is)
Hot Thing
I Want You Back (Jackson 5 cover) >
Paid in Full (Eric B and Rakim cover)
K'Valentine song
Chiraq (K'Valentine song)
Three Little Birds (Bob Marley cover) > They Call it Murder (Damian Marley cover)
Definition (Black Star song)
K.O.S. (Black Star song)
We the People... > The Killing Season (Tribe Called Quest covers)
(social injustice speech)
Move Somethin' (Reflection Eternal song)
The Blast
-- Encore --
Last Ones
(w/ Styles P)
I Try
I Wanna Be Your Lover (Prince tribute) >
Get By
Styles P Setlist
I'm Black (acapella)
Super Gangster
F**k You (Lox song)
Locked Up (Akon cover)
The Family (Lox song)
Still Bangin' (Freestyle)
The Life
Here's Why They Call Me the Ghost
Ride Out
Wild Out (The Lox song)
B.M.F. (Blowin' Money Fast)
Kiss Your Ass Goodbye >
I Got 5 on It >
Good Times (I Get High)
We Gonna Make It (Jadakiss song)
Cosmic Kev Freestyle (acapella)
K’valentine Setlist
Bout Me
She
Holy Water
Love to Some Hip-Hop (?)
That's Real
Family (?)
Tour Dates
02/07/17 New Haven, CT Toad's Place
02/09/17 Philadelphia, PA Theatre Of Living Arts
02/10/17 New York, NY HighLine Ballroom
Read MoreTalib Kweli
First Fleet Concerts is bringing American hip hop artist and social activist Talib Kweli to Minneapolis at the Cabooze this Wednesday, February 1st.
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“If skills sold, truth be told, I'd probably be, lyrically, Talib Kweli” – Jay-Z on ‘Moment of Clarity’
A MC’s MC and one of hip hop’s greatest lyricists, Talib Kweli brought his socially conscious rhymes and the signees on his own Javotti Media label, for a rousing show on a cold night as The Seven Tour hit the Cabooze in Minneapolis.
The evening began with DJ Spintelect spinning club banging hits for an hour, to get the crowd ready for the live music to follow. Mixing the familiar with the sometimes not so familiar, Spintelect even worked in timely songs like the trap rap ‘Paper Boi’ by Alfred "Paper Boi" Miles, a fictional rapper as seen on FX’s ‘Atlanta’ and ‘Beans Greens Potatoes Tomatoes’, a clip by Pastor Shirley Caesar that went viral over Thanskgiving, once overlaid with a hip-hop beat.
Kweli protégé K’Valentine started the live music for the evening, offering up a brief but cutting set that introduced her music to most in the crowd and promoting her upcoming album, Here for a Reason (Javotti Media), coming next month.
The Chicago rapper met Kweli backstage two years and he subsequently produced her Million Dollar Baby mixtape and she became a part of his label’s family (one named after Kweli’s grandmother) and also features on the collective’s latest compilation, Awful People are Great at Parties.
From the opening ‘Bout Me’, Valentine stalked the stage in a Minnesota Twins jersey, machine-gun rattling high-speed raps in tracks old and new, from MDB’s ‘Holy Water’ to the current single, ‘That’s Real’ which will feature BJ the Chicago Kid on the album version. Short in stature, but tall in rhymes and attitude, K’Valentine, like the title of her album, is here for a reason.
‘90’s hip-hop fans no doubt remember Styles P, as a member of THE LOX and D-Block Collective, signed to Bad Boy and Ruff Ryder Records in the day. With Technician the DJ taking over the turntables, the Yonkers, NY rapper re-acquainted himself with the audience during the middle set, reminding everyone that his rhymes are still intact. The Lox in fact, released their first album in sixteen years, Filthy America…It’s Beautiful (D-Block/Roc Nation) just before Christmas.
Starting with a statement, his set began with an acapella version of ‘I’m Black’, in celebration of Black History Month, “Hip-Hop is in the building!” he said, moving into the title track of his album, ‘Super Gangster ‘. Everyone’s middle finger went in the air for The Lox’s profane ‘F**k You’ he re-visited his collaboration with Akon, and on ‘Still Bangin’ rapped, “who’s better than me? …I hear crickets”.
Styles has been on more collaborations than you might realize and after his version of ‘B.M.F.’ (originally done with Rick Ross), he jumped into the crowd to finish his set in the middle of things, punctuated by a ‘I Get High’ medley and ended as he began, with an acapella freestyle rap that had the crowd mesmerized and roaring in approval.
Spintelect resumed his DJ duties and a screen played music videos as the now-bearded headliner Talib Kweli entered for his ninety-five minute set, beginning with 2006’s ‘Listen!!!’ then quickly moving to the RZA-produced ‘Rocket Ships’ and ‘Palookas’, in memory of label mate Sean Price, who passed away in 2015.
Kweli moved like a fighter, in baseball hat and t-shirt, covering all aspects of his career- from the groundbreaking work with DJ Hi-Tek, to the Mos Def collaboration Black Star, to solo work and other collaborations, and snippets of a few choice covers, and also made time to promote his label and the artists on it.
A third of the way through, Kweli brought up Brazilian rapper NIKO IS (who is signed to Javotti Media)for a couple songs and K’Valentine returned, rapping a furiour ‘Chiraq’, which likens Chicago to modern day Iraq based on all of the gun violence there.
Tributes to lost musicians J Dilla, Bob Marley, Phife Dawg, Michael Jackson, and Prince were also interweaved within the set which came off respectful and somewhat sad to be reminded of all the recent musical losses.
Politics remain on most people’s minds and the outspoken Kweli was no exception, as he took an extended time out, an hour in, to voice his opinions and to educate some in the crowd as to the recent travel bans and other discriminatory tactics invoked by the current administration. Anger turned to optimism though, and the message of resist also included inclusion, and that love will ultimately conquer.
After the vocal barrage of ‘The Blast’ to close out the main set, Kweli brought Styles P back up for perhaps the first live version of ‘Last Ones’, a song released only earlier that day. The anthems ‘I Try’ and ‘Get By’ would close the evening, the crowd still feeling the energy some ninety-five minutes later.
The newest 12-track playlist by Talib Kweli and Javotti Media may be called Awful People are Great at Parties, but as he and his indie-label roster showed this night, Gifted People can be Great at Parties as well.
K’Valentine
K’Valentine
Styles P
Talib Kweli
Talib Kweli, with K’Valentine
Talib Kweli, with Styles P, at The Cabooze, Minneapolis (01 Feb 2017)
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