Brooklyn rapper Talib Kweli, 33, is the perennial poster boy for socially conscious hip-hop.
A rapper's rapper and thinker's thinker, he's equally happy to kick a freestyle rhyme on a corner or to recommend a Toni Morrison book. Several of Seattle's best hip-hop acts owe him a huge stylistic debt, and Sunday he plays a benefit at the Showbox with two: Gabriel Teodros and Common Market.
The all-ages show caps off local nonprofit Noise for the Needy's otherwise 21-and-older annual music event, its fifth and biggest yet. Starting earlier this week and continuing through Sunday, NFTN presents 17 concerts at 11 venues downtown and in the Capitol Hill and Ballard neighborhoods.
All of the participants — national indie-rock names (Black Angels, Two Gallants); various local rock, country, dance and hip-hop acts; and, of course, Kweli — agreed to let NFTN donate the proceeds to Urban Rest Stop, a local hygiene center that provides restrooms, laundry and shower facilities to the homeless. The full lineup is at www.noisefortheneedy.org.
Kweli and NFTN are previously connected. "Talib grew up with NFTN director Rich Green," said NFTN artist director Jeff Henry in a message. "We are honored to have such a well-respected artist on the bill."
After releasing the contemporary-classic "Blackstar" album in 1998 with rapper/actor Mos Def, Kweli rose to prominence through frequent collaborations with progressive rap group the Roots and three geniuses who, like him, were born to college professors: hip-hop artists Common and Kanye West and comedian Dave Chappelle.
In 2003, hip-hop mogul Jay-Z famously rapped, "if skills sold, truth be told, I'd probably be, lyrically, Talib Kweli." Ostensibly referring to technical rap skills, Jay-Z's admission hinted at something deeper. Both rappers are major enough to get sit-down interviews on PBS (Jay with Charlie Rose, Kweli with Tavis Smiley), but while Jay-Z does business with billionaires, Kweli makes fiery tracks like "Bushanomics" with "Race Matters" author Dr. Cornel West (freely downloadable as part of "The MCEO Mixtape" at www.myspace.com/talibkweli). Far from a technical issue, it's the citizen in Jay-Z that's jealous.
Teodros — an Afrocentric, feminist rapper from Beacon Hill — recalled a 2001 Kweli concert as profoundly positive. Surrounded by people chanting a well-loved "Blackstar" chorus ("knowledge of self, determination"), he and friend Khalil Crisis, aka local rapper Khingz, vowed, "we should do music together for the rest of our lives."
Ra Scion, MC for local duo Common Market (whose recent "Black Patch War" EP is already on the short list for best Seattle releases of 2008), sounds like nobody but Kweli: vaguely nasal tone, clipped phrasing, big words, evenly split focus on hip-hop as art and community-building tool.
Also performing Sunday is Grayskul, a dark, arty local rap group that played NFTN with Common Market last year. They're on the bill less because their music falls in line ideologically and more for their unforgettably intense live show.
Guitars are NFTN's thrust — Sunday's is one of only two rap-oriented concerts — but the biggest star this year happens to make hip-hop. To match the spirit of Noise for the Needy, it's a happy coincidence that Kweli's the kind of rapper who inspires you to put your money where your mouth is.
Andrew Matson contributes to www.raindrophustla.blogspot.com. Reach him at matson.andrew@gmail.com.
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