Acclaimed Hip-Hop Artist Talib Kweli Named Black History Month Keynote Speaker at Holy Cross

WORCESTER, Mass. – Acclaimed hip-hop artist Talib Kweli will be speaking on Feb. 2 at 6:30 p.m. in the Hogan Campus Center Ballroom at the College of the Holy Cross as the Black History Month keynote speaker. The talk is titled "Just to Get By: Hip-Hop as a Tool for Participation and Activism" and will be followed by a question-and-answer session.

The event, sponsored by the Black Student Union, is free to Holy Cross students. There is a $5 charge for students in the Colleges of Worcester Consortium. Students must present their ID to gain admittance.

Critics have praised Kweli for his exceptional rhyme skills and his work as an activist - both on and off the mic. Kweli, a native of Brooklyn, N.Y., has been interested in lyrical rhyming since his teen years. He befriended Dante Smith, now known as Mos Def, who shared his passion for hip-hop. The two would hang out in Washington Square Park in downtown Manhattan and battle aspiring MCs.

Kweli and Mos Def collaborated and released Mos Def and Talib Kweli Are Black Star, which was hailed as one of 1998’s best albums. Putting his money where his socially provoking words are, Kweli and Mos Def purchased the financially ailing Nkiru Books, Brooklyn’s oldest black-owned bookstore, and eventually converted it into the Nkiru Center for Education & Culture. Today, the non-profit organization promotes literacy and multicultural awareness.

In 1999, Kweli and Mos Def teamed up again to produce Hip-Hop for Respect, a four-song single disc featuring 41 emcees who collaborated to protest the murder of Amadou Diallo who was shot 41 times by New York City police. Police falsely thought Diallo was drawing a pistol against them.

Kweli’s most recent album, The Beautiful Struggle, was released in September 2004.