By Ralo
Tali Kweli is back with "Gravitas", his sixth studio album. He began as a member of Reflection Eternal with DJ/Producer Hi-Tek and has completed 10 albums as a solo act, with Refection Eternal and with Mos Def as Black Star. "Gravitas" is Kwelis' second album in less than a year. He dropped "Prisoner Of Conscious" in May of 2013.
This time around he decided to do things differently, he released "Gravitas" digitally online on December 15th exclusively through his website talibkweli.com with the help of Javotti Media. The hard copy was released in stores on February 12th through Fat Beats.
Producers on the album include J Dilla, Statik Selektah, DJ Booth and Rich Kid. There are also guest vocal appearances from Black Thought, Raekwon, Rah Digga, Mike Posner, The Underachievers and Res.
Kweli said "When you pre order my newest project, Gravitas, available Dec 15th, you will be buying it directly from me, no middleman, and I will now have a direct relationship with you. Who needs this industry when we have each other. The technology exists for me to have this relationship with the fans, and vice versa. It is a grand experiment. Lets go for it! Gravitas is my sixth solo album. It will feature production from OhNo, Q-Tip, Lord Quest Rich Kid and more.
"Although I am known as a leader in the indie movement, I have been distributed by majors for most of my career, even while I was on Rawkus. The first truly indie album I did was Gutter Rainbows on Javotti/3D. Gravitas takes it up a notch. I am following the lead of Ryan Leslie who provided the www.kweliclub.com platform for me. He's a genius for it. The advantages are: I will get the fans' emails. Everyone who sells music online gets consumer emails but the actual artist, it's not fair. Now I can communicate with actual fans who actually buy. I can look at my database and see who's buying what and where, and the money will come directly to me as opposed to a third party. Honestly, I don't know if people mean it when they say they want to support artists directly. I will know after this, I've left you no excuse. Another disadvantage is: people are used to getting music where they are used to getting music. It will take a sec to get them to understand Gravitas is ONLY available at www.kweliclub.com.
He went on to say "One of my favorite things about today's hip hop is the honesty. Today's most popular rappers aren't always politically correct or deep, but the best are unflinchingly honest. While my story may be documented, I have never truly told my story thru music. My true fans have heard bits and pieces thru the years, but Gravitas sums up my experience until now".
When asked about the meaning of the word Gravitas he said "The word gravitas is used to describe someone whose words and actions have importance and weight. I felt it was time to introduce some gravitas into hip-hop."
Before hard copies of "Gravitas" was available in stores, Talib spoke about being able to purchase his music exclusively online. "Although I am known as a leader in the indie movement, I have been distributed by majors for most of my career, even while I was on Rawkus. The first truly indie album I did was Gutter Rainbows on Javotti/3D. Gravitas takes it up a notch. I am following the lead of Ryan Leslie who provided the www.kweliclub.com platform for me. He's a genius for it. The advantages are: I will get the fans' emails. Everyone who sells music online gets consumer emails but the actual artist, it's not fair. Now I can communicate with actual fans who actually buy. I can look at my database and see who's buying what and where, and the money will come directly to me as opposed to a third party. Honestly, I don't know if people mean it when they say they want to support artists directly. I will know after this, I've left you no excuse. Another disadvantage is: people are used to getting music where they are used to getting music. It will take a sec to get them to understand Gravitas is ONLY available at www.kweliclub.com."
This is "Violations" featuring Raekwon from "Gravitas". In stores now!
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