Over here, he's probably best known in the public consciousness for his 2004 duet with Mary J Blige, I Try, but Brooklyn rapper Talib Kewli is big stuff in the States, having scored four Top 30 albums since 2002.
Following swiftly on from last year's effort Gutter Rainbows, Talib is set to release new album Prisoner of Conscious later this year, a play on his past labelling as a chiefly conscious rapper; one inherently engaged with social issues within his lyrics. The album's lead single Distractions is an engaged, worldly-wise diatribe on contemporary troubles placed to an almost-baroque music-box backdrop - Talib's raps are pushed to the fore, biting in their sincerity.
Lined up to give the new material an airing at the HMV Forum in March as well as a further date in Manchester, Talib will be backed with support from MTV championed Lowkey and YouTube sensation MIC Righteous.
One thing's certainly assured - the duo of gigs collectively represent one of the most talented bringing-together of hip-hop artists you'll see this year, and as AMG rather eloquently put it 'If skills sold, Talib Kweli would have been one of the most commercially successful rappers of his time.'
Tickets for the following dates are available from http://hmvtickets.co.uk/
20th March / London HMV Forum
21st March / Manchester HMV Ritz
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