The conversation included the Brooklyn emcee talking about his Black Star partner Yasiin Bey (Mos Def), comedy legend Dave Chappelle, as well as his "Get By (Remix)" collaborators Kanye West and Jay-Z. Specifically, Kweli was asked if Ye really played a roll in him eventually making music with Hov.
"I think Kanye's relationship with me absolutely made Jay-Z pay more attention to me," answered Talib. "At that point, Jay-Z was trusting Kanye a lot. Kanye was going back and forth from working with people like me and Mos to Jay, Beanie Sigel, and Cam'ron. He was connecting those worlds."
The creator of the upcoming Radio Silence album went on, "I feel like Kanye is a father of a generation. I feel like an artist like Drake, who is now a father of a generation, learned from Kanye. Drake walked a line very well between just being himself, being sensitive, and not being hood, but then being hood if I feel like it."
Kweli then suggested that Jay-Z was likely following Kanye's cultural lead around the time the Roc-A-Fella Records co-founder was collaborating with Dead Prez and wearing clothing with Che Guevara's image. Talib offered, "That's when Jay was like, okay, Jay sees himself as one of us and he realized the rest of the world wasn't seeing him like that."
