Earlier this week, Talib Kweli became the latest hip-hop icon to be celebrated at Peter Rosenberg’s interview/concert series, Noisemakers.  Previous featured Noisemakers guests include DJ Premier, Questlove, Q-Tip and Raekwon.  If you’re not familiar with the event by now, Rosenberg accurately describes it as the hip-hop Inside The Actor’s Studio, featuring an in-depth interview and live sets by Daru Jones and The Noise performing impeccable live interpretations of Kweli’s vast catalog.  What makes Noisemakers so enthralling is that this is not just any standard interview, but rather an engaging hip-hop conversation.  Kweli shared tons of stories ranging from his childhood up through the current day including his first encounters with Dilla, Kanye West, Hi Tek, Corey Smith, Common and many other central figures in hip-hop.  He also told some hilarious stories about Kanye West and also there’s a brief cameo by Q-Tip.  Check after the jump for audio of the entire evening, including the complete interview and live performance sets, plus a few videos.

Read the rest of this entry »

Common hosted a benefit concert in Los Angeles this weekend with an all-star line up featuring tons of incredible special guests.  This was like an unofficial sequel to Dave Chappelle’s Block Party as the line-up of artists was boasted by Common, The Roots, De La Soul, Ludacris, Nas, Kanye West, Mos Def, Talib Kweli, MF Doom, Queen Latifah, Heavy D and more.  If that wasn’t good enough, a mixture of The Roots and Common’s band backed everyone throughout the night.  Our newest addition to the staff, AudioMuse, was in the building to record the event exclusively for ATWL.  You’ll be hearing a lot more from her in the coming weeks, but in the meantime, check out more than a dozen of our exclusive recordings from this incredible event, as well as some video footage from the evening.

Read the rest of this entry »

Blackstar held a doubleheader reunion show in the heart of Times Square in NYC this weekend and tore down Nokia Theatre.  The duo celebrated the 10th anniversary release of their classic album by performing their hits as well their popular solo material.  The crowd was live, the vibes were good and hip-hop was most definitely in the building.  Since everyone couldn’t all be there for this memorable night, AllTheWayLive is proud to exclusively present the full, complete audio of their 2nd set of the night for your listening pleasure.

Read the rest of this entry »

Talib Kweli and Hi-Tek, fresh off  the Reflection Eternal reunion, did a string of shows at The Blue Note earlier this year (much like his buddy Mos Def did).  Backed by a live band, featuring Daru Jones on drums among others, the shows were fantastic and it was especially great to hear Hi-Tek’s beats performed by a dope live band.  But Tekzilla was no slouch at these shows as he was busy at work on a drum machine all night long.  While all the Train of Thought (and new songs) sounded great, one of the standouts personally was “Memories Live”.  The smooth, mellow vibes translated beautifully with added soulful, jazzy guitar licks providing another layer to the beat.  Reflection Eternal’s new album album, tentatively titled Trainspotting, is expected to hit shelves this summer.

Read the rest of this entry »

Soulive is known to bring out many guests at their shows, and back in 2003 at the Lion’s Den, Talib Kweli, J-Live and Wordsworth were in the house.  The trio joined Soulive on stage for an impromptu jam session that lasted 20 min and the results were amazing.

Read the rest of this entry »

In anticipation of seeing Reflection Eternal, reunited, with a live band at The Blue Note this week, I’m bringing it back to 2001.  Kweli has made many appearances at Soulive’s NYC area shows over the years, and of course he rips it backed by the amazing band.  Here is Kweli, Krasno and company doing an all live rendition of “The Blast”.  New Reflection Eternal album in 2009, maybe this really is the year of the Blacksmith?

Read the rest of this entry »