Talib Kweli: The Hypocrite That Rupert Murdoch Funded.

For months, Talib Kweli Greene has been on a smear campaign against a lineage-based political movement called American Descendants of Slavery (ADOS) and a woman named Yvette Carnell who helped coin the term. The basis of his smear is founded solely on a conspiracy theory and has seemed to gain traction among the detractors of said movement. The idea being that at one time, Carnell was on the board of an organization financed by a now deceased white supremacist. The organization is called Progressives for Immigration Reform and the white supremacist is John Tanton. Kweli has spread the idea that ADOS is financed by rightwing groups and, in this new era of red scare hysteria, his idea has taken hold. At this point, Carnell and ADOS have been investigated by journalists who can’t find any proof of such a conspiracy. Yet, daily, Kweli can be found on his social media repeating the assertion.

Earlier this year, Talib Kweli had a somewhat infamous run-in with Yvette Carnell. Kweli made a tweet dismissing the idea of taking support away from the Democrat party if they wouldn’t meet the demand of reparations. This seems a strange position from a rapper who’s boasted about a “no voting” stance for most of his career. In response, Carnell said celebrities were “loud and wrong” about these types of political takes because they don’t understand the data. She also questioned why people listen to celebrities like Kweli when it comes to politics. Kweli, who’s profession often includes trading verbal insults back and forth with other rappers, seemed unable to handle that his political position was even mildly challenged. He’s since gone on to attack the credibility of Yvette Carnell, anyone she’s associated with and the political movement she sparked with Antonio Moore around the justice claim for American Descendants of Slavery. Kweli has been consumed by arguing with the people of ADOS and misconstruing their positions as right-wing xenophobia, going as far as calling them MAGA. Seemingly the only basis for his assertions is: ADOS refuses to act in lockstep with the Democrat party nor leftist ideas about how black people should view politics.

The ADOS agenda:

Yvette Carnell previously worked as an aid in Washington for the Democrat party and says she left because of frustration with the disregard Democratic politicians have shown the black community who have consistently been their most loyal supporters. She was able to find a like minded partner in Antonio Moore, who felt it necessary to refocus black politics after reviewing staggering economic data about wealth among black Americans who descend from slavery. They are simply echoing a sentiment that has been around in the black community since the establishment of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which is that the government hasn’t done enough to even the socioeconomic playing field. More specifically, after 60 years of black voters giving at least 80% of their support to Democrats with no results and very little attempt to fight for them, many in the black community are questioning our loyalty to this political party and it’s ideologies. Carnell and Moore are making a concerted effort to educate black Americans about the economic data to change the course of our politics. Their detractors seem to imply that black people can’t have differing opinions from traditional Democratic sources without also having nefarious intentions. Carnell and Moore argue that drastic measures have to be taken since the median wealth of black families is set to hit 0 by 2053.

With data in hand that shows a different economic story for blacks who descend from American slavery versus black immigrants, Carnell wants to redefine the conversation about race in America to include discussions of ethnic lineage. Ultimately, she suggests that native black Americans have a justice claim for reparations and she relies heavily on the research of Duke University’s Dr. Sandy Darity. Part of this conversation is reimagining what being an American citizen means for the descendants of slavery and our claim to the resources of the most powerful nation in the world. In ascribing value to American citizenship for this purpose, it is logical that native blacks have to distinguish ourselves from immigrant blacks however difficult it is to explain this position without it being misconstrued as xenaphobic. Carnell has also made many videos reframing race in an attempt to move it from the top priority surrounding discussions of black Americans in favor of our experiences as an ethnicity. From her perspective, we have allowed our unique experiences to get diluted into vague stories of the minority struggle in America. That vague minority struggle means that, sadly, many of the governmental attempts to address the harm done to black people have been co-opted by other groups, constantly and systemically leaving American descendents of slavery without the resources intended for us.

Essentially, Yvette Carnell and Antonio Moore spend a great amount of time trying to shake loose black people’s need to conform to the ideas of the Democratic party, traditional ideas about race, lineage and what black citizenship in America should mean, particularly for the descendants of slavery. They do this by presenting fact-based and data-driven arguments with hopes that American descendents of slavery will align our politics with our own self-interests.

At some point we have to break loose from this concept that it’s unreasonably selfish when black Americans focus on helping ourselves versus being the people with the least trying to help the most. We must also get over the notion that black Americans can’t be at odds with both major political parties. It is an incomplete conversation to express our disdain with criticisms anchored to the Republican party alone. All parties are complicit in the anti-justice movement against black Americans, even black politicians and black media mouthpieces aren’t above being taken to task. Our dissatisfaction must be spread around not only to our enemies, but also to the allies who have failed us.

The Music of Symbolic Revolution:

If you listen to Kweli describe his music, he will say something like:

“My lyrics are aggressive. My lyrics are not passive. My lyrics ain’t let’s all get along, let’s be happy. My lyrics are ‘fuck the status quo, fuck white supremacy, I’m pro-black, I’m pro social justice. That’s what my whole lyrical output is.” (https://hiphopdx.com/news/id.48093/title.talib-kweli-breaks-down-rap-fans-hypocrisy-on-lyricism-racism)

Kweli’s started in the era after the East Coast/West Coast beef. Shiny suits and getting “jiggy” were setting up the path for the southern takeover of the Bling era that was the early 2000’s. In 1998, Mos Def and Talib Kweli made their debut album through nontraditional music imprint Rawkus Records. On the surface, Rawkus was like a beacon of light for hip hop fans thirsty for the grounded traditional flavor of the golden eras of hip hop. Their roster was full to the brim of what were labelled conscious rappers. Now that we can look back at Talib’s career, it’s hard to justify that label. His catalog of music is full of bad attempts to crossover with small doses of comfortably safe revolutionary fever that come across with the same inauthenticity as a studio gangster. But this has been the con game of rappers like Kweli; he offers the most milktoast approach to saying things that will “shake up the system” in his actual music but paints himself as the Khalid Muhammed of rap.

During Kweli’s era, rappers ran from the label conscious because by the time rappers like Kweli became the face of “consciousness”, their work redefined the term in a way that was the essence of uncool. Gone were the records so politically charged that they would cause the FBI to tap your favorite rappers’ phone. Insert a crew of choir boys preaching about cleaning up our acts instead of pinpointing how to overturn the fabric of this unjust society. So inauthentic and purposeless that soon they were going whichever direction the wind blew to try and shake the moniker of consciousness. Kweli was more than willing to drop having a message in his music at all by going with the “sometimes people just want to party” sentiment. In retrospect, Kweli never had the song-making ability, the substantive political depth, nor a hard hitting perspective that could make his faux “revolutionary” music appeal to the everyday black American. Kweli and his music have always given off the impression of a soft, thin-skinned college kid from the Boule society of a middle class upbringing. And no…this isn’t an attempt to black check Kweli by saying blackness can only be understood through the lense of struggle or militancy. The grander issue that has made his music come across hollow and soulless is that after all these years and tunes, we still have no idea what really encompasses Kweli’s politics nor philosophy on life. It’s as if he is an outcast begging to be down and using tidbits of pro-black jargon as a shield against any examination of what he truly represents. Basically, Kweli is the “revolutionary” rapper that people vaguely recall and who only appeals to us in theory.

Undeveloped Politics:

Kweli often boasts about a lifetime of pro-black advocacy but it’s substanceless. There seems to be a lack of strategy to Kweli’s so-called “activism” which has come in the form of making music, doing concerts, giving money to nonprofits, speaking at rallies and sit-ins. If you look at the causes he has advocated for over the last decade or so such as Occupy Wallstreet, ending police brutality, freeing political prisoners, ending “Stop and Frisk”, and cessating “Stand Your Ground” laws, it’s questionable if Kweli’s activism has any form of impact, yet he will claim authority in that space. What doesn’t help Kweli’s case for being a real activist is that he will quote his own rap lyrics as his qualifications. In Talib’s mind, because he rhymed with the word “reparations” in a verse from 20 years ago that no one remembers, he can now claim he’s been in a 20 year fight for reparations. You don’t see much in the way of shifting laws that adversely affect black people or even a trail of working class black folks who would point to Kweli as someone who has helped improve the quality of their lives. He shows up for a photo opt, says some words that rhyme and nothing changes, then Kweli pats himself on the back for being a revolutionary.

We are far removed from the days of grassroots activism such as that of the Black Panther Party. Somewhere along the way, the black celebrity became the voice of our politics, with or without the equipment to understand what it takes to be in that position. Especially in the case of the rapper. If you could rhyme S.A.T. words and keep a rhythm, all you needed to do was reference a history of pro-blackness and some people would shamelessly compare you to Huey P. Newton. This empty rhetorical attempt at politics has left a void in the place of advocacy that is greatly needed by black Americans. Instead of strategic calls to action around a goal, the celebrity class has tainted our politics and made it hard to galvanize people. It is no wonder media outlets and politicians love propping these people up as tools to infiltrate the rest of us with confusion. Rhyming words over a beat only qualifies you to rhyme words over a beat. It doesn’t make you an expert on political action. In losing the strategic political planning, entertainment has been our biggest distraction from black empowerment and politicians have run amok rolling back almost everything that real pro-black movements fought for years ago.

For the politically immature, buzzwords, cliche slogans from 40-50 years ago, and waving off all political involvement has been considered black activism and Kweli has mastered all 3 things. You can search video streaming platforms and find old interviews of Kweli arrogantly saying he doesn’t vote because he saw the whole system as white supremacy followed by some vague message about “the people” without saying what “the people” should do instead. Anyone who wasn’t dazzled by celebrity and rhetoric would wonder what’s the point of Kweli’s “activism” because it sounded like he was apolitical with no pathway to offer his imaginary revolution. The problem with undefined political positions is that you can easily be co-opted into any half baked ideology. And these days Kweli has changed his tune about voting to become a shill for anything Democratic. It’s probably because his brother, Jamal Greene, is working with the Kamala Harris campaign. And that is the same Kamala Harris who can be seen in that viral clip responding to a question about reparations by saying, “...I’m not gonna sit here and say I’m going to do something specifically for black people…. NOOO.''

What is Mr. Greene’s real agenda?

In his campaign against ADOS, Kweli hasn’t attempted debating political perspectives in good faith. He’s taken people out of context and avoided any tough questions about his positions. One of his laziest attacks comes from a video where Yvette jokingly put on a MAGA hat. An image of it has been screenshotted and now Talib Kweli uses it as if it’s some Bohemian Grove initiation ceremony into the evil kabal of White Supremacy. Yvette has regularly made unconventional statements and done stunts to break the lovefest our people have with the Democratic party and underdeveloped ideas about “blackness” in America. She’s also fought this idea that we have to be allies with groups who don’t reciprocate support for us and our causes. She argues that we don’t owe anyone after decades of black Americans getting on the frontlines for other people’s causes. What Kweli doesn’t seem to understand with all his hollow arguments is that political advocacy means that you sometimes have to be at odds with the people who approach you with a smile. They will talk as if they are fighting for your interests but really they are trying to manipulate you. This concept seems to fly over the heads of the anti-ADOS crew. Kweli’s politics seem so unsophisticated that he only questions the intentions of people he deems as hostile to him. Yet, in his arguments, he acts as if he is guided by strict principles instead of hurt feelings. The issue is usually someone with principles isn’t easily shown to be a hypocrite.

It’s odd that Kweli attacks Yvette for this hat stunt when he should be logical enough to know better. More strange than his reaction to Yvette in a MAGA hat is that Kanye West is Kweli’s friend and longtime collaborator. Kanye has gone well beyond wearing the MAGA hat. In the same breath, Kanye is also responsible for Kweli’s only hit record, “Get By”. In every way possible, Kanye has supported Trump to the point of calling Trump his Daddy. Yet, you can see Kweli on DJ Vlad speaking about how he continued to work with Kanye during the Pro-Trump fiasco (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMJnjgxKT3s). Kweli even worked on a demo for Kanye recently while at the same time claiming that he was telling Kanye that the people around him were white supremacists. Beyond that, the choice to go to DJ Vlad for this interview is extremely problematic when the surface level optics of Vlad’s platform is about promoting an awful caricature of black life through the lense of unstable black celebrity. Also, DJ Vlad is being sued by a former black employee for a host of things including making racially and sexually inappropriate remarks such as, "Black people aren't slaves anymore", "racism isn't as bad anymore", and that the employee "should get ass shots, or whatever it is women are putting into their behinds these days" (https://www.casemine.com/judgement/us/5c494e13342cca0d53c62dc6).

Sadly, Kweli has defended the Vlad appearance by chastising people with tweets about how they won’t watch his show. These are the inconsistencies in his politics and there are more…

Kweli has to think he is more intelligent than the average black person bred from American bondage or at least that we are incapable of thinking for ourselves. He has created this grand conspiracy theory that ADOS is a white supremacist front that hundreds of thousands of native black Americans can’t see through after engaging hours upon hours of material from Carnell and Moore. Kweli is smarter than us all because he was able to figure out this fiendish plot within moments of his twitter exchange with Yvette. His greatest piece of evidence for this theory is held together by shoestrings. He claims that Yvette Carnell’s previous involvement on the board of a group called Progressives For Immigration Reform (PFIR) must mean ADOS is a front for white supremacists. Carnell has addressed this issue by saying she was not paid by PFIR at any point, that her role on the board has been consistent with her position about the value of citizenship in America and that she used this position to advocate for the black Americans who get passed up by an immigrant population. It is very easy to make this simplistic deduction that Talib presents and write ADOS off without attempting to engage with their arguments, but I question Mr. Greene’s political savviness after witnessing his endless crusade.

What if he is wrong and in the process he is alienating the very type of black American who would support him in this new era of rekindled pro-black “wokeness”? The reality is that Kweli’s bread and butter over the years has been a young, white progressive audience and he has been co-opted to appeal to them. It’s much like how the term “woke” has been co-opted and bastardized from a variation of the rallying cry at the end of Spike Lee’s School Daze… a message for black youth to “wake up” and become socially aware about the issues facing black American society… now changed to being the marching orders of Borg-like drones for white progressive politics. Is Kweli pro-black or progressive? Is he able to accept that sometimes these things can be in alignment but other times they can be at odds? More importantly, is he willing to upset his white lefty friends to advocate the best policies for the American Descendants of Slavery?

Maybe there isn’t a concern about black people at all and Kweli’s been a manchurian candidate this whole time?

Let’s say it’s valid to theorize about people’s agendas in the way that Kweli has done. Investigative journalists haven’t sniffed out these links to a rightwing machine as far as the origins or day-to-day ativities of ADOS are concerned but that hasn’t stopped the wacky theories. Maybe this is projection and we should question Talib Kweli Greene’s roots? Kweli currently hosts a podcast on Uproxx which is a company that was started by Brian Brater and Jarret Myer, who are the same guys who signed Kweli to Rawkus Records. But there’s some forgotten history about Rawkus Records that no one has mentioned during all of this back and forth between Kweli and ADOS. Rawkus started without a focus on rap music and went a couple of years experimenting based on $10,000 investment from the two entrepreneurs but when the company floundered financially, Brian Brater and Jarret Myer turned to hip hop and the family of Rupert Murdoch for help. The Fox News mogul ended up buying 80% ownership in the company and this is the business move that financed the rap career of Talib Kweli.

You can read more about Rawkus Records, interestingly enough in Ta-Nehsi Coates’ article “A Fistful of Mighta Been”(https://www.villagevoice.com/2004/04/20/a-fistful-of-mighta-been/). By Mr. Greene’s own standard, should we not question his agenda throughout his whole career? Honestly, most people don’t have a clue about PFIR and John Tanton is far from a household name but we all know who Rupert Murdoch is and we definitely know about his most influential American asset, Fox News. But let’s go over some of Murdoch’s greatest hits:

The Murdoch family has not strayed away from dabbling in Eugenics and were involved in the Eugenics Society of Victoria (https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/04/03/magazine/rupert-murdoch-fox-news-trump.html)

This racist Obama chimpanzee picture that was printed in the New York Post while Murdoch was the chairman.

(https://www.theguardian.com/media/2009/feb/24/rupert-murdoch-sorry-chimpanzee-cartoon)

Then there was Serena cartoon controversy

(https://newsone.com/3847139/serena-williams-racist-cartoon-australia/)

Attacking President Obama’s authenticity as a real black president for Ben Carson’s sake

(https://twitter.com/rupertmurdoch/status/651924724960874497?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E651924724960874497&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fmedia%2F2015%2Foct%2F08%2Frupert-murdoch-obama-not-real-black-president-tweet-ben-carson)

Between Laura Ingraham and Tucker Carlson, Fox News has been the most mainstream outlet pushing xenophobia in recent years.

When Tucker Carlson was doing his recent anti-immigration rants — “We have a moral obligation to admit the world’s poor, they tell us, even if it makes our country poorer and dirtier and more divided” — he received personal text messages of support from Lachlan Murdoch (the son of Rupert Murdoch and the one that’s being positioned to take over the Murdoch Empire)

(https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/04/03/magazine/rupert-murdoch-fox-news-trump.html)

There is also the Fox News executive, Joseph Azam, who publicly quit because he couldn’t handle the racism and xenophobia of the company. (https://www.huffpost.com/entry/rupert-murdoch-executive-quit-fox-news-anti-immigrant-islamophobic-coverage_n_5c94ca5de4b0a6329e155dec)

Watching the growth of ADOS has been inspiring to many of us who never thought there would be another grassroots pro-black political movement. There have been many squabbles among so-called activists over the years. Many have been exposed as grifters incapable of producing results but relying on a cult of personality in place of strategic planning. ADOS has felt truly organic to people who have watched its growth. The data-driven arguments have become something we can believe in as far as a common understanding of where we should focus our energies. Many have criticized their tactics when it comes to challenging other activists on their positions but as the descendants of slavery get closer to falling over a cliff, the need to handle bad ideas with kid gloves seems less and less important. A rapper should understand that the most since taking shots at other rappers for being “wack” has been sown into the fabric of the artform since Kool Moe Dee battled Busy Bee.

Why would a reparations advocate and pro-black activist rapper be so consumed that he would spend months of his life dedicated to ruining this movement? He has said that it was his mission to make sure the first ADOS conference was an empty room while it ended up being a success full of black people with Presidential candidate Marianne Williamson and Dr. Cornel West in attendance as speakers. One would think Kweli would lose interest at some point but, as I’m writing this, he continues to look for openings to attack the movement. Shouldn’t he be practicing his own form of political advocacy? One can only ponder, what’s his true agenda? Could it be that Kweli was bought off with Murdoch money and has been an agent of white supremacy this whole time? Maybe he’s been looking for ways to sow dissension and undermine black Americans? It would explain why every issue he’s advocated for has failed to produce results. Maybe that was the intention of his advocacy...I mean, he is a “revolutionary” that is tied in to both the leftwing and rightwing sides of white supremacy. Honestly, I don’t want to attribute so much to a failed rapper who I think really just suffers from having too much time on his hands and a fragile ego. But in the Talib Kweli worldview, I’m perfectly justified in seeing an agent provocateur instead.