S. Samuel
New York rapper Talib Kweli has revealed his frustrations toward Warner Bros. Records for what he believes was lackluster efforts to promote 2010's Revolutions Per Minute (RPM).
While resisting exposing an employee’s name, Kweli said he hoped the label would be better prepared to promote his upcoming album, Gutter Rainbows.
“The difference between Gutter Rainbows and [Revolutions Per Minute] is that somebody might actually work on putting [Gutter Rainbows] out, in the proper way,” Kweli said in an interview, “As opposed to Reflection Eternal, which, if you don’t got the Reflection Eternal album, [produced] by Hi-Tek, Revolutions Per Minute, I’m personally very proud of this album…go out and get that, but it went under the radar. I don’t think the record company did a good job of connecting that album with my fan-base.” (JumpOff TV)
In October, Kweli said he already had an album set to follow Gutter Rainbows‘ January 25th release.
“Gutter Rainbows is an album, it’s a Talib Kweli album,” Kweli said in an interview. “I’ve been working on this album calledPrisoners of Conscious and that album is not ready yet. There’s a lot of music and statements I want to make on that album that I’m still working on. I still feel the need to put music out. So Gutter Rainbows is almost like the early outtakes of Prisoners of Conscious but just embellished upon.” (Soul Culture)
Last September, Kweli tweeted about working on a new album.
“Putting the finishing touches on my new album Gutter Rainbows, available sooner than you think (MPhazes, EJones, S1, HiTek, SkiBeatz etc..),” he tweeted.
“The title Gutter Rainbows was taken from Catcher In The Rye. Info for my literary nerds.” (Talib Kweli’s Twitter)
Kanye West’s “Power” producer S1 recently told SOHH he worked on nearly 10 records for Kweli’s new project.
“I’m working with Kanye on the album,” S1 told SOHH. “He’s pretty much finishing that up so I’ve been working real close with him on that. And then also, he has a bunch of other artists and projects that he’s working on for his G.O.O.D. Music roster to other outside projects and he wants me to be a part of that as well. I’ve been working really close with him on that, working with Pusha T on his album stuff, Musiq Soulchild and then eight joints with Talib Kweli for his next album. And then, you never know, hopefully Jay-Z and Beyonce stuff. You just never know where you’re going to go.” (SOHH)
Last May, Revolutions Per Minute (RPM) debuted at No. 18 with 21,000 sold records in its first-week sales.
Check out Talib Kweli speaking on the album below:
