Vernon on “I’m in It”:

The imagery of the song is definitely intense, but so is American Psycho. I loved that little American Psycho clip he did– it puts things into context, because Kanye feels like a director, and I don’t think everything he’s saying in the songs is actually him saying it every time. It’s like a movie, or a concept. On “I’m in It”, it seems like I’m playing a character in the song, but I’m not necessarily guiding who that character is—Kanye’s editing creates the character.

Since Reagan declared the “War On Drugs” the incarceration rate per 100.000 inhabitants in the US has risen to the world-highest number: 743. Thus the USA make around one quarter of all incarcerated persons on the world while they only give habitat to around 4% of the world`s population. This was a result of the aforementioned “War On Drugs”, which lead to stricter policy towards drug possession (as shown in the graphic below)

This stupid incarceration rate also was a result of the privatization of correctional facilities and the lobbying (laws regarding the incaraceration of illegal immigrants for example) by the operators of the profit-focused correctional facilities i.e. CCA, as the facilities only are viable if they are used at a occupancy rate of more than ca. 85%.

From the album notes:

“Bust how Talib Kweli Greene do it, what I bring to it, what I bring to it, you hear the theme music- exactly. LG called this the Superman song, Rubix said Thundercats. This scratch beat invokes childhood childhood superhero fantasies for everyone. This was the joint we recorded for the album , and we first time worked with Tiff and Steph, who held me down on the road. I dedicated this song to my parents, even tho my mom don’t like it. She thinks it’s too noisy.”
-Talib Kweli

From the album notes:

“On the "Reflection Eternal” album people actually came to me trnynta (sic) find out how I got a drop from Nelson Mandela. They flipped when when I told them it was Chapelle. People thought I was such a conscious rapper that a drop from Mandela would make sense, thats the funny shit. Daves civil rights era intro makes even more sense.
P.S. Any time Soullive comes to your town, check ‘em out. They don’t call 'em Soullive for nothing.“
-Talib Kweli

From the album notes:

“Mos Def has always said that when you record a song, you wanna make the listener feel what you felt the first time you heard the track. Originally, I was just gonna spit on this, but there was so much joy on the track I ended up talking about my children. they are the reason I started this, and they are the reason I won`t stop. This is as much a dedication to Darcel as it is to them because she has given me strength through those beautiful babies. Me and Mos became friends from having children the same age, so it fit to have him on the song. It wasn’t planned, he was just in the studios that day, and it worked out. Having children is the best feeling in the world!”
-Talib Kweli

From the album notes:

“The most magical thing about the last track on Quality is getting to work with Kendra Ross. She`s a close a friend, truly talented, beautiful and one of kind. I have wanted to do a record with her since college and God blessed me with that opportunity. It’s rare that you meet folks who move you like that, so when you do, you gotta let'em know”.
-Talib Kweli

In 2002, we lost a legendary musician in Weldon Irvine. He was a father, a mentor, an activist, and a friend who always out to younger musicians. He worked closely with Nina Simone, was sampled by Boogie Down Productions and A Tribe Called Quest, worked with Mos Def, Q-Tip and Ali Shaheed on piano and participated on Black Star and Reflection Eternal. he even picked up a mic under the name of Master Wel. Although his spirit will forever live in all of us, he will be missed. we love you Weldon.

-Talib Kweli

“This song is inspired by the real life events I describe at the top of the of each verse. The verses are conversations I have with myself. I pray that my observations create discussion that leads to truth and action that frees my people.”
-Talib Kweli

Während der Segregation Der Schwarzen und Weißen in den USA war es Schwarzen verboten im vorderen Teil von Bussen zu benutzen falls Weißen anwesend waren. Rosa Louise Parks wurde durch ihr Widerstand gegen diese Regeln weltweit bekannt. dieser widerstand war eine großer Meilenstein in der Bürgerrechtsbewegung in den USA der 1950er Jahre.

Aufgrund des starken Einflusses der Ajatollahs ist der Iran sehr stark islamisch geprägt, das heißt, dass die allermeisten Drogen bis auf z.B. Tabak verboten sind und der Gebrauch ebendieser teilweise sehr stark geahndet wird, jedoch ist der Iran zusammen mit anderen Ländern Vorderasiens wie z.B. Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Kasachstan usw. einer der größten Produzenten und Umschlagplätze für Opium u.a. aufgrund der sehr Langen Grenzen zu Russland und der schweren Aufsicht über diese von Sicherheitskräften.