Throughout his decade-plus career, Talib Kweli has had several disputes with his labels. The Brooklyn, New York emcee had previously voiced his displeasure with Rawkus Records in later years, with whom he released four albums between 1998 and 2004. This year, Kweli also called out Babygrande Records for recent tactics in releasing an album of unreleased material. This past week, Talib has also voiced his displeasure with Warner Brothers Records, where he released 2007’s Eardrum and this year’s sophomore Reflection Eternal outing, Revolutions Per Minute.
JumpOffTV captured footage from Kweli’s Gutter Rainbows listening party. The album, which will release next month, is a return to independent releases for the popular emcee. Speaking about the contrast between his 2010 release and 2011’s, Kweli explained, “The difference between Gutter Rainbows and [Revolutions Per Minute] is that somebody might actually work on putting [Gutter Rainbows] out, in the proper way.” Voicing criticism against Warner Brothers/Asylum, Kweli continued, “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.”
The Janauary 25, 2011 Javotti Media/3D release (with physical CD/vinyl handled by Duck Down Records) will reportedly return Kweli to a lane he’s used to. “Part of my motivation for Gutter Rainbows was to put myself back into the marketplace in a way that I want to do it, ’cause they didn’t even associate my name with the Reflection Eternal album, which was a huge mistake.”
