He first earned recognition through his collaboration with fellow Brooklyn rapper Mos Def (now known as Yasiin Bey) in 1997, when they formed the group Black Star.

Kweli's musical career continued with solo success including collaborations with producers and rappers Kanye West, Just Blaze, and Pharrell Williams.

[2] As a youth, Kweli was drawn to Afrocentric rappers, such as De La Soul and other members of the Native Tongues Posse whom he had met in high school.

[citation needed] In Cincinnati, Kweli met Hi-Tek and the two collaborated on a few underground recordings as Reflection Eternal, including "Fortified Live" (1997), and "B-Boy Document 99/Chaos" (1999, featuring The High & Mighty).

[citation needed] Shortly afterwards, upon returning to New York, he reconnected with fellow Brooklyn rapper Mos Def and formed Black Star.

[3] The album, released amidst a late '90s renaissance of conscious, Afrocentric hip hop, was hailed by critics and achieved modest mainstream success.

[citation needed] An EP, Hip Hop for Respect, was organized by Mos Def and Kweli to speak out against police brutality, specifically, the case of Amadou Diallo.

Rappers featured on the EP include Owen Brown, Evil Dee, Kool G. Rap, Rah Digga, Sporty Thievz, Shabaam Sahdeeq, Common, Pharoahe Monch, Posdnuos, Donte and Main Flow of Mood, Nine, Tiye Phoenix, Breezly Brewn' of the Juggaknots, Punchline, Imani Uzuri, El-P and Mr. Len of Company Flow, Jah-Born of Medina Green, John Forté, Mr. Khaliyl, Fre, J-Live, Rubix, Invincible, Wordsworth, A.L., Kofi Taha, Tame One, Jane Doe, Grafh, Shyheim, Channel Live, Wise Intelligent, Cappadonna, Crunch Lo, Rock, Nonchalant, Ras Kass, Dead Prez and Parrish Smith.

[6] The compilation was a tribute to Duke Ellington, that raised money for various charities devoted to increasing AIDS awareness and fighting the disease.

[7] He collaborated with fellow hip hop artists Dead Prez, Jorge Ben, and Bilal to remake the Fela Kuti song "Shuffering and Shmiling", for the album.

In 2002, Kweli released his first solo album, Quality which featured production from a variety of producers, including DJ Quik and Kanye West.

[citation needed] The album was met with widespread critical acclaim and received some mainstream attention thanks to the West-produced single "Get By" which peaked at No.

In the summer of 2004, Kweli also performed at Dave Chappelle's Block Party, both as a solo act and as one half of Black Star, and he was later featured in the film and soundtrack.

[citation needed] In 2005, Kweli had appeared in an episode of Trippin', a 2005 MTV environmental documentary television series hosted by Cameron Diaz, also featuring Justin Timberlake, and Jimmy Fallon.

[citation needed] In 2005, Kweli released a mixtape-CD with his newly formed Blacksmith Records called Right About Now: The Official Sucka Free Mix CD, a title which is considered a response to the criticism of The Beautiful Struggle.

[citation needed] In 2007 Kweli signed rapper Jean Grae[23][24] and the group Strong Arm Steady to Blacksmith Records.

Eardrum, which featured a mix of mainstream and underground producers like Kanye West, Just Blaze, will.i.am, Nick Speed and Pete Rock,[citation needed] received generally favorable reviews[27] and went on to sell 129,000 copies after four weeks.

[34] Kweli recorded a mixtape entitled Party Robot with singer Res and musician Graph Nobel under the group alias Idle Warship.

[35] The mixtape was released as a free download on the website for Kweli's label Blacksmith with two different cover art options in late 2009.

[37][38] In February 2009, it was announced that Kweli would be featured in the graphic novel-turned-animated series Blokhedz on Missiong.com, voicing the lead part of the character Blak.

In the summer of 2015, Kweli released another free album entitled Fuck The Money featuring guest appearances from Fall Out Boy's Patrick Stump, Miguel, Styles P and others.

In November 2016, he released a compilation mixtape with to promote Javotti Media's developing artists, Awful People Are Great at Parties.

[48] 2017 saw two releases from Kweli; The Seven,[49] a joint effort with Styles P of The Lox in April and his eighth solo album, Radio Silence in November.

[51] Partnering with Uproxx in June 2019, Talib Kweli launched a weekly podcast called The People's Party with co-host Jasmin Leigh.

[66] On June 1, 2019, Kweli was disinvited from the Open Source Festival in Düsseldorf because of his support for BDS which has been classified as antisemitic by the German parliament and his tour of Germany was cancelled.

[69] In May 2005, Kweli and Mos Def gathered with supporters at City Hall in New York to demand that the federal government drop the million dollar bounty that was placed on political activist Assata Shakur and remove her from the terrorist watch list.

[72] On August 7, 2013, Kweli traveled to Tallahassee to spend a night in the capital building with the Dream Defenders, a group of students that created a sit-in at the Florida governor's office to protest the state's stand-your-ground law.

[74] Kweli joined South African artist Cassper Nyovest on a new remix of his single "Doc Shebeleza", a tribute to the Kwaito music icon of the same name.

The line up for the benefit show "Ferguson is Everywhere" featured Common, Bun B, M1 from Dead Prez, Rapsody, Tef Poe, Kendra Ross, Rebel Diaz, Jasiri X, Immortal Technique, and Pharoahe Monch.

[76] In 2022, Kweli's memoir, Vibrate Higher: A Rap Story (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2021), won a PEN Oakland – Josephine Miles Literary Award.