Talib Kweli vs. Project Blowed Beef
Some people tuning in late to this beef might be wondering “WTF happened?” Hip hop fans love a good beef, so here’s a play-by-play recap…
The Players
One-half of the duo Black Star, Talib Kweli currently hosts a podcast with Yasiin Bey & Dave Chappelle. He had a hit song with Kanye West, “Get By,” and is a progressive activist, recently publishing his book Vibrate Higher.
The Project Blowed crew’s accomplishments in underground hip hop are perhaps best explained by Ava DuVernay’s first documentary This is the Life. Myka 9 of Freestyle Fellowship is one of the earliest innovators of chopping, freestyle, and melodic jazz-rap.
Genesis
When Talib Kweli was a teenager, he was a big fan of Freestyle Fellowship and Myka 9, who first gained international recognition in 1993 with Innercity Griots. Kweli became friends with Myka 9 in NYC in 1994. Kweli has stated, “I was into Freestyle Fellowship, that was my shit” and “I’m a student of Myka 9.” There is footage of them rhyming together onstage in NYC in 2010, and Kweli featured Myka 9 on his 2017 song “Radio Silence.”
The key players on the Project Blowed side — Myka 9, Rifleman Ellay Khule, 2Mex, Riddlore, NgaFsh, and Mister CR — have all known each other since the early 90s at the Good Life Cafe open mic night, which evolved into the Project Blowed crew.
2019: The Origins of Beef
Kweli is well-known for arguing with randos on social media and eventually got banned from Twitter for continual harassment of a young woman.
In summer 2019, Kweli was arguing with someone who then started mentioning Project Blowed’s Rifleman Ellay Khule in the argument. Rifleman replied, “Not sure what’s going on here but I don’t have any problems with Brother Talib. Now if you guys have some sort of online beef or disagreements I’d appreciate if I’m kept out of it. Peace and blessings.” (This video attempts to explain how it started.)
Kweli continued mentioning Rifleman’s name, and Rifleman continued asking him to stop the constant @-ing and DM. Rifleman tried to explain that they had friends in common (Myka 9) and they could just settle the issue privately. Kweli has repeatedly claimed that he didn’t know who Rifleman was, despite meeting him with Myka 9 and despite Rifleman being a high-profile member of the Blowed crew.
Kweli stated on IG, “I called Myka like ‘who’s your man and why is he doing this?’ Myka said ‘he’s crazy I will stop this’ then that night Myka posted up in pics with dude and dude sending me pics of him and Myka taunting me with them. So I called Myka back and Myka was like ‘I’m not involved.’”
Myka 9 tried to squash the beef between the two of them, publicly addressing them both on twitter: “peace! … we need unity now more than ever! in the spirit of Nipsey I remind you of these words… it’s all love!”
Eventually, Kweli said to Rifleman, “Didn’t you just get shot?” — which Rifleman took as an insulting reference to his gunshot wounds to the neck and body from a driveby shooting in July 2018. Rifleman said, “What made me snap is when he said ‘Didn’t you just get shot?’ I took that personal. It’s nothing to be made light of. Once he said that, I was like, I don’t have no love for the dude.” Rifleman said they could deal with the beef with “a public apology, a rap battle, or a head-up fade.” Regarding an apology, Kweli said: “Over my dead body.”
So Rifleman responded with two diss tracks. “Clap Emcees,” a jab to see if Kweli would respond, showed screenshots of various tweets.
“Hiphopcrisy,” released a month later, starts off with video of Talib Kweli throwing a man out of his show in Austin just for asking “What’s up with Rifleman?” Kweli yelled at him, “Shut the fuck up, white boy! … Since you’re down with Rifleman, you gotta get the fuck outta the club! Fuck you!” The venue security then led him out.
“Hiphopcrisy” goes on to cover Kweli getting in a physical fight with his wife at a party and sexual harassment claims against Kweli by Res.
Kweli got mad that Myka didn’t “check his man” and that Myka continued being friends with Rifleman.
Some fans trolled Kweli’s wikipedia page by stating that Myka 9 was the father of his children, adding a “9” at the end of each kid’s name.
In September 2020, Myka 9 released “Fair Weather Friend” — not really a traditional diss track but an elegy on the end of a friendship. No one’s name was mentioned, and most listeners probably didn’t know who it was about. (A year later, Myka publicly confirmed that the song is about Kweli.)
2021: Beef Leftovers
Fast-forward to April 2021, a full 18 months after Rifleman’s last diss track, Kweli released “Sons of Gotham,” which disses Myka 9 at the 2:06 mark. In case it wasn’t clear who he’s talking about, he released a video in early June which shows pictures of Myka and Rifleman. The relevant lyrics state:
“You ain’t nothing but a succubus
I’d say your name if niggas knew who the fuck you was
I see you roll with a nigga I used to fuck with
So To Whom It May Concern
You went from ‘We Will Not Tolerate’ to duck lips
Seem like to me you tolerate a bunch of fuck shit
I put you on my album ’cause I’m for the culture
But when it’s time to hold me down, you prove you for the vultures”
The lyrics refer to Rifleman “rolling” with Myka 9, showing clips of Myka and Rifleman in the video for “Smyle” (which happened to be released in the first couple months of the beef). Freestyle Fellowship’s album To Whom It May Concern and song “We Will Not Tolerate” are clearly referenced.
This flew under the radar and only became widely known in late August. The night he learned about the diss, OG Good Life / Project Blowed MC 2Mex went off on Kweli in a Michael Rapaport-style video rant posted on IG:
“You had the nerve to diss Myka 9 from the Freestyle Fellowship? … Knowing that you dick-ride their style? Knowing that you wish you were from the Good Life and the Project Blowed? You fuckin’ style orphan. … Myka 9 will serve the shit out of you. So will Ellay Khule and so will I. … Don’t ever diss the LA underground.”
The term “style orphan” was a big hit.
The video had 20K views and dozens of comment responses by Kweli. True to form, it only took Kweli a few minutes to call 2Mex’s fanbase racist:
A day later, 2Mex released his diss track, “Talib Cosby.”
2Mex’s song tells the story of Kweli getting into an argument with promoters before a show, and the promoters stuffed him in a locker for 90 minutes. Kweli denied the claim, stating: “Never in my life have I been ‘stuffed in a locker.’”
During this time, Kweli was fighting on IG with anyone and everyone, accusing the Good Life and Project Blowed of being racist, misogynist, and homophobic.
That opened a floodgate of diss tracks from the Blowed camp. Rifleman released a third track “KickaKweli,” while Riddlore & NgaFsh (Chillin Villain Empire) and Mister CR (Good Life Bullyz) got involved. Myka 9 let the drama build before releasing “Russian Rag.” Myka 9 & Rifleman teamed up to deliver the knock-out blow in “Overkill,” a burner in the classic Good Life / Project Blowed chopping style. (“KickaKweli” and “Overkill” were later released on Project Blowed Hardcore Street Hop Division, Vol.2.)
Myka 9 discussed the beef on From Da Jump, and Ellay Khule talked about it on WakeTheFlokUp.
Here are all the diss tracks, from the beginning of the beef, in chronological order:
- Rifleman — “Clap Emcees”
- Rifleman — “Hiphopcrisy”
- Myka 9 — “Fair Weather Friend”
- Talib Kweli — “Sons of Gotham”
- 2Mex — “Talib Cosby” (over Dr. Dre’s “High Powered”)
- Rifleman — “KickaKweli”
- Riddlore — “Game Over”
- NgaFsh — “Hip Hop Therapy”
- Mister CR — “Warning Shot”
- Myka 9 — “Russian Rag”
- NgaFsh — “Project High Powered” (also Dre’s beat)
- Myka 9 & Rifleman — “Overkill”
- NgaFsh — “Sons of Gotham Reality” (over Diamond D’s “Sons of Gotham” beat)
(While not a Blowed member, Donte from MOOD, who first put Kweli on wax, released “Who Punched U in the Eye?” during this beef, rapping over Kanye’s “Get By” beat.)
There is still no hip hop response from Kweli. Based on the previous 18 month wait, a potential response is expected in early 2023. Stay tuned…
Coda
In November 2021 at Rhymefest, Rifleman met the “white boy” who Kweli kicked out of the show:
The Final Word…
Of course, Kweli is still going at it on IG.
Reheated Beef…
In late November 2023, Talib Kweli played at a Pharcyde show in LA. J-Smoov of Project Blowed attended while wearing a Project Blowed shirt.
J-Smoov told me: “I wasn’t there to defend Khule, Mike, or 2Mex. I was there in response to Kweli dissing and cursing out the lady [Erika] that runs a Good Life Cafe IG page in memory of her mom. Afterward I waited outside the front door for 30 minutes in case any of them were to CLAIM they came to look for me.” (The screenshot of Kweli dissing @thegoodlifehealthfoodcentre is above.)
Kweli posted a video of himself talking onstage, praising Project Blowed and the West Coast underground before going on to speak about the beef with Rifleman and Myka 9. While Kweli was giving his false version of events, someone in the front row question him: “Why? Why though?” Kweli stated repeatedly, “I DON’T RAPE CHILDREN!”
Kweli posted the following rant on his IG page:
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Parker Pubs has published 2Mex’s Word Murder, Myka 9’s My Kaleidoscope, Riddlore’s Born a Villain, and Rifleman’s King Khule. Rap verses & underground hip hop history for the heads.
