Talib Kweli and Madlib have announced that they are reuniting for a sequel to one of their most beloved projects. Liberation 2, due March 6, will be released through the Luminary podcast network, echoing the nontraditional release of the original in 2007.
The album is set to feature collaborations with Q-Tip, Roc Marciano, and Westside Gunn, along with a posthumous appearance from Mac Miller. In a statement accompanying the announcement, Kweli detailed the album’s decade-long recording process and its content:
“People today are taking stock of what is most important — family, health, wellness, love. The materialism and debauchery that is stereotypically associated with hip-hop has lost some of its luster. Madlib and I have been consistent in our messaging. Never has there been a better time for such honest, message-driven music that pays tribute to the sounds that came before us.”
In 2007, Kweli and Madlib teamed up to release Liberation, which was available as a free download from Stones Throw’s Rappcats website. The album was seen as a return to form for Kweli after 2004’s The Beautiful Struggle disappointed some listeners.
Madlib’s beats were seen as a perfect compliment to Kweli’s rhymes; the two have since collaborated a few more times, including most recently on Kweli and Yasiin Bey’s Black Star reunion album No Fear of Time, which was also released through Luminary. Madlib also recently released a critically acclaimed project with Freddie Gibbs, Bandana.
The first single is “After These Messages,” the video for which you can watch above.
Liberation 2 is due 3/6 on Luminary.
