Black Power Mixtape is a documentary exploring Black Power Movement that emphasized racial pride and the creation of black political and cultural institutions. This powerful film includes exclusive footage of interviews with staples of the Black Movement like Angela Davis and Stokely Charmichael. Kweli first heard about the footage while touring in Sweden when his manager told him about Swedish film makers that traveled to the states to film the base of the Black Power Movement four decades ago. The Swedish film makers were happy to meet with Talib Kweli after Kweli’s manager arranged a meeting between the two parties. The New York native added contemporary artists Erykah Badu and Questlove to narrate.
It gave me a personal context for my existence,” says Kweli about the documentary, explaining that his parents “met in 1968 and were very active in student movements in New York at the time. Talib Kweli was born in 1975. So it gives me a context for the ideas that created me.” He got involved when his manager, who’d seen the footage, told him about it and he arranged to meet with the filmmakers when he was on tour in Sweden. “They showed me the footage and taped a conversation we had while I was watching the film. Society is different than it was in the ’60s and ’70s but we have racism that’s more subversive, less subtle,” he reflects, comparing the eras. “If you’re nationalist or cultural now, you can’t wear it on your sleeve.”
Talib in arabic means “student” or “seeker”, he explains the importance of culture and selection of African names. His mother a professor at Medgar Evers College of the City of New York and his father an administrator embedded African culture which in turn he passed onto his two children Amani and Diani. “I learned from my parents that you have to give your children powerful names,” he says, explaining his choices of African names. “It starts with that, and then you have to have images in the house of your ancestors and your culture.” Black Power Mixtape airs March 9 on PBS.
Source: PBS
