Talib Kweli and Madlib announce ‘Liberation 2’ with posthumous Mac Miller contribution

Talib Kweli and Madlib have announced ‘Liberation 2’, a sequel to their collaborative 2007 album, which will feature a posthumous contribution by Mac Miller.

‘Liberation 2’ is set for release on March 6 exclusively through the Luminary podcast network. Alongside Miller, the album will feature collaborations with Q-Tip, Wildchild, Roc Marciano and Westside Gunn. The project is “expansive in concept but tight in its substance and approach”, Kweli explained in a press statement.

“The materialism and debauchery that is stereotypically associated with hip-hop has lost some of its luster,” the rapper said. “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.”

Kweli and Madlib accompanied the announcement with the first single from ‘Liberation 2’, ‘After These Messages’. It features singer-songwriter Amani, and begins by sampling TikTok creator LevertTheBassman, who discusses the prevalence of “racist rhetoric online”. The accompanying music video was directed by Chino Chase, and sees the pair rap in front of an artwork by African-American artist Aissata Pinto Da Costa. Watch that below.

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Black Star, the hip-hop duo comprised of Kweli and Yasiin Bey, released their latest album ‘No Fear Of Time’ in May of last year. It marked their first new album in 24 years and, like ‘Liberation 2’, was available exclusively through the Luminary network. Luminary also hosts the pair’s podcasts People’s Party With Talib Kweli and The Midnight Miracle. 

For his part, Madlib produced Loyle Carner’s 2022 ‘Hugo’ track ‘Georgetown’, and previewed two unreleased collaborations with both Black Star and Freddie Gibbs. The former track could form part of a collaborative Madlib and Black Star album, which Bey said in 2021 will arrive when the duo are ready, and no sooner.

‘Liberation’ was made available as a free download from Kweli and Madlib’s MySpace pages in 2007. Meanwhile, Miller’s first posthumous contribution following his death in 2018 was a verse on Free Nationals’ 2019 song ‘Time’. A posthumous album, ‘Circles’, arrived the following year.