Talib Kweli, 'Prisoner of Conscious': Exclusive Album Stream

Talib Kweli

Close to a year after the release of his "Attack The Block" mixtape, Talib Kweli delivers his personal fifth studio album, "Prisoner of Conscious" (May 7). Kweli, who is known to tackle social and political issues, digs deeper and delivers rhymes filled with emotion.

"When I look at my favorite hip-hop albums, from Andre 3000's "Love Below" or "The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill," those are hip-hop love albums," the rapper told Billboard. "I feel like when people talk about real life emotions and real life feelings they resonate longer, longer than rappers who talk about gangsterism, sex and violence and longer than rappers who  just talk about hip-hop, how real they are how and how underground they are. I wanted to make an album that really spoke to the lives that people are living."

In anticipation of the release of "Prisoner of Conscious," Billboard is exclusively streaming the album. Check it out below:

The release of "Prisoner  of Conscious" comes two weeks after Talib Kweli debuted his first official single, "Come Here," featuring Miguel. "Miguel is a hell of a talent. Sean C. and L.V. from Grind Music produced ['Come Here']," he said. "I really like what they did with Jay-Z in [the] 'American Gangster' album. It was really rooted in 70's soul because it was trying to capture the vibe of the move, the 'American Gangster' movie, but it was still hip-hop. It was 70's soul but those records that Jay-Z had like "Roc Boys" was still stuff that worked in the club scenario. So I went to them for this beat and they gave me this motion-esque [song]."

The album also feaures guest apperances by Melanie Fiona, Curren$y, Kendrick Lamar, Busta Rhymes, Nelly, and more.