Talib Kweli @ HiFi Club, Leeds, 2 Dec

“You see, I don’t really know what that is,” admits a bemused Talib Kweli to the brim-full basement of HiFi. We’re half-way through the show and an unavoidable “York-shire” chant has broken out. “Either it’s a football team, or a really ghetto neighbourhood,” he surmises.

Any local Hip-Hop lovers watching might be forgiven for expecting a little more Northern-awareness from the rapper, considering how many of his New York City contemporaries have passed through the city recently – Big Daddy Kane, KRS-One and Ghostface Killah to name a few.

Kweli, also a dedicated social activist who recently founded Action Support Committee – an organisation supporting social justice work and community organizations based in Ferguson – is here on his 20-date European ‘Tour de Force’. Having been on the road non-stop since the election of Trump, it was unsurprising that he’d have something to say to his audience on the matter.

“With Trump, and with Brexit,” he comments, “it’s felt like the world is heading back to fascism. As a lover of peace I know it’s important to show solidarity right now. People do some fucked up shit, but we can’t just blame one group of people – and fascists blame one group of people.”

His words are met with a rapturous reception, but Kweli’s not just here to preach about politics tonight. He's playing with DJ Spinna, a criminally unsung producer, also from Brooklyn, and the duo deliver a career-spanning set reaching from 2013’s Gravitas all the way back to Black Star’s early work.

Rocket Ships and Definition are performed with an incredible deftness that continues through the set – Kweli’s delivery quick to the point of being impressive but clear enough to take in. You can only fully gauge how talented he is and how charged his politically-confrontational lyrics are when he’s hurling them at you like this in person.  

It’s this striking delivery, and the socially-aware, interrogative style of his lyrics that have made Kweli such an acclaimed artist. As Jay-Z put it, “If skills sold, truth be told, I'd probably be lyrically Talib Kweli.”

What makes his talent all the more impressive is it’s not something he ever brags about – in fact he’s extremely humble. In between tracks he takes the time to credit all the friends and artists who worked on them. “We’re all just standing on the shoulders of our ancestors,” he says.

He’s not lacking in any stage presence either – he knows how to work the crowd. “If you love hip-hop when it’s beautiful, if you love hip-hop when it’s ugly; if you love hip-hop when it’s positive, negative; if you love it with all its flaws, make some noise,” he bellows at the end of the show, before signing off with Get By. There’s no doubt Talib Kweli delivers tonight in sharing everything he claims to love – peace, hip-hop, and bringing people together.