On a Friday night during the coldest week in January, Hip-Hop heads in the GTA had two dope options to choose from if they were willing to step outside to see some live music. You could’ve either found yourself in downtown Toronto to see The Pharcyde at The Phoenix Concert Theatre, or for those out west, Talib Kweli would be performing at Bridgeworks in Hamilton. Both have toured through the area as recently as last year, and yet there are always fans willing to fill up a room to see them perform live. You couldn’t go wrong with either option, and I decided to kick off another year of reviewing concerts with Talib Kweli’s show in Hamilton.

Although he had performed at The Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto and The Living Arts Centre in Mississauga less than a year ago, it’s rare to see touring artists make stops in Hamilton, and the local fans were pleased to see Talib Kweli come to their city. The veteran emcee hailing from Brooklyn, New York has a ton of classic material that Hip-Hop heads worldwide appreciate, and he continues to maintain a presence in the underground, most recently putting out the 2024 album The Confidence of Knowing, produced by J. Rawls. Whether it’s to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Kweli’s Train of Thought album with Reflection Eternal, his timeless classics with Mos Def as Black Star, or the new music he’s put out in recent years, there’s definitely a reason for Hip-Hop heads to catch him live on tour.

This would be my first time attending a show at Bridgeworks, which was formerly a construction company that specialized in making components to build steel bridges. The concert space had a warehouse vibe to it, with an intimate yet open area that allowed for a good view of the stage no matter where you stood. It was also authentically Hamilton vibes, as the drinks served were strictly from local breweries like Collective Arts, and the opening artist would also be a local OG from the “Steel City,” an emcee named Eklipz joined by DJ Realistic.

A multi-disciplined artist who got his start in graffiti and eventually evolved into various visual arts along with emceeing, Eklipz would be making his first appearance on a live stage in over a decade. Responsible for helping build the foundations of Hamilton’s local Hip-Hop scene, from opening its first Hip-Hop clothing store and establishing its early Hip-Hop radio, Eklipz naturally got a ton of respect from the crowd. After a decade-plus hiatus from recording, Eklipz’ return to music would be marked by his newly released EP titled Alignment Assignment, which he’d perform a few songs from. He delivered a raw performance on the mic as he rocked new joints like “Codes,” “Word,” and the single “Belleview,” spitting his raps word for word without any recorded safety nets.

After a short but dope setlist from Eklipz, Texas-based DJ Chino Chase would take over the turntables, and he’d spin some Hip-Hop classics to warm up the crowd for Talib Kweli. Eventually the man of the hour himself graced the stage, and the crowd turned up as the show started off with some Train of Thought classics!

Although he didn’t call it out explicitly, it definitely felt like a Train of Thought 25th anniversary celebration to start the show, as Talib Kweli dove into several joints off that album, setting it off with a hype performance of “Move Somethin'” with the beat switching to Black Rob’s “Woah” for the second verse. That beat switch got the crowd extra hyped, and the energy stayed high as he continued on into bangers like “This Means You,” “Down For The Count” and “Too Late,” all getting good crowd participation with the hand waving and joining in on the hooks. After this segment of songs though, Kweli would start to bounce between different eras of his career.

Known as a politically and socially conscious emcee, Talib Kweli would get the crowd to pump their fists as he called for reparations for African and Indigenous people and got into a performance of “Nat Turner” off his recent Madlib collab, Liberation 2. While the classic throwbacks secured the crowd’s buy-in and participation, it’s newer joints like this where Kweli felt the most energized, locked in and focused on nailing his rapid-fire raps. With his career spanning through several eras of Hip-Hop, Kweli would do an age-check with the crowd, getting fans to make noise if they were born in the ’70s, ’80 and ’90s, and he’d interact directly with one of the few fans in the building born in the 2000s, shouting out the Spiderman hat they were wearing and tying it in to what would be my favourite moment of the show. Kicking off a segment where he’d spend a good chunk of his stage time paying tribute to fallen legends, Kweli performed a song I thought I’d never get to see performed live, doing his guest feature on DangerDOOM’s “Old School Rules,” complete with the cartoon animations playing on the screen behind him. I just happened to be wearing an MF DOOM hoodie & hat combo at this show.

The tributes would continue as the late J Dilla got some love next, Talib Kweli performing the Jaylib track “Raw Shit.” He’d also honour D’Angelo by playing a few of his songs, but the most personal had to be his tribute to the recently passed John Forte, who Kweli was good friends with, having been former college roommates. This show also happened to land on what would’ve been his 51st birthday. To honour the legend, Kweli and DJ Chino Chase would play a medley of songs Forte either performed, featured on, or had a hand in producing, including “I’ll Give You Me,” The Fugees’ “Family Business,” and Wyclef Jean’s “We Trying To Stay Alive.”

When Talib Kweli got back to rapping, he’d do a short segment of romantic songs, rocking 2007’s “Hot Thing” and performing ’04’s Just Blaze-produced “Never Been In Love Before” in its entirety, getting the fans to clap their hands to the beat. He’d quickly get back to the political though, encouraging the crowd to shout “fuck ICE!” even though we’re in Canada, and delivering a talk about Hip-Hop always being about supporting diversity and inclusion. With the venue being so intimate, it allowed Kweli to interact directly with the crowd, as he noticed a fan’s Mobb Deep shirt and had DJ Chino Chase queue up “Shook Ones Pt. II” on the spot, getting a hype reaction when the beat dropped.

Back to the regularly scheduled program, Talib Kweli & Chino Chase would do a familiar segment, playing several Reggae hits including Junior Reid’s “One Blood,” Sister Nancy’s “Bam Bam,” Dawn Penn’s “You Don’t Love Me,” all used to tie-in the Reggae influence on Black Star’s “Definition.” The crowd all sang along to that Mos Def hook and Kweli nailed his raps, transitioning right into “RE:Definition” as the two songs appear on the Black Star album, except he’d perform his rapid-fire verse acapella. Continuing to add new twists to classic Black Star records, Talib Kweli went on to perform “K.O.S. (Determination)” over the beat from A Tribe Called Quest’s “Check The Rhime,” giving the normally laid-back track some hype energy. He’d get an especially hype reaction as he changed up some of the lyrics, spitting “the fire’s in my eyes and the flames need fannin’ / ayo they shot Charlie Kirk but what about Steve Bannon?”

Always one to put the lyricism first, Talib Kweli went on to spit an acapella verse about those who have neutrality on political issues, taking a pro-Palestine stance and calling for its freedom in his raps. He’d then shift to more positive vibes for the big finale of his show, playing Nina Simone’s “Sinnerman,” and transitioning the beat into his song that samples it, “Get By.” The entire room was turned up to the track, singing along to the hook and clapping to the beat. With “Get By” being Kweli’s biggest hit, he could’ve ended the show there, but the crowd gave a strong encore chant to bring him back out for a few more songs.

Talib Kweli’s encore set was similar to when we saw him perform in Mississauga last year, as he came back out rocking the high-energy 2024 single “Native Sons,” spitting rapid-fire raps over a hype Native Tongue-influenced beat. He’d then mellow out the energy, performing a rare Black Star cut “Respiration,” and got the fans to all light up their cell phones as he performed a cover of Mos Def’s “Umi Says.” To close out, he’d go back to one last song off of Reflection Eternal’s Train of Thought album, “The Blast,” closing out the show on some feel-good vibes and wishing everyone a goodnight.

Overall, this was a dope Hip-Hop show to start the year off with. Having seen Talib Kweli perform live several times over the years and even catching one of his recent shows less than a year ago, it was dope to see the slight changes to his setlist, pulling out rare joints I had never seen him do before while also including all the essentials. The way he interacted with the crowd and improvised some parts of the show was dope, and he continues to carry traditional Hip-Hop values, putting lyricism first and needing nothing but a DJ and a microphone to turn the crowd up. Seeing the performance in Hamilton was also a unique experience, as the room was filled with fans who were genuinely excited to see an emcee of Talib Kweli’s stature perform in their city and not having to make the long commute to Toronto.

The touring never stops for Talib Kweli, as he has a run of European shows in February followed by select shows in the USA. Tour dates and tickets can be found here.

Check out this playlist of concert videos from all the times I’ve seen Talib Kweli perform live over the years!

Check out the SYpherSights Youtube channel for more concert videos.

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