Talib Kweli’s Daughter Revives Nkiru Bookstore With Brooklyn Celebration
Originally published by AllHipHop Read the original
Talib Kweli‘s daughter, Diani Eshe Greene, led Nkiru Bookstore’s online revival, hosting a Brooklyn celebration that put books and Hip-Hop on the same bill.
The gathering in Bed-Stuy featured Kweli behind the DJ decks while Diani hosted and performed, BKReader reported.
Diani, 27, described herself as an artist who was taking event curation more seriously.
“I feel extremely fulfilled to be able to put this together and continue the legacy of my dad, my grandmother and Leothy Miller,” she said.
Nkiru began in 1976 under founder Leothy Miller Owens. Kweli and Mos Def bought it in 1998. Its physical shop closed in 2002.
The store previously operated as the Nkiru Center for Education and Culture, a nonprofit centered on literacy and multicultural awareness.
Jessica Care Moore, Rasheed Chappell and Punchline were among the speakers. Wiki, HRLUM and David Jame$ also performed.
Books by Alice Walker and Mikki Kendall were also on display.
That link between rap and reading has long been part of Kweli’s life. In a July 2007 AllHipHop interview, he spoke about the strain of keeping a bookstore running as his music career grew.
“Maintaining a book store is hard enough, but doing it amidst a burgeoning rap career was harder,” Kweli said then.
His reading habits reached far beyond other rappers’ work. Kweli named Miles Davis’ autobiography as his favorite and pointed to David Ritz’s Marvin Gaye biography, “Divided Soul,” as another book he loved.
He also recalled studying history and religion during his bookstore years, while reading books by rappers including Ice-T, LL Cool J and Snoop Dogg.
By the time of that interview, he was building a home library. Kweli said he had spent about $700 at Borders, buying some titles he had already read because he wanted them on his own shelves.
The online book section at KweliClub now lists Kweli’s own “Vibrate Higher: A Rap Story” alongside RZA’s “Tao of Wu” and M.K. Asante’s “Buck: A Memoir.”
Poetry and fiction also have a place: the catalog includes Jessica Care Moore’s “We Want Our Bodies Back” and Jacqueline Woodson’s “Another Brooklyn.”
