Talib Kweli is a hip-hop artist, a title often confused with "rapper," though the two terms are not synonymous (ask KRS-1). To many, Talib Kweli may cut the mold of gangsta rapper, at least on a superficial level. After all, he has, on occasion, worn baggy pants and a N.Y. Yankees caps tilted to one side or the other, or backward. He probably owns a diamond watch and likely a sparkling necklace to match. He may or many not own a Mercedes. He is black.

But enough about labels and distracting stereotypes. Regardless of which category you shove him into or label you affix to him, Talib Kweli is simply a lyricist (but not a simple lyricist), a poet on the mic, laying narrative over bass-heavy drumbeats. It's a sound cultivated in the nondescript clubs -- lyricist lounges -- of Brooklyn and Queens and refined in "underground" studios. Kweli came up through hip-hop's subterranean and has risen to modest commercial success -- along with contemporaries like The Roots, Common and Mos Def -- on word of mouth (as in, the words from his mouth), his mastery too formidable to ignore entirely.

But don't take my word for it.

"If skills sold, truth be told/I'd probably be, lyrically, Talib Kweli," said rap mogul Jay-Z, a fellow New York hip-hopper who came up alongside radio-heavy acts such as the Notorious B.I.G. and Sean "Puff Daddy" Combs, but has over the years garnered the respect of underground hip-hop heads. Jay-Z has sold tens of millions of records and just as many hoodies (sweatshirts) under his Roca Wear clothing line (which he recently sold for $204 million). Jay-Z is filthy rich, and the fact he makes mention of Kweli in a song is significant. A sign of respect, to be sure.

Kweli responded to Jay-Z's shout-out on his 2004 album, The Beautiful Struggle with a remixed verse: "If lyrics sold, then truth be told/I'd probably be just as rich and famous as Jay-Z." Kweli is neither as rich nor as famous, nor is he dating Beyonce, or any of Destiny's other children. But Kweli is dope, and you ought to check out his music.

Don't take my word for it.

"Yo, I speak at schools a lot cause they say I’m intelligent," Kweli says in title track of The Beautiful Struggle. "No, it's cause I'm dope. If i was whack, I'd be irrelevant."