I don't make music for the fans. I never have, and god willing I never will. Do I have your attention? Are you offended? Do you understand? Lemme explain....

The true music fan respects the artist who is honest with him or herself. The art is the expression..if I'm only expressing things that are of value to you, than I'm not being a true artist. Once I start to do it for the sake of the fans, then I will really fall off and become irrelevant. I will become transparent..instead of the complaint being, "it doesn't sound like black star", it will be, "he hasn't grown since black star." The honest artist will grow and challenge his audience to follow where he is going, and not the other way around. People who love Be shitted on Electric Circus, but they fail to realize Common had to make Electric Circus to get to Be. It is a process that is easy to criticize if you've never had to do it. It's not like Electric was for him and Be was for the audience. They were both made for him. Think about this before you say I'm supposed to make music for the fans. Uhh, no, I'm not. You hear artist who make music for the fans all the time in the media. If someone asks them, why do you only talk about sex violence drugs and jewelry, their stock reply is "I'm making music for the fans, I'm giving people what they want." You look at some of their sales and think, hey maybe they're right. Then you come to your senses and be like fuck that! I'm not that dude. I make music for me, and so do my favorite artists.

I'm strictly talking about the process of creating music in the studio though. Once you put a barcode and a price tag on it, it no longer just belongs to you, it belongs to everybody. Like Cee Lo said, we are selling soul. In every song put out for consumption is a piece of my soul. It is intensely personal, that's why I only make music and get on stage with people I'm cool with. Anything else would be unnatural and not correct. On stage, I strictly belong to the people. In videos, I am trynta to get the people to spend money on the album. However, I cannot let these realities corrupt the creative process. The reason why my shows stay packed is because I work hard to keep it honest. This is not what I believe, it is knowledge I've gotten from doing it so long. You know what else is interesting? The same fan who shits on an artist for doing an ad or a song they feel like is just for the money is the first one to say you should respect me because I bought your album. This is why you can't make music for anyone but yourself..Phonte from Little Brother talks about this excellently in one of his blogs.

THIS NEXT SECTION I SHOULD WRITE IN CAPS, BECAUSE APPARENTLY SOME OF YOU SKIP THE POINT OF MY BLOGS AND GO RIGHT FOR THE SENSATIONAL BITS. Just playin, but seriously, I wrote some things about Okay Player last week that some of you took exception to.. I'd like to address some of it.

1. KWELI ONLY MENTIONS OKP WHEN HE'S DISSING. Not true. Instead of wishing for the new reflection album and being lost in your internet bubble, get out and buy right about now, where I shout out spit kicker AND Okay player. In countless freestyles at shows i have shouted out the okayplayers in the audience. I give away music here and participate in every okp event I'm asked to be in. In countless interviews, I mention how the okp community supports me with or without a record, and give it out as my official website. Throughout my career, okp has been a great help to me, AND vice versa. On Kanye's album I made a joke about the hating that goes on the boards sometime, but it did not come out of the blue. In his verse, Kanye jokes about meeting girls on the internet, thru black planet. Anybody who follows me knows I'm not computer saavy at all. I didn't know what black planet was, so I said something funny about okp. They said I was sensitive, but jeesh, the way some of these kids acted over that was like I killed they grandma. My rhyme was in the context of the song. Also, to really break it down, the term okay player hater was referencing my own song with black star, hater players..I referenced myself as sort of an inside joke, but the purists ain't get it..they just heard hater and took offense.

2. KWELI THINKS OKAY PLAYERS SHOULD ONLY SAY NICE THINGS ABOUT THE ARTISTS. Not true. I relish constructive criticism. I love all of my albums, and there are things I wish could be better about each of them. I've heard great criticism, I've heard hate described as criticism. If I don't wanna be criticized, I shouldn't release music for sale. In my last blog, I did not address the hate of my work except to say, yall can miss me with that. Trust, I'm good. While you stay in your own little world in front of your computer screen, I am traveling the world, loving life. I love the music I'm making right now, and I'm very proud of it. Maybe you don't like it, but maybe you are not the type of person I would hang out with either. You probably assumed you were, but that had nothing to do with me. I'm just trynta be honest with my craft. Love it or hate it, I don't care, but you are gonna respect it. NOW HERE'S THE IMPORTANT PART. THE POST I ADDRESSED ON OKP SAID THE M1 ALBUM WAS TERRIBLE, AND WHY SHOULD OKP SUPPORT THIS GARBAGE. Well, here's why. When okp was started by dan, shawn, ahmir and the good folks in philly, the intention was to create a digital community to bring awareness to artists who are passionate and positive, but don't recieve much light from the mainstream. The first okp tour lasted over 2 months and featured the Roots, Big Daddy Kane, Guru, Dice, Slum Village, Bahamadia, Phat Kat, Jaguar, the Jazzyfatnastees, myself and Dead Prez. Every night, the illest moment of the show was when M1 and sticman came back to do an encore(which means, they had ALREADY smashed it) of Hip Hop, which became the theme song for the tour, much like it is in Block Party. This was in 2000, so while a lot of you were popping pimples in junior high, M1 was grinding on a tour that raised awareness for this beautiful thing we have now where some asshole could post that M1 doesn't deserve some love here. Fuck you, you don't deserve to post, you're a tourist. You don't know how this was started, you're just visiting. To start a post by saying an album is terrible, not offer anything constructive, and question why he is down without taking his history into account is a slap in the face to the whole community. All the artists, from the Roots to D'Angelo to Common to Jag built this community, alongside our fans who support and come to the shows. Everyone feels free to comment on why I should be better at taking critcism, but to say that M1 does not belong is a judgement. There is no police at okp so we must take care of our own.

The fans who love this site should not encourage rampant ignorance and hate in the guise of constructive criticism. This is why I responded. M is my brother, and you know what, the other artist should respond too, or at least Dan and Shawn. Thats not a diss, but they probably see that bullshit all the time and get sick of responding....

3. THE ONLY TIME THE FANS HEAR FROM KWELI IS WHEN HE IS WHINING.
Funny, but not true. I don't think standing up to challenge what I feel is unacceptable disrespect to my comrade is whining or bitching. If you think it is, tell me when you see me. And you will see me, because I don't hide. I do 200 shows a year, not including speaking engagements. I walk the streets, I'm very accesible. Sometimes I don't realize the power of my words though. I write from the heart, just like a fan, because that's what I am. But because I've been on TV once or twice, my words seems to hit harder. Everything I say is dissected and looked at under a microscope by the purists, and that can be uncomfortable sometimes. Maybe I'm too passsionate, maybe I care too much.. Tarik would probably think I was crazy for writing this, like why are you wasting your time on someone who obviously don't get it. I believed that this was a community for us, by us, but it does not seem to be, when someone could post something like that.

Everyone has the right to an opinion, including me, but dudes post was not acceptable..anyone who thinks it is should be ashamed of themselves, and does not deserve to be down with okp, sorry, take that bullshit elsewhere. It might be true that I have not focused enough on the positive things people do over there. Even though I said in the blog from last week that I cannot hold most of okp responsible for a few bad comments, y'all seemed to ignore it. Maybe I should make a rhyme about the fans who really support me (oh wait, I do that all the time). I feel like I support with every piece of myself I have. As far as not saying I haven't been relevant since reflection, stick your head back in the sand. My career gets better every year. I started a label with Jean Grae and Strong Arm Steady, Blacksmith Music, distributed by Warner, and we will define the vanguard of underground coast to coast.. My most recent albums and mixtapes got everyone from David Banner to Wordsworth to Rakim to Doom to Papoose. No artists on this site puts out more music than me, thru a label or myself or otherwise. I'm definetly not making the music I used to, and I'm not going to, because the nature of the artist is to grow. If you want me to sound like I'm 20 and just signed to Rawkus, don't hold your breath. You don't have to buy the new shit, someone will. Just respect what I've done for the community you cherish so much. Respect M1, even if you don't like the album, that's all I'm saying..If I don't have the right to say that, then I shouldn't be down, y'all are right...

PS..the funniest shit is the cartoons of the angry kweli..i gotta watch what i say, y'all be missing the point..trust, I'm living and enjoying my life..say what you want about me, it does roll off...I had to defend Mtulu, tho, he's new as a featured artist. I been thru the bullshit before..That's all I'm gonna say, and now I'm so cool. Enjoy your message boards..I've let this distract me too much, back to the fly shit...