Talib Kweli Calls Out Instagram For Deleting His Post About Racism

Hip-hop fans of a certain age (or those with a knack for research) remember Talib Kweli as one of New York's most incisive lyricists, a Rawkus star when Rawkus was an unimpeachable brand. He starred on his joint album with another revered Brooklyn MC, Mos Def and Talib Kweli Are: Black Star, and on his joint album with producer Hi-Tek as Reflection Eternal, Train of Thought. As the '90s became the 2000s, Kweli was an early believer in Kanye West, who furnished him with the beat for his biggest hit, "Get By"--and brought him along on the ride that made artists like he and Common stars again. More recently, though, Kweli has been as noted as a social critic as he has for his music. Appearing on late-night talk shows, in radio booths and at rallies, Talib has remade himself as someone who fights for socio-political reform, with music one of the avenues for getting out his message.

So, naturally, he didn't take too kindly to Instagram nixing a picture of his. Kweli had posted an image of a white man holding a Confederate flag out of the passenger side of a car. In front of the flag is a sign that reads, "N---ER GO HOME." Instagram removed Kweli's image, citing their community standards. The rapper was none too pleased—you can read his tweets below. The Confederate flag, long a point of contention in the American South, has become a serious topic of debate since a self-proclaimed white supremacist allegedly killed nine people at a historically Black church in Charleston, South Carolina.