It’s a heavy burden, but Talib Kweli has grown comfortable in knowing listeners expect him to say something profound each time he opens his mouth.

“I feel like I more often than not meet the expectation,” the rapper, political activist and engaged social commentator says with a laugh. Speaking from his native New York City, he adds, “But that’s also the challenge: How do you keep people engaged when you’ve already met their expectations?”

An incisive MC whose pen often casts a sharp eye toward social injustice, hypocrisy and cultural misrepresentation, Kweli has spent his career attempting to do just that.

He first made his name as one-half of the acclaimed rap duo Black Star, whose sole album, 1999’s “Mos Def and Talib Kweli are Black Star,” was full of intricate rhyme patterns and a cutting critique of black culture that harked back to Public Enemy and KRS-One. And over eight solo albums, the most recent being “Radio Silence,” which features an assortment of diverse, top-tier talent including the enigmatic Jay Electronica, producer Kaytranada, jazz artist Robert Glasper and former Dirty Projectors member Amber Coffman, he’s kept his foot on the throat of ignorance.

“I still have a lot to say,” says Kweli, 42, and while he continues to tour and release albums, not to mention support causes like the Black Lives Matter movement, he admits his primary mode of communication has changed.

“The main difference is it doesn’t have a beat,” Kweli says of his reputation as one of social media’s most outspoken voices. It takes no more than a cursory scroll through the rapper’s Twitter timeline to see Kweli is never afraid to engage with those who challenge his opinion.

“I’m very quick to call somebody out for being a culture vulture or a fraud or a fake fan,” he says. Little frustrates Kweli more, he says, than when fans of his music claim his caustic online persona has turned them off to his art. “It means they’re not listening” to my music, he argues. “Because I’m echoing the same themes in my music as I do on social media.”

While he’s hardly concerned with crafting the next hit single, Kweli says the No. 1 question he’s asked by fans and journalists alike is whether we can ever expect another Black Star album. “If the amount of people who ask me that question actually bought that album, I’d be rich,” he says, noting the album was hardly a commercial success. “The lesson to me from the Black Star album,” he adds, “is the way you touch the culture is the most important, not record sales. What it proves to me is that cultural currency is definitely worth way more than any kind of money.”

Dan Hyman is a freelance writer.