When John Forté had his 14-year prison sentence commuted more than a decade ago, he immediately went to the studio with longtime friend and fellow Brooklyn, New York native Talib Kweli. It was there that the former Fugees affiliate recorded “Homecoming,” a personal cover to Kanye West’s one-year-old Graduation cut. The two MCs have a relationship that dates back to the mid-1990s. As revealed on a new episode of The People’s Party (embedded below), it was Forté that suggested Rawkus Records sign Kweli. The MC/producer was working at the fledgling label as an A&R in the mid-’90s.

The People’s Party conversation also covered John Forte’s recently released project, Riddem Drive, released this month on Kweli’s label Javotti Media. On Riddem Drive, the two longtime friends once again share a track, “Being Is Believing,” and it’s a standout record for both veteran MCs.

“Being Is Believing,” like all of Riddem Drive, is produced by the multi-talented John Forté, whose abilities beyond rapping and production include guitar, piano, and violin. Kweli starts the song off with impact: “Music in the soul can be heard in the universe / The whispers of the trees, the breeze through the junipers / Who’s the first to move you through a verse like how you deserve? / Now you super thirst Like a groupie alert, its due to the work / Man, the things we do in the pursuit of the purse.”

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