Talib Kweli: My life was threatened at Ferguson

Billboard talked ​to hip-hop artist Talib Kweli about his experiences on the front lines​ in the protests over Michael Brown's death in Ferguson, Mo. The hip-hop star discusses his hostile treatment -- including threats and violence -- and how close he came to being arrested.

Here is Kweli's account in his own words​, as told to Billboard​:

​'​Was my life threatened in Ferguson? Oh, yeah. I had a cop telling me he was going to blow "my f—ing head off." I was with poet Jessica Care Moore and activist professor Rosa Clemente. We got chased, and people next to me got tackled. The cops were tackling people like lions tackle gazelles. I didn't get tackled, but I got stopped​.

They pointed guns at my group and they made us lay on the ground while they secured the area. And there was a black cop who got upset at the way the police were treating us. He said, "These people didn't do anything. You have to let them go." If he didn't step up, I would have been arrested.​'