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Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star

Black Star

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iTunes Review

With a mindset merging street and conscious politics set to subterranean boom bap, Black Star arrived at a crucial moment when hip-hop was struggling to make sense of Biggie and 2Pac's violent deaths. Fueled by the first single "Definition," a re-tooling of Boogie Down Productions' "Stop the Violence," its message of uplifting self-awareness hit college radio and underground clubs like manna from heaven. Other tracks address insolence ("Knowledge of Self," "Children's Story"), black power ("8th Light," "Brown Skin Lady"), and back-in-the-day reminiscence ("B-Boys will B-Boys"). Black Star offers a down-to-earth alternative to the silk-suited players and roughnecks.

Customer Reviews

This is how hip-hop is done

50 Cent? Lil Jon? The Game? A bunch girls when compared to the like of Mos Def, Talib Kweli, and Hi-Tek. They have flow, they have the best rhymes, and they have some of the best beats ever heard by man. Hi-Tek drops some seriously smooth jazz beats, and Mos and Kweli rip it up. The problem these days is that most rappers have no flow. That's because Mos Def and Kweli took it all. Two of the best rappers in the game combined forces under one awesome DJ to make what is arguabily the best Underground Hip-Hop album ever. Best tracks: Astronomy(8th Light), Definition, K.O.S, Resperation, Twice inna Lifetime

REAL Hip Hop for EVERYBODY

I don't usually listen to much hip hop (though I love Common and De La Soul) but I do respect *real* hip hop. What makes it real? Not just sampling a song you didn't make and talking over it about how much money you have or how women are only good for using and throwing away. MCs have the power to make people listen while they're dancing, and Black Star takes advantage of that by putting real and important messages inside of beats that will keep you grooving all night. Mos Def & Talib are actual musicians, and know that what's happening in society needs light shed on it- not on 'grillz' or your Bentleys. This is inspirational music that's fun at the same time made for intelligent people. If this describes you- get this album ASAP!

Purest Hip Hop album of all time

11 songs. That's all it took for Mos Def, Talib Kweli, and DJ Hi-Tek to create the definitive hip-hop masterpiece. Every song on this album serves a purpose, with no filler whatsoever. No rap album has approached the focus and greatness of this album since it came out (not even Kweli or Mos' excellent solo efforts). "Respiration" is the greatest rap song ever recorded. It doesn't have the flashiest beat or the craziest word play. What is has is 3 verses from 3 men at the top of their game, knowing exactly what they want to say and the best way to say it. Some say that hip-hop is dead in the present day. I strongly disagree, but if this is the end then there is one album I will play for my grandchildren to show them all they need to know about rap. BlackStar.

Biography

Formed: Brooklyn, NY

Genre: Hip Hop/Rap

Years Active: '90s, '00s

Marcus Garvey, founder of the united Negro Improvement Association manifested his ideas by creating the Black Star shipping line, designed to repatriate blacks to Africa. Garvey's political vision not only inspired Mos Def and Talib Kweli's band name, but many of their thematic concerns about the African-American community. Black Star is part of the Native Tongues crew, a collective that contains A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, the Jungle Brothers, the Bush Babies and Common. Def's first break...
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