Black Star

Black Star, named after the Black Star Line shipping company founded by activist and Pan-Africanist <a href="spotify:artist:2aTAfW8erTD8F50nnhKZmD">Marcus Garvey</a>, is a collaboration between rappers <a href="spotify:artist:6r2niOTnexy9xss5g8GWXH">Yasiin Bey</a> (formerly <a href="spotify:artist:0Mz5XE0kb1GBnbLQm2VbcO">Mos Def</a>) and <a href="spotify:artist:0lEssBAxQl2In4RpaB1C2Y">Talib Kweli</a>. Although they had been active separately for years, the highly lyrical Brooklynites' 1998 album, Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star, expanded their audience far beyond devout underground hip-hop listeners, crashing the upper half of the Billboard 200 and placing two singles, "Definition" and "Respiration," in the Top Ten of the rap chart. <a href="spotify:artist:6r2niOTnexy9xss5g8GWXH">Bey</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:0lEssBAxQl2In4RpaB1C2Y">Kweli</a> went on to further acclaim as solo artists, and performed and recorded together on occasion, but it wasn't until 2022 that they made a second Black Star album, No Fear of Time, produced entirely by <a href="spotify:artist:5LhTec3c7dcqBvpLRWbMcf">Madlib</a>.

<a href="spotify:artist:6r2niOTnexy9xss5g8GWXH">Bey</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:0lEssBAxQl2In4RpaB1C2Y">Kweli</a> became acquaintances through hip-hop cyphers at Washington Square Park in Lower Manhattan, and also performed at open-mike spoken word events. <a href="spotify:artist:6r2niOTnexy9xss5g8GWXH">Bey</a> established himself as one-third of Urban Thermo Dynamics, a sibling trio with a handful of singles for <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Payday%22">Payday</a>/<a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22FFRR%22">FFRR</a> from 1994 to 1995, produced by the likes of <a href="spotify:artist:0rlS0SzVFk8BoiAW0fGBbN">Salaam Remi</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:1YypK4ExBm4UY1TRAOur8M">Diamond D</a>, and J-Swift. Around the same time, <a href="spotify:artist:0lEssBAxQl2In4RpaB1C2Y">Kweli</a> made his first recorded appearance as an uncredited featured guest on "Transmoreify," a 1994 track by Cincinnati-based group <a href="spotify:artist:2u2XHKuu3IWZvTvzXiciqu">Mood</a>, whose 1997 LP Doom also featured <a href="spotify:artist:0lEssBAxQl2In4RpaB1C2Y">Kweli</a> on several cuts. <a href="spotify:artist:0lEssBAxQl2In4RpaB1C2Y">Kweli</a>'s Midwest activity connected him with producer <a href="spotify:artist:2S3kEShbYaNGvSyJdd7sJg">Hi-Tek</a>, who would become his partner in the duo <a href="spotify:artist:6vwJ3e6KaQAhLEpBPxCMBC">Reflection Eternal</a>. <a href="spotify:artist:6r2niOTnexy9xss5g8GWXH">Bey</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:0lEssBAxQl2In4RpaB1C2Y">Kweli</a> teamed for "Freestyle" on the 1997 <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Rawkus%22">Rawkus</a> compilation Soundbombing, but it wasn't until the next year that they launched the <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Rawkus%22">Rawkus</a>-signed Black Star with "Definition," an anti-violence track produced by <a href="spotify:artist:2S3kEShbYaNGvSyJdd7sJg">Hi-Tek</a>.

A month after the arrival of their first single -- on September 29, to be exact -- the duo released Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star. Despite hitting shelves the same day as <a href="spotify:artist:3nFkdlSjzX9mRTtwJOzDYB">Jay-Z</a>'s Vol. 2...Hard Knock Life, <a href="spotify:artist:1G9G7WwrXka3Z1r7aIDjI7">OutKast</a>'s Aquemini, <a href="spotify:artist:09hVIj6vWgoCDtT03h8ZCa">A Tribe Called Quest</a>'s The Love Movement, and <a href="spotify:artist:3YyZFf9ZN2YbkqeZia8zHX">Brand Nubian</a>'s Foundation, the album was an unexpected commercial success out of the box, registering at number 53 on the Billboard 200. Quickly regarded as a work of major significance, Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star yielded a pair of Top Ten hits on Billboard's Rap chart, with "Definition" reaching number three and "Respiration," produced by <a href="spotify:artist:2S3kEShbYaNGvSyJdd7sJg">Hi-Tek</a> with an appearance from <a href="spotify:artist:2GHclqNVjqGuiE5mA7BEoc">Common</a>, peaking at number six. "Definition" also managed to cross into the Hot 100 at number 60, remarkable for a seemingly left-field rap single. In addition to <a href="spotify:artist:2S3kEShbYaNGvSyJdd7sJg">Hi-Tek</a>, the album featured productions from the likes of <a href="spotify:artist:02AnZfp6mEFw5LprUPv8SD">Da Beatminerz</a>, Shawn J. Period, <a href="spotify:artist:6RedK3o51NbUJuJxXlT4kj">88-Keys</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:3M5miYDu8lWrm0A3Q0OTag">J. Rawls</a>, and Ge-ology (with <a href="spotify:artist:0lEssBAxQl2In4RpaB1C2Y">Kweli</a> co-producing a pair). Just as significant as any of the guest verses were the keys of low-profile jazz and R&B legend <a href="spotify:artist:05BX9gTvlalkzuFVg3CqyL">Weldon Irvine</a>, heard on "Astronomy (8th Light)." <a href="spotify:artist:6r2niOTnexy9xss5g8GWXH">Bey</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:0lEssBAxQl2In4RpaB1C2Y">Kweli</a> soon returned the favor with their contributions to <a href="spotify:artist:05BX9gTvlalkzuFVg3CqyL">Irvine</a>'s The Amadou Project: The Price of Freedom.

Black Star recordings and appearances over the next two decades were rare. <a href="spotify:artist:6r2niOTnexy9xss5g8GWXH">Bey</a> released his first solo album, Black on Both Sides, in 1999. <a href="spotify:artist:0lEssBAxQl2In4RpaB1C2Y">Kweli</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:2S3kEShbYaNGvSyJdd7sJg">Hi-Tek</a> issued Train of Thought, the first <a href="spotify:artist:6vwJ3e6KaQAhLEpBPxCMBC">Reflection Eternal</a> LP, in 2000. Throughout the early 2000s, <a href="spotify:artist:6r2niOTnexy9xss5g8GWXH">Bey</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:0lEssBAxQl2In4RpaB1C2Y">Kweli</a> delivered Black Star cuts for a handful of compilations and soundtracks. These included "Little Brother" (produced by <a href="spotify:artist:16L1SS4OancaZUTu3qWqHb">Jay Dee</a> for The Hurricane), "Money Jungle" (recorded with <a href="spotify:artist:4wnzivx3OQ3vjrySAdTdJP">Ron Carter</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:1N0ymPm6hUQbmzXDuERfeT">Big John Patton</a> for the <a href="spotify:artist:4F7Q5NV6h5TSwCainz8S5A">Duke Ellington</a> tribute and AIDS benefit compilation Red Hot + Indigo), and "Brown Sugar (Raw)" (produced by <a href="spotify:artist:5K4W6rqBFWDnAN6FQUkS6x">Kanye West</a> for the soundtrack of Brown Sugar, a film in which <a href="spotify:artist:6r2niOTnexy9xss5g8GWXH">Bey</a> starred). Black Star performed at Dave Chappelle's Block Party in 2004, as documented in the film of the same title, and continued to record on a sporadic basis, sometimes appearing on one another's solo projects. More promisingly, in 2011, the duo released the <a href="spotify:artist:5LhTec3c7dcqBvpLRWbMcf">Madlib</a> collaboration "Fix Up" and a track from a planned mixtape tribute to <a href="spotify:artist:7nwUJBm0HE4ZxD3f5cy5ok">Aretha Franklin</a>. By then, a second proper Black Star album had reportedly been in the works for over half a decade. It didn't reach fruition until May 2022, when No Fear of Time became available exclusively through a subscription podcast network. <a href="spotify:artist:5LhTec3c7dcqBvpLRWbMcf">Madlib</a> produced all nine of its tracks, and featured roles were limited to <a href="spotify:artist:6DJEUXZm0e2rAohdoZ5Voo">Black Thought</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:56CKl5ylrMPt4XusAMblxW">Yummy Bingham</a>. ~ Andy Kellman, Rovi