Biography

Black Star, named after the Black Star Line shipping company founded by activist and Pan-Africanist Marcus Garvey, is a collaboration between rappers Yasiin Bey (formerly Mos Def) and Talib Kweli. 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. Bey and Kweli 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 Madlib. Bey and Kweli became acquaintances through hip-hop cyphers at Washington Square Park in Lower Manhattan, and also performed at open-mike spoken word events. Bey established himself as one-third of Urban Thermo Dynamics, a sibling trio with a handful of singles for Payday/FFRR from 1994 to 1995, produced by the likes of Salaam Remi, Diamond D, and J-Swift. Around the same time, Kweli made his first recorded appearance as an uncredited featured guest on "Transmoreify," a 1994 track by Cincinnati-based group Mood, whose 1997 LP Doom also featured Kweli on several cuts. Kweli's Midwest activity connected him with producer Hi-Tek, who would become his partner in the duo Reflection Eternal. Bey and Kweli teamed for "Freestyle" on the 1997 Rawkus compilation Soundbombing, but it wasn't until the next year that they launched the Rawkus-signed Black Star with "Definition," an anti-violence track produced by Hi-Tek. 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 Jay-Z's Vol. 2...Hard Knock Life, OutKast's Aquemini, A Tribe Called Quest's The Love Movement, and Brand Nubian'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 Hi-Tek with an appearance from Common, 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 Hi-Tek, the album featured productions from the likes of Da Beatminerz, Shawn J. Period, 88-Keys, J. Rawls, and Ge-ology (with Kweli co-producing a pair). Just as significant as any of the guest verses were the keys of low-profile jazz and R&B legend Weldon Irvine, heard on "Astronomy (8th Light)." Bey and Kweli soon returned the favor with their contributions to Irvine's The Amadou Project: The Price of Freedom. Black Star recordings and appearances over the next two decades were rare. Bey released his first solo album, Black on Both Sides, in 1999. Kweli and Hi-Tek issued Train of Thought, the first Reflection Eternal LP, in 2000. Throughout the early 2000s, Bey and Kweli delivered Black Star cuts for a handful of compilations and soundtracks. These included "Little Brother" (produced by Jay Dee for The Hurricane), "Money Jungle" (recorded with Ron Carter and Big John Patton for the Duke Ellington tribute and AIDS benefit compilation Red Hot + Indigo), and "Brown Sugar (Raw)" (produced by Kanye West for the soundtrack of Brown Sugar, a film in which Bey 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 Madlib collaboration "Fix Up" and a track from a planned mixtape tribute to Aretha Franklin. 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. Madlib produced all nine of its tracks, and featured roles were limited to Black Thought and Yummy Bingham. ~ Andy Kellman, Rovi