Mos Def and Talib Kweli
Black Star
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NATN Recommended
Black Star
Black Star
Rawkus, 1998
RiYL: EPMD, The Roots, De La Soul |
This is the clearest message sent by Mos Def and Talib Kweli's debut as Black Star. The New York duo drops twelve dynamic tracks on the record, rebuking players who are only in hip-hop for the money with deftly delivered complex and meaningful lyrics.
The reflex is to call Black Star "old school," because their beats are controlled and phat, and more reminiscent of early '90s rap than your Puffy or Master P. But the truth is that Mos Def and Kweli are not in school at all. Their music teaches, passing on the important knowledge of the past but offering new possibilites for the future.
The group is named in the tradition of Marcus Garvey's Black Star Line, which endeavored to take post-slavery Americans back to their homeland in Africa. While Mos Def and Talib Kweli's ambition isn't quite so lofty, they do aspire to better their contemporaries in an increasingly money-driven genre which has been accused of stagnancy of late.
The duo's wordplay is swift and dextrous:
Yo -- with the quickness / so swift you miss this / lyrical fitness / mc's want to test me like litmus / but I'm like shot clocks / interstate cops / and blood clots / the point is, your flow gets stopped.
But Black Star can't be summed up by heady lyrical boasting. If you consider yourself a rap fan, pick it up and listen.
TROY CARPENTER | Troy Carpenter founded NATN from a Chicago apartment during the ambitious winter of 1998 with co-conspirators Ben French and Jonathan Cohen. After a five-year stint in New York, he and wife Lourdes have recently relocated to Indianapolis, where he spends days listening to music and nights in the kitchen at Elements restaurant. Musical heroes: Jimi Hendrix, Bob Marley, Super Furry Animals. What else makes life worth living: Sushi, Phucty, runs in the park, and the Atlanta Braves.