Fans have waited years for Yasiin Bey and Talib Kweli to release another Black Star album. According to Bey, the wait is almost over.
During a Madlib DJ set in Denver, Colorado, the MC formerly known as Mos Def claimed he and Kweli have teamed up with the Stones Throw producer for an entire project.
“New Black Star with Madlib, Talib Kweli, Yasiin, coming soon!” Bey says in a clip uploaded by a Reddit user who attended the show. “All Madlib, all day. 2018, Madlib, Black Star. Madlib Black Star.”
The return of Black Star is surprising since Bey announced his retirement in 2016. The former Mos Def planned to release three albums before calling it quits but only released one, Dec 99th with producer Ferrari Sheppard.
Black Star’s one and only album, Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star, was released in 1998. The critically acclaimed LP was a defining project for Rawkus Records, which was one of the premier labels for alternative Hip Hop in the late ’90s and early 2000s. Bey and Kweli would later release their debut solo albums through Rawkus.
Listen to one of Black Star’s classic tracks, “Respiration,” below.
yes.
madlib never fails. perfect producer for the fit.
Wow just a half hour ago I posted on a mos def video on YouTube “when we gonna get a new black star album!!?” What a kowinkydink
While I’m excited, I’ll wait for the album before going as shit. Mos Def has had very few good songs since his first solo and his been completely wack lately. Kweli has been more consistent, but definitely not the same mc he was in the late 90s and early 2000s. Still if the new album is half as classic as the first I’ll be happy.
2018 is gonna be a great year for hip hop. The last 2 years have been beyond shitty. I am waiting for this, Prhyme 2, black thought and 9th wonder, hopefully tech n9nes the planet delivers, hoping joyner lucas, j Cole and possibly kendrick fdrop albums. Oh yeah the new q tip album, yeah thid I’d gonna be a good year. What elwe are you guys looking forward to?
You suck! In the last two year we got Thank You For Your Service, Damn, Layers, The Bar Exam 4, Honor Killed The Samurai, Laila’s Wisdom, Lead Poison, The God Box, The Iceberg, 4eva Is A Mighty Long Time, Rosebudd’s Revenge, Skyzoo and Apolllo Brown, Coloring Book (the first album of its kind to win a grammy), Czarface, 1992, Rose Azura Njano, No Dope On Sundays, Brick Body Kids Still Daydream, Which Way Iz West, DIBKIS, Atrocity Exhibition, Blankface LP, The Anonymous Nobody, All This Beauty In This Whole Life, The Sun’s Tirade, Rosecrans, The Life of Pablo, Gems From The Equinox, No Mountains In Manhattan and so much and you want to sit up here and say Hip-Hop is shitty? No, it’s fans like you who are shitty because you sit back and complain about mainstream instead of supporting what you like!!!
So many dope albums… and the Anonymous Nobody – De La Soul.
Thaks for giving me a list. Ill check some out. And good call on the tribe album, that was one of the greats in the last 5 years. Theres been a lot of shit I loved in the last couple years, but compared to earlier in the 2010s was way better.
Finally, some good news in a world of shit.
I have been waiting for another black star records for years. Plus, madlib is behind the boards. I smell a classic record coming soon. The last two years in hip hop have been amazing so many new records are dropping including onyx, nine, czarface meets metal face, u-god, wu tang, stoneface, cypress hill, mf doom and dj muggz, doomstark, prodigal sunn, mooncrickets, ghostface killah, raekwon many more. The hip hop saga continues.
LOL Hip Hop’s been wack for years. You must be a child.
Ha ha your a joke. Your a rap fan. You know nothing about hip hop music. Hip hop will always be dope. You need to stop listening to the radio. Rap is trash.
r u stupid? See there was a time before your generation when hip hop was great. It was called the golden era, but lil kids like you have never heard of it.
Lol, i’m from the golden era. I know about great hip hop in the past and now. I agree this generation is horrible. The corporations want to kill hip hop with rap.
If you’re excited about Onyx I don’t think you know great Hip-Hop.
Someone let Yasiin Bey know that if it isn’t Mos def with Talib then it’s NOT Blackstar.
In my Samuel L Jackson voice, bring that motha fucka!
I can’t believe what I’m reading right now! I can’t wait.
Mos def announce a collaboration with mannie fresh years ago. A couple of singles were released, but the project in the whole was shelved or forgotten. I hope this promise is true this time.
Okay, is it for real this time or are they pulling our leg again? I hope it is for real since it was 10 years in between the two Reflection Eternal albums, and now were looking at 20 years in between the two Black Star albums. Kind wish they brought back Hi-Tek too.
Wtf is Alternative Hiphop
Is this a new term for you? Really?
Madlib. Top 5 overrated producers.
I would love to hear an explanation for this along with who you think belongs in the field of the top 5 producers of all time. Never really heard of anyone hating on lib so this should be interesting.
Probably being harsh. He’s okay. Have enjoyed some of his projects but there’s nothing I’ve loved. He is bland at times. Eric Sermon, Paris, Premo, Pete Rock, Large Pro
I can totally understand the bland comment, you can tell when he gets lazy and can obviously do more with the production but keeps the original loop intact and barely does anything to it. On the flip side though when he’s on top of his game this man is (in my opinion) one of the most innovative, genre bending artists out there. Madvillainy may be one of the purest hip hop albums ever it was an ingenious idea to have every concept come through as a bite sized song, always keeping it interesting accompanied by instrumentals that all sound uniquely different along with DOOMs untouchable lyrical abilities on every interesting topic he chooses to hit. I can gush all day long about that album it touches every point it needed to. Then recently you have Piñata which Id rate as his second best collaborative effort along with Freddie gibbs who flawlessly takes control of libs beats and putting a gangster spin on things harking back to the early gangster rap days of the 90s only through an abstract perspective. That’s mainly why I love madlib – Abstract – he always attempts to give us something so left field but somehow just somehow makes it work.
Piniata For Gansta Gibbs my U SOOOOOO
slept, SLEEPIN, HardBody aint evn the word.
Man kats just luv to be stupid , yes Rock Pro Premr, all tht, but there is more, thrn and now, and will ALWAYS e dope kats , MUSIC is ENDLESS AND EVERLASTING, in ALL GENRES, i and Millions of kats cld hit u with shit u neva thght exsisted, ….digg tht
there really is a million humans tht LOVE ALL MUSIC, AND ME, AND WE ALLLLLLL COULD TURN U ON TO SHOT SO MIND-BLOWING, u thght neva, fuk tht u didn’t think cuz U DNT KNOW, but do u KNOW HOW MANY, SND HOW MUCH U DONT!!!!
KNOW, stop, think, listen ✊
this guy has become dumber and dumber year after year, dont be surprised if this shit sucks
And the Migos, Lil Uzie and the rest of theses cats are dumber than dumb?
I see no evidence that Mos Def is still able to sit down and write a verse anymore. He’s all over the place. He makes these little 6-8 bar rhyme/hooks that he just repeats as he does that halfway-singing stuff he does to fill in the other spaces. To me, and I hope it’s not true, but he sounds like a dude that doesn’t have the patience or the conscientiousness to pen real verses anymore. I hope he proves me wrong. Peace.
Agree. Sadly, I’m not excited about this…
Respiration had hella bars
Respiration is one of the greatest hip hop songs ever, all 3 had great verses on the song, but Kweli absolutely bodied it, “Killers born naturally like Mickey and Mallory, not knowing the ways’ll get you capped like an NBA salary”. Fire.
produced by who?
Are you serious? Google Madlib.
Did dude genuinely say produced by Who? Lol. Madlib is inarguably the best producer to ever produce with the catalog to back it up.
9th wonder? El-Producto?
Kanye?
Inarguably the best producer? That’s a little strong kid…he’s arguably, a top 20 hiphop producer, maybe.
this COCKSMOKER ???, let this fool hear REACT, an tht sh>t hit him, he will bow down, but hes so lost he doesn’t evn have the SOUL, to grasp that, and KNOWLEDGE
???????????????
yeah he showed us his exstent of tht.
And he was???? ATTEMPTING, to be funny too, HEHEHE ? what a TOOL
I lost a little respect for Yaslin Bey once he went to Africa and put that dress on and got caught and now trying to slip back in on some serious hip hop not buying it puppet use to think you were a real pro black radical black man who wouldn’t sell out
There is no such thing as a “pro black, radical black who doesn’t sell out.” Being pro black is like being pro white. It’s a stupid racist double standard. Get over it. Twaweeb is a black privilege hypocrite idiot fake SJW (worse than a real SJW, which is low). Mos Def is as well. This album is going to be about cops shooting black people, how we have to change our pronouns up for transsexuals and non-binary weirdos, how trump sucks and there will probably be some fake Muslim, fake Jamaican bullshit on there. Teal web will talk about how blacks are oppressed due to slavery and civil rights etc when his parents are, and always have been, millionaires. GTfOH. Guck these guys.
All they said was it’s a Black Star and Madlib collar coming in 2018. No one said anything about an album… could just be one track. And you wonder why fans get disappointed…
On the other hand, notice the excitement around the producer as well as the emcees. Hiphop died because classic emcees abandoned the producers that made the classic albums/tracks.
Instead we get kmart grade Royce the 59 with Primo when everyone really wants Nas with Primo.
Nas has sold more records than Royce, but I don’t understand the K Mart reference…
Yea…Royce is not Kmart grade. Not trying to start something, but he is one helluva writer. And He ghostwrites for a lot of the industry to boot. Secondly, he has a great flow and really good breath control. I love Nas, but don’t sleep on Royce.
What really happened?? I can’t believe what we used to have in the 90’s, Music like this, Rawkus, Loud. Mos Def, Common, Nas, Guru, Bone Thugs, Outkast, Pun, Arrested Development, the variety of Rap and Hip hop was at the Height at this point even the fresh prince was good at one point.
… “Arrested Development”… HAHAHAHA what?
Mr. Windell yeah yeah
Name the album MadBlack…
All you backpackers talking about dope producers and none of you have mentioned Alchemist or Pete Rock. I guess that’s too hardcore for you. I love the guys that yall are naming, but most of those dudes don’t even make beats anymore. Premo hit his cieling on Moment of Truth and never made anything on that level since. Large Pro is dope, but it’s not like he’s been putting out fire lately, he made an album like 5 years ago that was okay. Madlib is nice but he’s a poor man’s Dilla.
Alchemist isn’t even that good in the end. Good ear for samples, yeah, but that alone doesn’t make him a great producer. Premo’s worst beat > any Alchemist beat _ever_. Also Adrian Younge is very good, also better and more importantly, much more consistent than Alchemist even was. Madlib is dope, that Cocaine Pinata with Gibbs is FIRE!
Alchemist isn’t that good??? He actually has beats that are recognizable by the general pop OUTSIDE of the underground (“We Gon Make It,” “Keep It Thoro” — anything he’s done with ScHoolboy Q). C’mon!
About 15 years too late for this
Right..and besides I’ll believe it when i c it…
never too late for good music! (assuming it sounds NOTHING like that atrocious december 99 trash!)
Why did this reply go through to you lol sorry it was targeted towards someone else
Meh this is like saying Lauren Hill is back.
anything madlib touches will be good yall trippin we need this