Black Star (hip hop group)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Black Star

Origin	New York City, USA
Years active	1998 – Present
Genres	Hip-Hop
Labels	Rawkus Records
Members	Mos Def Talib Kweli

Black Star is an alternative hip hop group formed by MCs Mos Def and Talib Kweli. Affiliated with the group is DJ Hi-Tek, who formed producer/MC duo Reflection Eternal with Kweli for the album Train of Thought and produced a portion of Black Star's debut album.

[edit] History

Black Star is part of the Native Tongues Posse, a collective that contains, amongst others A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, the Jungle Brothers, Da Bush Babees and Common.

Black Star arose from the underground movement of the late 1990's, which was in large part due to Rawkus Records, an independent record label stationed in New York City. They released one self titled album. Though the record achieved little commercial success, they (and other members of the Native Tongues Posse) helped shape underground alternative rap and helped bring it further into the mainstream eye. Both have gone on to greater commercial and critical success in separate solo careers.

A sample on the album from the film Chameleon Street has generated the often repeated and often misattributed quote, "I'm a victim brother. I'm a victim of 400 years of conditioning. The man has programmed by conditioning. Even my conditioning has been conditioned!"

Most recently Mos and Kweli appeared together in the movie Dave Chappelle's Block Party, alongside Jill Scott, Dead Prez and The Fugees, among others. They even contributed a new song, "Born & Raised", to the movie's soundtrack.

[edit] Albums

Mos Def and Talib Kweli have done numerous tracks together before and since their debut duet album, but have yet to release a second full album as a duo. Rumors abound that the group will release their sophomore album in 2006, although this hasn't been officially confirmed, particularly as Mos Def has a burgeoning acting career and is due to be appear in several Hollywood productions in 2006.

According to hip-hop website TheSituation.co.uk, Kweli has said that a new Black Star album is "in the pipeline" [1].