Black Star is the Brooklyn hip hop duo of Mos Def (now Yasiin Bey) and Talib Kweli, formed in the late 1990s. Their 1998 Rawkus debut is a landmark of conscious, jazz-inflected underground rap — an easy desert-island pick — and the Madlib-produced No Fear of Time (2022) ended a two-decade wait. Dig into Black Star vinyl, CDs, and reissues at Wax Trax Records.
Black Star is the hip hop duo of Mos Def (now performing as Yasiin Bey) and Talib Kweli, who met in Brooklyn and began collaborating in the late 1990s. Their 1998 debut Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star, released on Rawkus Records, became a defining document of late-1990s underground hip hop. After more than two decades, the duo reunited for No Fear of Time, produced by Madlib and released in May 2022.
Black Star's sound combines East Coast underground hip hop, conscious hip hop, and jazz rap, with intricate lyricism, literary and political references, and production drawing on jazz and soul samples.
Original Rawkus pressings of the 1998 debut have been issued in multiple anniversary editions.
Listeners new to Black Star typically start with the 1998 debut.
