Welcome! Welcome! Young Bladez aka Rayzer Tha Don aka Bobby Boulder Shoulders here again to take you on Hip-Hop journey. This Flashback Flyday we are taking it to BROOKLYN circa ’98 and the dynamic duo Black Star, consisting of Yasiin Bey (formerly Mos Def) and Talib Kweli.
Black Star assembled like Voltron in 1997 and hail from Brooklyn, New York City, New York. The group was signed to Rawkus Records in the early 90’s and many a rap historian will know Rawkus was a huge contributor to the underground New York Hip-Hop movement of that era. Black Star was a more socially conscious group, rapping about political issues and the state of rap and hip-hop of the time. This was post-East coast Vs. West Coast era, in the wake of the shooting deaths of Biggie Smalls and Tupac Shakur. The deaths of Tupac and Biggie caused a leadership vacuum in hip hop music, and Black Star wanted to step in and steer hip hop out of this destructive and violent path. They attempted to do so with such lyrics as: “I said one, two, three / It’s kinda dangerous to be an emcee / They shot Tupac and Biggie / Too much violence in hip-hop, Y-O”
Mos Def and Talib Kweli both have now gone on to have very commercially successful solo careers and are both considered hip hop heavyweights. Mos Def has even gone on to a very successful film career, starring in such films as: “Be Kind Rewind” (which I was a fan of), “The Italian Job” and “The Woodsman”.
So here we go, enough talking about music. I bring to you “Definition” by Black Star:
[yframe url=’https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EuJaStSL0xM’]
