January 21, 1999
The state of hip hop as we enter 1999? It's all about the Benjamins. Flashy cars, gangsta posturing, predictable rhymes and weak minds, puffy beats and lazy samples clog the airwaves. But there is an alternative. Black Star are the punks of the hip-hop world, reacting against the grandiose egos and crass commercialism of the mainstream. But instead of raw anger (there's already an overdose of that), Mos Def and Talib Kwali have picked up the baton where A Tribe Called Quest laid it down, preaching with a deep appreciation of hip-hop's roots, a humanist worldview and a searing intelligence.
Referencing Marcus Garvey, John Coltrane and Mumia Abu Jamal, Black Star understand the continuum of rebellion, whether political or musical. Their rebel stance comes from their eloquent focus on self-determination and appreciation of history. I've claimed that the underground DJ revolution is where the action is happening these days, but Black Star have re-established the crucial role MC's can play in hip-hop's evolution.
If not totally compelling, the spare beats are solid enough to carry the album, and the cool jazz samples color the album with a smoky late-night jam feel. Still, the rhymes are so completely absorbing they achieve a musicality of their own, which is exactly the point.
Lyrically, this is one of the most impressive debuts of the past year. The verbal hairpin turns on "Re: Definition" defy belief, and the metaphors for their love of blackness on "Astronomy" are both striking and surprisingly moving. Their homage toward the "Brown Skin Lady" defies the trend toward misogyny, and though "Thieves in the Night" praises black authors as the keepers of black culture, Black Star have now done more than their share by bringing positivity, smarts and heart back to hip-hop. And this is only their debut - keep an eye on these two. With funkier tracks, world domination may be nigh.
- Jared O'Connor
intelligent hip-hop