Yasiin Bey and Talib Kweli, the Black Star hip-hop combo, have reunited to release their new and second full-length album, No Fear of Time, 24 years after their previous album. Madlib produced the new album, which is set to be published on Luminary, a podcasting platform, on May 3. The podcast of Yasiin Bey and Talib Kweli is produced in conjunction with comedian Dave Chapelle.
Talib Kweli said in a statement:
“About 3-4 years ago, I was in Europe seeing Yasiin, and we began talking about songs for an album, so I flew an engineer out simply to see what that would be.” When I saw this was turning into a creative debate on its own, I made a point of keeping the engineer on hand at all times.”
Talib Kweli says the Madlib-produced Blackstar album, done for over a year now, is being blocked from release 🤔 pic.twitter.com/8jGusV97TI
— King Wow (@wowthatshiphop) July 8, 2020
We’re getting a new #BlackStar album! #YasiinBey has confirmed the news, and promised #Madlib production! 🔥 https://t.co/EI92Dt1acc pic.twitter.com/ZMYjBlX3Lh
— REVOLT (@revolttv) February 12, 2018
He went on to say:
“One day we were at a hotel listening to Madlib tracks, and he was like, ‘Play that Madlib tape again.'” I’m playing the beats, and he begins rhyming to them. And that’s how we performed the first song.”
In 1998, Black Star released their first album.
Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star was the duo’s first album, released in 1998. Originally, the pair planned to release their separate solo albums but instead delayed their projects to create one of the most highly praised albums in hip-hop history, with the help of DJ and producer Hi-Tek. On September 29, 1998, the album was released. The title alludes to the Black Star Line, a shipping company created by Pan-Africanist Marcus Garvey. The CD explores contemporary challenges, philosophical concepts, and living in Brooklyn, New York City.
When asked about their album, the pair said:
“We did this (the second album) quite similarly to how we did the first.” However, there were no mobile studios on the first album. We did not visit a single recording studio throughout the creation of this album. All of this has taken place in hotel rooms and backstage during Dave Chappelle gigs.”
Yasiin Bey teased No Fear of Time Back in 2018.
The duo’s new album No Fear of Time, according to rumors, was hinted at in 2018 at a Madlib DJ performance in Denver, Colorado. Yasiin Bey previewed new Madlib, Talib Kweli, and Yasiin Bey songs throughout his performance.
Bey stated:
“New Black Star with Madlib, Talib Kweli, and Yasiin is on the way!” All Madlib, all the time. Madlib, Black Star, 2018. “Black Star by Madlib.”
More about their achievements
The Village Voice’s annual poll of American critics, The Pazz & Jop, ranked the duo’s first album as the 2 4th best album of 1998. In a review of Mos Def and Talib Kweli, The Poll’s creator, Robert Christgau, wrote:
“(The pair) create a hip hop fantasy in which hater players lose their girls-not-b*****s to MCs who are so uninterested in them that they give them straight back. The rhymes are the main draw. But it’s the subculture that cares the most about these phrases that you’ll return to.”
The album is also claimed to have shed the hostility of Gangsta Rap and embraced an inquiring investigation of black culture, according to Colin Larkin of the Encyclopedia of Popular Music.
