Black Star (rap duo)

Black Star is an American hip hop duo formed in 1996, from Brooklyn, New York City. The duo is composed of rappers Yasiin Bey (more commonly known by his former stage name Mos Def) and Talib Kweli. The duo is named after The Black Star Line, a shipping company founded by Marcus Garvey. Their critically-acclaimed debut album Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star was released on September 29, 1998. After decades of only releasing singles and appearing on compilations, Black Star released their sophomore studio album No Fear of Time May 3, 2022 on the podcasting platform Luminary.

History
Black Star arose from the underground movement of the late 1990s, which was in large part due to Rawkus Records, an independent record label stationed in New York City. They, together with other members of the Native Tongues Posse, helped shape underground alternative rap, bringing it into the mainstream. Both Yasiin Bey and Talib Kweli have gone on to greater commercial and critical success in their solo careers.

In 2001, Black Star performed "Money Jungle" with Ron Carter and John Patton for the Red Hot Organization's compilation album Red Hot + Indigo, a tribute to Duke Ellington, which raised money for various charities devoted to increasing AIDS awareness and fighting the disease. In 2002, the song "Hater Players" was used in an episode of The Wire, "The Cost". In 2005, hip hop website TheSituation.co.uk reported Kweli said that a new Black Star album was "in the pipeline".

A second album, to be produced entirely by Madlib, was confirmed to be finished in November 2019. It was announced in 2022 that the album would be titled No Fear of Time. It was released on May 3 exclusively on the podcast platform Luminary. On June 20, 2023, the album was released on Bandcamp.

Other collaborations

 * 1997: "Fortified Live", "Freestyle" from the Rawkus Compilation, "Soundbombing"
 * ~: "Another World (Remix)", from the compilation, We Are Hip Hop: Me, You, Everybody
 * 1999: "Know That" from the Mos Def album, Black on Both Sides
 * ~: "Beautiful (Black Star remix)", from the b-side for the Mary J. Blige song All That I Can Say
 * 2000: "Little Brother", from the soundtrack for The Hurricane
 * ~: "This Means You", from the Reflection Eternal album Train Of Thought
 * ~: "The Hard Margin" from The Creators single
 * 2001: "Money Jungle" from the Red Hot Organization album Red Hot + Indigo
 * 2002: "Joy" from the Talib Kweli album, Quality
 * ~: "Get By (Remix)", from the remix to the Talib Kweli single
 * ~: "Brown Sugar (Raw)", from the soundtrack for Brown Sugar
 * 2005: "Supreme Supreme" from the Talib Kweli mixtape Right About Now
 * ~: "What It Is" from the Talib Kweli mixtape, The Beautiful Mixtape Vol. 2
 * ~: "Bright As the Stars" from the Mos Def single, "Ah Ha"
 * 2006: "Born & Raised" from the soundtrack for Dave Chappelle's Block Party
 * 2009: "History", from the Mos Def album The Ecstatic
 * 2010: "Just Begun", from the Reflection Eternal album Revolutions per Minute
 * 2011: "You Already Knew", from Black Star Aretha, the two's tribute to Aretha Franklin.
 * 2022: "Peppas", from the Westside Gunn mixtape 10