The duo’s follow-up to their 1998 album (read: it’s been 24 years!) is finally here.
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Blue Note Jazz Festival Napa Valley Will Feature Robert Glasper, Black Star, Erykah Badu, And More
The notion of a “jazz music” festival has become about a lot more than just jazz. Like the storied Montreal Jazz Festival and New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival that came before it, the brand new Blue Note Jazz Festival in Napa Valley presents the best in jazz music and the hip-hop and R&B artists who are inextricably tied to the genre’s roots. Blue Note’s first outdoor, multi-stage festival will be hosted by Dave Chappelle and features Robert Glasper as the artist-in-residence. Glasper will be performing onstage alongside Erykah Badu, Ledisi, D Smoke, Terrace Martin, and BJ The Chicago Kid. It all goes down at the Charles Krug Winery in St. Helena, CA on July 30th and 31st and the loaded lineup just keeps getting better from there.
Also performing at Blue Note Jazz Festival will be Maxwell, the newly reunited Black Star, Thundercat, and Flying Lotus. But the most intriguing part of the lineup is the jazz and hip-hop collaboration sets: Maurice Brown featuring Anderson .Paak?! The Soul Rebels featuring GZA & Talib Kweli?! Now this is unique curation. Not to mention appearances from Chief Adjuah (fka Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah), Butcher Brown, Keyon Harrold, and late-night DJ sets from Dj Jazzy Jeff and Badu’s DJ Lo Down Loretta Brown alter ego.
Peep the full lineup poster below and stay tuned for tickets which go on sale on 04/26 here.
Black Star (Yasiin Bey and Talib Kweli) Set to Release New Album, ‘No Fear of Time’ Exclusively on Podcast Platform
After 24 years since the release of their debut album, Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star, Yasiin Bey (formerly Mos Def) and Talib Kweli, the hip-hop duo known as Black Star, are finally set to release their highly anticipated second album, No Fear of Time. The album will be available exclusively on the podcasting platform Luminary.
Set to be released on May 3, the album comprises nine tracks, all of which were recorded “guerrilla style in hotel rooms and dressing rooms around the globe.” No Fear of Time is said to hone a “future vibe with vintage soul,” ultimately living up to its highly anticipated coming from the iconic Brooklyn rap pair.
Luminary is also home to the duo’s podcast with Dave Chappelle, The Midnight Miracle. According to the platform, the first episode of season two titled, “Bugs Bunny Mathematicx,” “serves as audio liner notes to introduce the album.” The following episode, “Mineral Mountain,” features a Black Star freestyle with Black Thought produced by Madlib.
No Fear of Time will be the first of its kind—a hip-hop album released and confined to a digital platform for access, in this case, a podcasting platform. The album will not be available on popular streaming platforms such as Spotify and Apple Music. It will solely be available on the podcasting platform, Luminary.
Since their debut album, the duo has managed to continue creating their refined hip-hop sound throughout the victorious solo projects of both Yasiin Bey (Mos Def) and Talib Kweli, ultimately producing era defining hip-hop works.
At the time using the moniker Mos Def, in 1998 Yasiin Bey released his solo debut Black on Both Sides under Rawkus records. Bey’s musicianship is a full display with tracks such as “UMI Says,” “Mathematics,” and “Ms. Fat Booty.” The cosmic individuality showcased by Bey highlights his melodic fluctuation between rapping and singing, set the tone for the new millennium’s hip-hop sound. The album peaked at number one on the US Billboard Top Rap Albums chart in 1999.
In 2002, Talib Kweli released his debut album Quality, where the Brooklyn native displays a refined level of their boom-bap tendencies with a flair of rich instrumentation. The Kanye West produced single, “Get By,” hit the Billboard Hot 100 at number 77, ultimately making the album a commercial success. Quality peaked at number 6 on Billboard’s Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. Prior to Quality, Talib Kweli teamed up with producer Hi-Tek to form Reflection Eternal and released Train of Thought, which features one of Kweli’s referenced tracks, “The Blast/Down For The Count.”
“Our fans always ask about the possibility of a second Black Star album,” Talib Kweli shares on The Midnight Miracle. “To that end, we’ve had many false starts. But we also realize that great music happens organically and we’ve never wanted to force it. Black Star was and is a vibe.”
The post Black Star (Yasiin Bey and Talib Kweli) Set to Release New Album, ‘No Fear of Time’ Exclusively on Podcast Platform appeared first on The Source.
Black Star Share The Madlib-Produced Single ‘Mineral Mountain’ Featuring Black Thought
Last week, Talib Kweli and Yasiin Bey announced that their seminal hip-hop supergroup, Black Star, would be returning with their first new album since 1998’s cult classic, Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star. Dubbed No Fear Of Time and due out on May 3rd, the new album sees Madlib stepping in as the producer and now, the lead single, “Mineral Mountain” featuring Black Thought, has just premiered via Kweli and Bey’s Luminary Podcasts show that they co-host with Dave Chappelle, The Midnight Miracle.
If this seems like an unusual way to premiere a single, it’s because it’s in line with the unique way in which No Fear Of Time is being released. The album will be out exclusively on the Luminary network, which is also where Kweli hosts the Uproxx-produced People’s Party With Talib Kweli.
As for the new track, you’ll have to hop on Luminary to hear it in full, but an Instagram user has uploaded a couple of previews. On the first one, Bey unleashes a verbal assault over punishing drums and distorted strings from Madlib:
The second clip sees the trio joining forces over intergalactic effects and those same silky drums from Madlib:
Kweli has said that the ethos behind making the music for No Fear Of Time is no different than the first time around when Black Star dropped a classic, but that for the new album, the recording locations were more fluid. “This entire album, we have not set foot in one recording studio,” Kweli said in a statement. “It’s all been done in hotel rooms and backstage at Dave Chappelle shows.”
No Fear Of Time comes out 05/03 via Luminary. Get details here.
Yasiin Bey and Talib Kweli Announce Release Date for New Black Star Album ‘No Fear of Time’
Yasiin Bey And Talib Kweli Announce Their Long-Awaited Black Star Reunion Release Date
It was well over two decades ago that Talib Kweli and Yasiin Bey (then known as Mos Def) declared, “Black Star keep shinin’.” However, in the intervening years, it seemed that Black Star had long since burned out. The two respected rappers would offer glimmers of hope, but for most, their reunion seemed like a lost cause. After announcing they were working on a new album in 2018, it almost felt like they were stringing rap fans along — I mean, even Kweli was shocked by Bey’s insistence that he was coming out of retirement.
But wonder of wonders, it looks like the thing actually exists — and even better, it has a release date. Today, Black Star announced that their comeback album, No Fear of Time, will drop on May 3 via the Luminary podcast network, which also hosts their show The Midnight Miracle with Dave Chappelle and the Uproxx-produced People’s Party With Talib Kweli. The album is entirely produced by the duo’s longtime collaborator Madlib, who dropped his album Sound Ancestors in 2021 after teaming up with Freddie Gibbs in 2019 for Bandana.
In a press release, Kweli explained how the album came together:
“About 3-4 years ago I was visiting Yasiin in Europe and we started to talk about songs to do on an album, so I flew an engineer out just to see what that would be. Once I realized this conversation is starting to organically become a creative conversation, I started making sure to have the engineer around at all times. There was one day we were just in a hotel listening to Madlib beats, and he’s like ‘Play that Madlib tape again.’ I’m playing the beats and he starts doing rhymes to the beats. And that’s how we did the first song.
This is very similar to how we did the first album. But the first album, there were no mobile studios. This entire album, we have not set foot in one recording studio. It’s all been done in hotel rooms and backstage at Dave Chappelle shows.”
Talib Kweli Confirms A New “Black Star” Album Is Coming
The wait for a new Black Star album might be coming to a close. I has been 24 years since the group dropped their first and only album, and hip hop heads from all over have been patiently waiting for more music between the two. Talib Kweli took to Instagram where he shared a picture of him and Mos Def in a room together and in the caption, teased a second album from their group.
“The new Black Star album was recorded in hotel rooms and dressing rooms across the globe” Kweli said. “I love how my brother @yasiinbey pushes me musically. #blackstarforever follow @blackstarkeepshining today…”
New Black Star album confirmed by Talib Kweli
pic.twitter.com/MKabtgnUXO
— Tony Starks
(@CHERCHEZLAGH0ST) February 27, 2022
Hopefully the album actually comes out. Talib has been teasing the release of the album since 2019. In the summer of the same year, Kweli confirmed that there was an album and that Madlib would handle the production for the album. However, Kweli noted that there were problems clearing the samples for the project.
Kweli gave another announcement at the beginning of 2021, saying that sample clearances were underway. However, Black Star did debut a new song in May of last year on their podcast with Dave Chappelle. Fast forward, there’s still no album.
For more updates you can follow their IG page here
The post Talib Kweli Confirms A New “Black Star” Album Is Coming appeared first on The Source.
Talib Kweli Teased A ‘New Black Star Album’ And Praised ‘My Brother’ Yasiin Bey
The collaboration between Talib Kweli and Yasiin Bey, the artist formerly known as Mos Def, has been one of the most formative albums in hip-hop history. Referred to colloquially as “Black Star,” the supergroup’s sole album together, Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star, came out over twenty years ago now in 1998. And though both artists have released plenty of music as solo artists since, the demand and hope for a second Black Star record has never abated. Since then, Talib has become a part of Uproxx by launching his People’s Party show.
Today, seemingly out of nowhere, Talib all but confirmed that the follow-up record actually exists, and that it will actually come out. “The new Black Star album was recorded in hotel rooms and dressing rooms across the globe. I love how my brother @yasiinbey pushes me musically. #blackstarforever follow @blackstarkeepshining today…” he wrote, captioning a photo of both men in what is, presumably, one of the many hotel rooms where the pair worked on their new music.
If this news is timely, as in, the album or some new music teasing the project is coming soon, then 2022 just got a whole lot better. Hey, if A Tribe Called Quest can make a comeback album that’s just as good as their old material, why can’t Black Star? Stay tuned.