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Black Star hip-hop duo Yasiin Bey and Talib Kweli have reunited to release their new and second full-length album, No Fear of Time, 24 years after their last album. The new album, slated for release on May 3, has been produced by Madlib and will be released on Luminary, a podcasting platform. Yasiin Bey and Talib Kweli’s podcast is in collaboration with comedian Dave Chapelle.
In a statement, Talib Kweli said:
“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.”
He further added:
“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.”
Black Star released their debut album in 1998
The duo had released their debut album in 1998 called Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star. Formerly, the duo were supposed to release their respective solo albums but paused their solo projects to make one of the most critically acclaimed albums in the history of hip-hop, with the support of DJ and producer, Hi-Tek.
The album was released on September 29, 1998. The title refers tlo Black Star Line, a shipping line founded by Pan-Africanist Marcus Garvey. The album covers topics around modern-day issues, philosophical ideas, and life in Brooklyn, New York City.
Reminiscing about their album, the duo said:
“This (the second album) 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.”
Yasiin Bey teased No Fear of Time back in 2018
According to reports, the duo's upcoming album No Fear of Time was teased in 2018 during a a Madlib DJ set in Denver, Colorado. During the set, Yasiin Bey teased new Madlib,Talib Kweli, and Yasiin Bey music.
Bey had said:
“New Black Star with Madlib, Talib Kweli, Yasiin, coming soon!. All Madlib, all day. 2018, Madlib, Black Star. Madlib Black Star.”
Ever since the announcement, fans have been anticipating the new album:
More about their accomplishments
The Pazz & Jop, an annual poll of American critics conducted by The Village Voice, ranked the duo's first album as the 24th best album of 1998. Robert Christgau, The Poll's founder, in a review about Mos Def and Talib Kweli wrote:
"(The duo) devise a hip hop imaginary where hater players lose their girls-not-b*****s to MCs so disinterested they give 'em right back. The rhymes are the selling point. But the subculture that cares most about these words is what you'll come back to."
According to Colin Larkin of the Encyclopedia of Popular Music, the album is also said to have dropped the negativity of Gangsta Rap and favored an inquisitive analysis of black culture,.
