Black Star Reunite To Release Mad Lib Produced Album, “No Fear Of Time”

Black Star Reunite To Release Mad Lib Produced Album, “No Fear Of Time”

Hip Hop duo Black Star have been critically acclaimed and embraced by true school hip hop heads for the better part of two decades. Their first and only release, ” Mos Def and Talib Kweli Are Black Star“, has been given the classic nod in many circles. With two lyrical emcees in the likes of  Mos Def (now known as Yasin Bey) and Talib Kweli, the duo stood out as the face of Rawkus Records in the late 90s and early 2000s. With high regards from many of hip hop’s elite, Jay-Z included,  Black Star helped champion the sound of the “back pack” rap community and help bring it to the forefront.

But when both members began pursuing their respective solo careers ( Yasin Bey dropped his solo debut “Black On Both Sides” one year after their debut album. Talib Kweli released his collaboration with DJ Hi Tek, “Train Of Thought” the following year), there were questions about the future of Black Star. Even with appearances on each other’s projects, it looked like Black Star was over. Yasin began to emerge as an in demand actor (“Brown Sugar”, “Monsters Ball”, “The Italian Job” just to name a few) and Talib continued to put out albums as a soloist and collaborating with Hi Tek, Diamond D, Mad Lib, Styles P, and 9th Wonder just to name a few.

Though Black Star never officially split up and still worked together occasionally, it looked like the release of another album would not be a reality after Yasin Bey announced that he was retiring in 2016. Well, like a couple rappers before him (i.e. Too Short & Jay-Z) who announced retirement but couldn’t stop rapping, neither could he. In 2018, came the announcement that Black Star would be recording an album entirely produced by critically acclaimed producer Mad Lib (think Freddie Gibbs “Pinata” and “Bandanna” albums), it looked like there was still hope.

It’s finally official. The announcement of the new Black Star album, “No Fear Of Time”, has been made and a release date is set for May 3, 2022. The album will release exclusively on Luminary, the same platform that pair co -host their podcast with Dave Chapelle , titled “The Midnight Miracle“.  While kicking off the second season of the podcast, the duo will discuss the road to their reunion to create the nine track follow up 24 years after the debut.

What do you think? Are you excited? Think the chemistry is still there? Leave comments below and let’s chop it up!