Black Star

Black Star, named after the Black Star Line shipping company founded by activist and Pan-Africanist Marcus Garvey, is a collaboration between rappers Yasiin Bey (formerly Mos Def) and Talib Kweli. Although they had been active separately for years, the highly lyrical Brooklynites' 1998 album, Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star, expanded their audience far beyond devout underground hip-hop listeners, crashing the upper half of the Billboard 200 and placing two singles, "Definition" and "Respiration," in the Top Ten of the rap chart. Bey and Kweli went on to further acclaim as...