Mecca and the Soul Brother VS. Mos Def & Talib Kweli are Black Star

InspectahDUCK - Mecca and the Soul Brother by Pete Rock & CL Smooth

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Vesuvius - Mos Def & Talib Kweli are Black Star by Black Star

Opening Statement:

Black Star are great. Talib Kweli was famously recognised by Jay Z as the gold standard for lyrical rap. Mos Def has slightly more mainstream relevance, with Black On Both Sides being widely recognised as one of the best underground rap albums of all

Less famous than Both Sides, Black Star is nonetheless a classic album in its own right. Today, “conscious rap” is used to describe anything that isn’t gangsta, horrorcore, or empty lyrical miracles. With all due respect to Kanye West, who had both of halves of Black Star feature on his early albums, he has never come close to being this conscious. This is two young men who are switched-on as hell. They’re rapping about what’s all around them, but showing true awareness of it. Rather than deriding the white man as the devil or denying the continuing existence of racism, they present a positive version of blackness and a realistic version of post-KKK racism – overwhelmingly perpetuated by well-being white people who “try to civilise you”, or are “not compassionate, only polite”

Mos and Talib were rejecting the preconception that hip-hop required the aggression of NWA and Public Enemy, or the braggadocio of Jay Z. The deaths of Biggie and Tupac made it clear that there was “too much violence in hip-hop”, and Black Star were setting out to fill the void left by the deaths of those two greats with their own social conscience. They weren’t gonna do it like Kendrick Lamar, either, by blaming the black man for racism and getting conspiratorial. That’s not to say they’re gonna sit back and get walked over. They’re tough, and they’re sure of themselves. However, they don’t present a hyper-masculinised vision of blackness
One of the album’s highlights is “Brown Skinned Lady”, where Talib makes sure black women know that they’re appreciated:

You fruitful, beautiful, smart, lovable, huggable
Doable like art, suitable to be part
Of my lifeIt’s not Ishmael Butler, but it’s a damn sight better than Jay Z can do, even 20 years on

Black Star is a blueprint for black self-confidence and flourishing in a society that is decided not post-racial. Musically, it’s a little dated – but its message remains more relevant than most modern conscious rap

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