BlackStar (Mos Def and Taleb Kweli)

The subject of this week’s post is the rap album written by Taleb Kweli and Mos Def named Blackstar. The blog will discuss the different issues that the album raises: Modern-day issues, Philosophical ideas, and the toughness of life in Brooklyn.

Blackstar is more than just a rap album made for lucrative purposes, or fame.  Recorded by the two rappers their aim was to make people aware of what is really happening, about social issues in society, discrimination, but also criticizing the general way of thinking

Intro: the intro shows that both rappers are not rapping to get rich or only for the purpose of music, they are telling a story describing themselves as documentarian brining the truth to their listeners, introducing their album as a documentary.

8th light:

The first track of the classic 1998 album Blackstar, which united rising underground heroes Mos Def and Talib Kweli, this song features the two rappers exploring the meaning of “blackness” through rhymes that are both poetic and playful, indeed in this song they are praising the black colour that is always perceived as bad.

Definition: the song highlights the violence in hip-hop and its effects on rappers as the death of 2Pac and Biggie as they were both shot dead

Brown skin lady:

This song is about Mos Def and Talib Kweli’s admiration and appreciation of brown skin ladies, which include but aren’t limited to Latinas, Indigenous women and African American women. They are praising the coloured women and their beauty

Thieves in the night:

Thieves in the Night” challenges the beliefs as it says we shouldn’t change ourselves to conform to stereotypes and let ourselves be oppressed and judged. But instead, we should be proud of who we are and not seek the approval of any type of oppressor.

This album had a meaning to Kweli and Mos Def as they both decided to hold their solo albums so that they could work fully on Blackstar. Blackstar is not a conventional hip hop album; it does not praise the gangster lifestyle. This is an album made from normal people proud of their African origins, and their dark skin. Both, also are against all sorts of violence, they are promoting peace. As we listened to this album, we noticed a resemblance in problems that black Tunisians are dealing with, and the awful things done and said to them. From the common words used as ‘Kahlouch’ to describe a black skinned man, to different buses for black persons, but also to violence made against them. It made us realise the hard times the black community has had, the long journey full of sadness and oppression by the white man, but also the tremendous effort of generation to change their state from slaves to man of wisdom, speaking the truth, unveiling, the horrible acts made against them till this day. This album is not only tracks full with beats and words having the same end so that it rhymes. It’s a weapon, made by two great person seeking for freedom and equality. They used their words as sharp blades denouncing truths that everyone refused to believe. Mos Def and Kweli are not trying to create a racial revolution, they are only describing their anger and hatred toward different types of mind sets, stereotypes and lies.