This collaborative album uses classic 1990s New York
rap flow, feel, and sampling to deliver a collection of songs that glorify the “knowledge
of self”, African American culture, and societal awareness. This album sounds
like your run-of-the-mill 90s, lyrical, East Coast rap when you hear it but
when you actually LISTEN, you realize that these baselines are actually laced
with deep ideology and is a classic embodiment of “conscious rap”.
The constraints of the hip hop genre are easily met
by the duo simply showing their respective pride in their hometown from their
own point of view through beat selection and rhyme styles that are indigenous
to the area. Hip hop elements are also evident in the (rather mild by
comparison) braggadocios lines explaining how Mos Def and Kweli perceive themselves
to be the best at what they do. This is cleverly done by describing how tough
it is to achieve in the environment that they came up in, which almost
subliminally exalts their own successes. An element that follows similar procedures
but is completely different is the two artists unashamed proud in their black
roots. The culture, rather than money, cars, and clothes, is what is being
glorified by Black Star. The album works again the common constraints of hip
hop because of the overall positive and lawful message of the music. Some of
the tracks, especially KOS, actually offer advice on how to lead an enhanced
and more informed lifestyle.
The album recognizes the common tough life of
African Americans that live in the inner-city and sends a message through that
lens. Talib Kweli specifically says how “demanding” being a black man is and
throughout the album the duo shows that the demand is stemming from the lack of
social and economic capital in the ghettos where so many of their own nature
are living. Being that this album was released in the late 90s in a place so economically
similar and geographically close to the origin of hip hop, the album is by
nature informed by the typical socio-economic issues of the era.
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