Black Star arose from the underground movement of the late 1990s, which was in large part due to Rawkus Records, an independent record label stationed in New York City, NY, USA. They released their self titled debut album in 1998. Though the record achieved little commercial success, they (and other members of the Native Tongues Posse) helped shape underground alternative rap and helped bring it further into the mainstream eye. Both have gone on to greater commercial and critical success in separate solo careers.
A sample on the album from the film Chameleon Street has generated the often repeated and often misattributed quote, "I'm a victim brother. I'm a victim of 400 years of conditioning. The man has programmed my conditioning. Even my conditioning has been conditioned!"
Most recently Mos and Kweli appeared together in the movie Dave Chappelle's Block Party, alongside Jill Scott, Dead Prez and The Fugees, among others. They even contributed a new song, "Born & Raised", to the movie's soundtrack.
In November 2009, members and collaborators of Black Star released a collaboration album with the alt-blues/rock band, The Black Keys, under the title "The Blakroc Project." Project members included RZA, Jim Jones, Mos Def, Q-Tip, and others.
According to hip hop website TheSituation.co.uk, Kweli has said that a new Black Star album is "in the pipeline". On Talib Kweli's Myspace he posted up a video saying that "We're going to find Mos Def and put it on camera that there will be a second Black Star album. Black Star released their second album titled entitled No Fear of Time in 2022.
Discography
===========
Albums
Black Star (1998)
No Fear of Time (2022)
The Blakroc Project (2009) Collaborative album with The Black Keys
Singles
"Definition"(1998)
"Respiration" (1999)
Other collaborations
"Know That" from Mos Def's 1999 album, Black on Both Sides
"Joy" from Talib Kweli's 2002 album, Quality
"Supreme Supreme" from Talib Kweli's 2005 album, Right About Now
"Bright as the Stars" from Mos Def's 2005 single, "Ah Ha"
"What It Is" from Talib Kweli's 2005 mixtape, The Beautiful Mixtape Vol. 2
"Born & Raised" from the 2006 soundtrack, Dave Chappelle's Block Party
"This Means You", produced by DJ Hi-Tek on the album Train Of Thought
"What's Beef", live from Chappelle's Show
"Get By [remix]", from Kanye West's mixtape Freshman Adjustment 3
"Gitcha, Gitcha, Gitcha", from Talib Kweli's 2004 album The Beautiful Struggle
"Little Brother", The Hurricane
"History" from Mos Def's 2009 album The Ecstatic.
There is another band with the same name:
2) A dark rock band, formed in Jakarta, Indonesia (2000), based on the common taste of its members, Emir (vocal), Aloel (guitar), Yudi (guitar), Q-nos (bass), Ine (keyboard) and Roby (drum). They had always adored british bands such as Radiohead and Muse, and started playing to cover their music. The name "Black Star" itself was taken from a track in Radihead's album, The Bends.
In 2005, they started recording their own material. Swiftly they gained attention of indie music community and acquired got good reviews by the media, especially for their single "Schizofrenia". Their long-anticipated debut album has been released in March 2009. The first single from the album, Abnormal Aku, in collaboration with Cholil Mahmud from Efek Rumah Kaca, was a huge success in local indie scene. The album has a theme of diseases, from biological, social to psychological diseases. This shows the empathy from the band towards their surrounding envronment.
Their second album, titled "Luar Angkasa", was released on 14th February 2016 with Demajors Independent Music Industry (DIMI).
Free tracks can be downloaded at their offical website, http://www.blackstarid.com.
Buy their album at http://cdbaby.com/cd/blackstarpop
Brown Sugar
Black Star Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
We here, we here, we here (yes yes yes yes)
Fire code (uh uh uh uh)
Yes, huh (hey)
We roll from uh- you know (hey)
You know what time it is (get your hand out my)
You know what time it, uh
Black Star, come on ma (yeah)
Come on ma (uh)
And, listen
(Mos Def)
Yo honeys check it out, she got me mesmerized
With your black hair and your fat ass WOW
Walks over, feel your feet tap on the ground
Make a *nigga* come back like "What's happenin now?"
Hear he really promising the platinum, get down
You'll be backin it out, straight backin 'em down
With your hand on your mouth
And damn baby girl, what's that all about?
You know the ave puttin curves in the brow
On your job, all workin it out
I like how you coordinate: purse, skirt, and the blouse
Around the way, comin straight out the house
You just laid on the couch
Make a cat just pause and be "Wow"
(Talib Kweli)
Baby's body was immaculate
Sweet like my first kiss in the back of the flick
I have to insist, miss, that we chat for a bit
But your ass wanna diss
Walkin all fast like you can't stop
I need somebody to get passionate with
You just assume that I be on that supermasculine *shit*
Crackin the whip just to shut you you and fasten your lip
I just be shinin my light and they be baskin in it
I go out casually dip trip on the tragically hit
Sippin Cosmopolitans on some fashionably *shit*
Black Star in the building and it hasta be sick
BK still smokin *nigga* pass me the *shit*, what
(Mos Def, Talib Kweli, and background singers)
Stop (what up)
You got it (come on ma)
Stop
You got it (come on ma)
Stop
You got it
Stop
Brown sugar let me see you shake it out
Stop (brown sugar baby)
Ha you got it (there you go)
(brown sugar baby) you got it (work it out)
(brown sugar baby) you got it (come on ma)
Brown sugar let me see you shake it out
(Talib Kweli)
Yeah, this go out to the cats
Be workin for weeks to purchase a piece
I'm with my people hurtin to cease, it's curtains for peace
Certain keeps spurs to their knees like I'm chirpin with Tweet
Rhymes sicker than the pervert that flirt with his niece
Stop, the track lay in a hearse deceased
We don't play, my man Kanye murdered the beat
Yo the rhymin's on me, coutesy of Kweli
It's +ludacris+ how I'm +disturbin the peace+
(Mos Def)
Yeah, you ain't burnin the street
Look at how we got 'em personally thiefed
Sipped on when I get open Henny
Pen strollin on the track like Bishop Don
Or filmed on the Real World
Smoke slow, no joke, one draw I kill y'all
How many times yo do I got to tell y'all?
My next album boy I get killed off, it's real y'all
We big merger, you act like you know the deal y'all
Brooklyn, stand up and let me hear y'all
Brown sugar babe
(Talib Kweli)
Chocolate
Nubian girls rock to this (whoo)
Black Star rock the whole metropolis
Brooklyn cats and you know we pocket it
Black Star got the whole world watchin it
(Mos Def)
Stop, from the Ivy League colleges
To the blocks where the drama is
And they keepin their (?) lit
Just shake it out and respond to this
And shake all of it
(Mos Def, Talib Kweli, and background singers)
Stop (uh come on)
You got it (I said come on)
Stop
You got it (yeah, yo, we said come on)
Stop
You got it (brown sugar lemme see you shake it out)
Stop (brown sugar baby)
You got it
Stop (I said come on)
You got it (look at you)
Stop
You got it (brown sugar lemme see you shake it out)
Stop (huh yeah)
Stop (come on ma)
Stop (come on ma)
Stop
Stop (come on ma) (Black Star start doin it)
Stop (come on ma) (02 y'all yeah)
Stop (come on ma) (uh yeah)
Stop (Black Star, shinin)
Stop (yeah)
Stop (haha yeah)
Stop (haha yeah)
Stop (Mos Kweli, come on)
Stop
The lyrics to Black Star's song "Brown Sugar" are a celebration of women, specifically black women. The song begins with Mos Def praising a woman's physical features, specifically her black hair and curvy figure. He showcases his admiration candidly, telling her that she has him 'mesmerized' and regularly leaves him in awe. Talib Kweli jumps in, complimenting the woman's body and asking to chat more—to which she dismisses him, but he continues to admire her. The song then takes a political twist, with Kweli discussing societal issues and sicker rhymes than the "pervert that flirts with his niece."
Overall, the song can be seen to celebrate womanhood but could also be read as a sort of criticism of societal issues that affect women. It's a song that still resonates to this day, over 20 years after its initial release.
Line by Line Meaning
Yo honeys check it out, she got me mesmerized
The singer is fascinated by the woman's physical appearance.
With your black hair and your fat ass WOW
The singer is complimenting the woman on her hair and body.
Walks over, feel your feet tap on the ground
The singer is describing how the woman walks and moves.
Make a *nigga* come back like "What's happenin now?"
The woman's presence and appearance causes the artist to stop and take notice.
Baby's body was immaculate
The artist is complimenting the woman's physical appearance again.
Sweet like my first kiss in the back of the flick
The singer is using a simile to describe the woman's sweetness and how it reminds him of a good memory.
I need somebody to get passionate with
The singer is expressing a desire for intimacy with someone.
It's curtains for peace
The artist is expressing a state of unrest or tension and the implication that it may lead to violence.
Certain keeps spurs to their knees like I'm chirpin with Tweet
The artist is using a metaphor to describe how his words can bring people to their knees, just like a bird call.
How many times yo do I got to tell y'all?
The artist is frustrated that his message isn't being heard or understood.
Chocolate Nubian girls rock to this
The singer is celebrating the beauty and strength of black women.
Black Star got the whole world watchin it
The artist is claiming that the group is gaining worldwide attention and recognition for their talent.
Writer(s): Dante Smith, Kanye West, Talib Kewli Greene Copyright: Fox Film Music Corp., Tcf Music Pub Inc.
Contributed by Mateo S. Suggest a correction in the comments below.