Microphone Mathematics

Okay, so 10 years isn’t exactly diggin’ in the crates but it is enough time to where you might have not listened to this gem in a while & having listened to this album a few times on my trip it reminded me how much I liked it in 1998 (and still do). Two other things also happened when I recently listened to the album:

1) It reminded me how much my friend Ben was a fan of the album & how he had a personal story/experience with Mos way back when – so I asked him to write a little about that and the album.

2) I forgot how on-point Mos’ skills are in his intro verse to the track “Respiration” – listed below after Ben’s part…

Ben writes:

Whether you’re watching Talib Kweli’s self-produced Blacksmith TV (which you should definitely peep) or grooving to Mos Def and his jazz band, The Watermelon Syndicate (which recently closed out the first day of the Newport Jazz Festival), you immediately notice one thing – 1998 was a long time ago! These two artists have continued moving through time and space and conquering new frontiers since they dropped an indelible bomb on the world of hip-hop in the form of Black Star, a one-shot, album-length duo that lives on in the annals of fame.

Not too long after the album drop, I had an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to spend several days in May 1999 with Mos Def, his keyboardist Weldon Irvine (R.I.P.), Mos’s dad, and his manager Shaka (R.I.P.) in the Netherlands. That was my first opportunity to see Mos Def perform live and he most definitely rocked the socks off everyone in the audience with solo renditions of “Definition,” “Respiration,” and “Thieves in the Night.” What struck me more than anything, though, except for the fact that Mos Def had forgotten his passport back in New York and yours truly had to show immigration officials in Amsterdam the Black Star CD cover so they would release him into the country, was the way that Mos Def integrated his entire being – family, musical influences, travel experiences, romantic relationships, and knowledge of self – into his lyrics, music, and persona, which I truly believe are inseparable from each other. A great example is that Weldon Irvine, Mos Def Sr. (Darrell Toler), and I, just before Mos was to go on stage and perform, were discussing the finer points of slave rebellions in African-American history when Mos Def (Dante Smith) happened by. Instead of hustling me along and insisting that Weldon accompany him on stage, Mos joined us during the final part of our discussion and, once on stage, made a specific reference to the transcendence of freedom struggles in the lives of African Americans and all peoples across the globe. Mos never missed a beat and, on the contrary, lives and breathes his entire experience. This depth of knowledge and perspective is shared by Kweli and masterfully reflected in the Black Star album.

Dust off your Black Star album. Do it for Brooklyn. Do it for hip-hop. Do it for the greatest decade in the canon of lyrics. (Don’t do it for Rawkus, though, as Rupert Murdoch’s son, James, ran that joint into the ground.)

One two three/Mos Def and Talib Kweli/We came to rock it on to the tip-top/Best alliance in hip-hop, Y-O.

* Brought to you by Benny Blanco from the Left Coast, by way of BKLYN and the D.F (Mexico City). Also, check out the Scratchamama Crew (MySpace), a weekly hip-hop radio show in Mexico City, at Ibero 90.9 FM every Thursday from 10 – 11 pm CST.

Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star (LP) – HERE

The new moon rode high in the crown of the metropolis
Shinin, like who on top of this?
People was tusslin, arguin and bustlin
Gangstaz of gotham hardcore hustlin
I’m wrestlin with words and ideas
My ears is picky, seekin what will transmit
The scribes can apply to transcript, yo
This ain’t no time where the usual is suitable
Tonight alive, let’s describe the inscrutable
The indisputable, we New York the narcotic
Strength in metal and fiber optics
Where mercenaries is paid to trade hot stock tips
For profits, thirsty criminals take pockets
Hard knuckles on the second hands of workin class watches
Skyscrapers is collosus, the cost of living
Is preposterous, stay alive, you play or die, no options
No batman and robin, can’t tell between
The cops and the robbers, they both partners, they all heartless
With no conscience, back streets stay darkened
Where unbeliever hearts stay hardened
My eagle talons stay sharpened, like city lights stay throbbin
You either make a way or stay sobbin, the shiny apple
Is bruised but sweet and if you choose to eat
You could lose your teeth, many crews retreat
Nightly news repeat, who got shot down and locked down
Spotlight to savages, nasdaq averages
My narrative, rose to explain this existance
Amidst the harbor lights which remain in the distance…