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Black Star is a rap group formed by MCs Mos Def and Talib Kweli. Affiliated with the group is DJ Hi-Tek, who formed producer/MC duo Reflection Eternal with Kweli for the album Train of Thought and produced a portion of Black Star's debut album.

Black Star is part of the Native Tongues Posse, a collective that contains, amongst others A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, the Jungle Brothers, Da Bush Babees and Common.

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. They released one self titled album. 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.

According to hip hop website TheSituation.co.uk, Kweli has said that a new Black Star album is "in the pipeline".[1] 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 (1998) Rawkus Records
• Untitled Second Black Star Album (TBA)

• "Definition"(1998)
• "Respiration" (1999)

• "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

• Native Tongues Posse
• Nkiru Center for Education and Culture

• Mos Def's official website
• Talib Kweli's official website
• [2]

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