Westside Gunn has dived back into his 10 album to deliver the new video for “Peppas.” The new single features Hip-Hop icons Black Star joining the Griselda leader inside the Peppas jerk chicken restaurant.
If you missed it, the new release, 10, of the HWH franchise, marks a run that dates back to the start of Griselda Records. The new edition of the series brings in the next generation of Griselda stars for features, including Stove God Cooks, Armani Caesar, Rome Streetz, Jay Worthy, and his son Flygod.
This title not only signifies completion but also celebrates what has already been set in motion. The lead song from 10 is “Shootout’s In Soho,” which features A$AP Rocky & Stove God Cooks, is clearly influenced by that.
“It’s only right that we end here. All special things get a memorial release,” Westside Gunn reflects. “The last double album was going to be the final one, but it felt weird leaving off at nine and not 10. I had to celebrate this series which has meant so much to fans. Everything I do sounds nothing like the last thing I did. That’s the creative in me, and I’m always going to push the culture forward. I’m ending this on a really special note with 10.”
This is the highly anticipated sophomore album from Brooklyn duo Black Star. Consisting of Yasiin Bey & Talib Kweli, the pair started off as childhood friends before dropping their self-titled debut in the fall of ‘98 to universal acclaim. Both parties would go on to have very successful solo careers of their own, but reunited with Madlib in late 2019 when they recorded no fear of time & is finally seeing the light of day thanks to Luminary.
“O.G. (On God)” opens up the album talking about how the real don’t die over a bass-guitar & some strings hanging in the background whereas “So Be It” has somewhat of a rugged quality to the instrumental going at the throats of anyone who wants to step up to them lyrically. “Sweetheart. Sweethard. Sweetodd” takes a more soulful route getting romantic just before “My Favorite Band” works in a crooning vocal sample to make a dedication to their favorite group of human beings.
Meanwhile on “The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing”, we have Yasiin & Kweli on some pianos & dusty drums talking about how automatic they are leading into the entrancing “Yonders” delivering bars like “Real G’s try to stop the violence” as well as how Satan runs everytime they smell him coming. The track “Supreme Alchemy” shoots for a more mellow sound talking about paying tribute & commemorating shortly after while the penultimate song “Freequency” with Black Thought finds the trio over a beat with some jazzy undertones to it repping the few that can sell you their life stories. The title track ends the album by keeping the jazz going talking about floating on.
I didn’t think this album would ever see the light of day, but I’m sure happy as Hell that it did because this is a stellar follow-up to their self-titled debut. Madlib’s production is a bit more abstract in comparison to the duo’s debut, but both of them sound incredibly laser-focused & manage to deliver the conscious hip hop we’ve all come to know & love them for as if it hasn’t been almost 24 years.
The wait for a new Black Star album might be coming to a close. It has been 24 years since the group dropped their first and only album, and hip-hop heads from all over have been patiently waiting for more music between the two. Talib Kweli took to Instagram where he shared a picture of him and Mos Def in a room together and, in the caption, teased a second album from their group.
“The new Black Star album was recorded in hotel rooms and dressing rooms across the globe,” Kweli said. “I love how my brother @yasiinbey pushes me musically. #blackstarforever follow @blackstarkeepshining today…”
Hopefully, the album comes out. Talib has been teasing the release of the album since 2019. In the summer of the same year, Kweli confirmed that there was an album and that Madlib would handle the production for the album. However, Kweli noted that there were problems clearing the samples for the project.
At the beginning of 2021, Kweli gave another announcement saying that sample clearances were underway. However, Black Star debuted a new song in May of last year on their podcast with Dave Chappelle. Fast forward, there’s still no album.
For more updates, you can follow their IG page here.
A reunion that has been years in the making looks like it is finally going to happen. Mos Def and Talib Kweli have confirmed a joint project is definitely on the way.
As spotted on Okay Player the Brooklyn duo made a recent appearance at the Sole DXB festival in Dubai. While the two discussed several topics the elephant in the room host Bobbito Garcia got the pair to discuss their sophomore effort as Black Star. Even though each MC would face constant questions regarding the LP Talib made sure that he didn’t base their friendship on the music.
They detailed how they would travel together to different cities and record when it felt right. “We would record, go out, see the city, eat good food, come back and listen to the recordings and we would think ‘yeah, I like that,’” Bey said. “I knew we were in good stead when we were in Copenhagen. We would record one song there and by the time we got to Amsterdam we had three songs. When I heard those three songs I was like ‘we are golden,’” he continued. “That is my template for an album. The first three songs that you record will be the vibe of the whole record. Whatever follows after this will follow the tone of those three.”
Pretty Flaco made it clear he feels confident in the work they put in thus far. “This new album is ridiculous. And I don’t really care if you all don’t like it. This just means we like different things and that’s fine” he admitted. Talib also offered further insight into the direction of the music saying “there is no [song] for the ladies or one for the clubs”. “We played the album for Marlon Wayans and he was like ‘yo, this is dope. But you all need one where they can feel you in the clubs. And I was like ‘Marlon, you still go to clubs?” he explained.
“This new album is ridiculous,” Bey told applauding fans in Dubai. “And I don’t really care if you all don’t like it. This just means we like different things, and that’s fine.” Black Thought, Yasiin Bey, Pharoahe Monch & Tobe Nwigwe Make A New “Live At The BBQ” (Video) Kweli, who has been much more prolific with releasing music over the last decade, says that he felt pressure from fans. “People kept saying, ‘When is the next album coming up,’ so much that it got to a point that for me, personally, I caught myself also [asking] ‘When is the next album out?’ in all my conversations with Yasiin [Bey].” He says of a period around the mid-2010s, “I had to check myself because that can’t just be what our relationship is all about.” Upon a visit to South Africa to his friend, band-mate, and onetime business partner, Kweli approached the time together purely on humanity. “When I went there, I made it a point to not talk about music or Black Star. We have been friends for so long, and I couldn’t remember just breaking bread with Yasiin.” This friendship-focused energy reportedly persisted in hangs throughout Europe in the weeks and months that followed. Kweli says that his rhyme partner’s changes since the late ’90s have an impact on his songwriting. “Because Yasiin is so focused on making sure that what we say with the music is deeper than just patting ourselves on the back and connected to a real compassion, there will be rhymes that I will kick, and he will say ‘ehh…’ because the rhymes are too braggy, and they are too much about me.” After making some revisions, Talib reflects, “Now I feel the new album is good and I really stepped my game up. It’s not that I am always rapping about those things, but he made me realize that I just don’t have to at all.” Talib Kweli Rocks A Rawkus Records In-Store At Fat Beats (AFH TV Video) Not unlike JAY-Z and Kanye West’s 2011 Watch The Throne album, Black Star’s sophomore LP was recorded in hotel rooms using mobile studio technology. Barcelona, Copenhagen, Paris, and Amsterdam reportedly played host to some of the sessions. Yasiin notes that after three songs were made during the Denmark sessions, he felt confident in the momentum of the recording. “That is my template for an album. The first three songs that you record will be the vibe of the whole record. Whatever follows after this will follow the tone of those three.” The pair reveal that comedian Marlon Wayans is among those who have heard the recordings. Madlib & Freddie Gibbs’ Tiny Desk Concert Is An Education On 1 Of 2019’s Best AlbumsMadlib is replacing a cast of producers including Hi-Tek, Da Beatminerz, J. Rawls, Shawn J. Period, 88-Keys, and others for the 1998 Rawkus Records LP. Videos of Talib Kweli, including freestyles and interviews, are available at AFH TV. We are currently offering free 7-day trial subscriptions. Music from Yasiin Bey and Madlib is presently on the official Ambrosia For Heads Playlist.
Run The Jewels and Company Flow co-founder El-P is the latest guest on Talib Kweli’s The People’s Party Podcast, with co-host Jasmin Leigh. The two natives of Brooklyn, New York have plenty of history together, including Hip Hop For Respect. They were label-mates at Rawkus Records during an inflection point in both artist’s careers, making albums that galvanized an iconic underground Hip-Hop label that reached the mainstream. The two men relive some history from the mid-1990s when each hungry Hip-Hop artist found a home that was down to put out music by their respective groups. Ahead of the 30:00 mark, El-P remembers working at Lower Manhattan’s Tower Records with Co Flow band-mate Bigg Jus. Notably, some years later, Kweli recalls a job selling incense and oils outside that same Lafayette Street music store. El recalls Company Flow using Tower’s postage to ship demo materials to record labels. “We’d take our money that we earned there, and we’d go record at night,” he remembers of early songs like “8 Steps To Perfection” and others. The trio (also including New Jersey producer/DJ Mr. Len) had room on the 12″ recording. That birthed the eight songs on 1996 Official Records’ Funcrusher. “That was literally as simple as it was,” El says. “Why are we just putting a song and an instrumental on this piece of plastic? It’s gonna cost the same amount of money to put eight of these songs on here.” Talib Kweli Says The New Black Star Album With Madlib Is Done Talib brings up the years that followed. “[You and I] were signed to Rawkus at the same time. Black Star was more jazzy, melodic. We were in the same circles, in terms of crews, but sonically, not so [much]. Did you ever feel like there was a competition between Company Flow and Black Star? Because we were operating in the same spaces and sort of vying for the same fan-base, just different sides of people’s brain.” El responds with what appears to be a joke, “Nah. The only time I ever thought there was a competition was when you got to the B.D.P beat before me. I was like, ‘F*ck those dudes.’ I was mad about that one.” He is referring to DJ Hi-Tek’s “Definition” track for Black Star, which samples Boogie Down Productions’ “The P Is Free (Remix).” El continues, “I think my influences were really rooted in sh*t like B.D.P, and [Public Enemy], and Run-D.M.C., and old Schoolly D, and Fat Boys, sh*t like that, and Slick Rick—big, big Hip-Hop records with stabs. To this day, that’s kinda my thing.” Kweli then reflects, “Like, we weren’t as lo-fi as a Madlib, but it was definitely a warm, fuzzier thing that we were doing.” “For sure,” El agrees. “And that’s why it worked. That’s why we coexisted. Because, to be fair, it never felt like a competition. You were always doing your thing. The thing about that period of time, and that era, which was so special, is that there were so many people doing different sh*t. The ones that really stood one—the ones that ended up being some of the groups that we’d call defining of that era, I think Company Flow is included, and I knowBlack Star is, and I know there’s a couple others—everybody had their slot that they filled that created this picture. There’s a lot going on in this movement. There was. You remember the open mics and sh*t; everybody would get up and have a style, and everyone was into that different style.” Evil Dee Details What Led To The Demise Of Rawkus Records Talib continues, “For me, when I got to Rawkus, what was exciting about [the label] to me was [Missin’ Linx member] Black Attack was there, and Shabaam [Sahdeeq] was there, and Sir Menelik was there; I wasn’t familiar with Menelik, but I was familiar with Kool Keith, and Company Flow was there. Y’all established it before we got there.” “I feel like Rawkus co-opted this whole ‘independent as f*ck’ thing.” El responds, “I think that Rawkus certainly recognized it, and I think they had the ability to do something about it.” El says that Company Flow came up with the mantra while hand-designing artwork at a kitchen table using glue-sticks. It would eventually become a moniker in the late 1990s and early 2000s Rap underground. Kweli recalls being introduced to Rawkus co-founder Jarret Myer, who produces The People’s Party through then-Fugees affiliate John Forté. “I remember Jarret and Brian [Brater], these two white guys from Brown University, they came to the hood—they came to Crown Heights, and John Forté was there. Everybody was rhyming their ass off; everybody had a blunt and a 40 [ounce beer]. Everybody was trying to get a record deal, rhyming their ass off. At this point, I don’t even think that they had y’all yet. I remember John Forté being like, ‘Why ain’t you rappin’?’ I’m like, ‘This indie label sh*t? I’m trying to get to a major.'” The Reflection Eternal and Black Star co-founder continues, “A short two years later, now my girl is pregnant, now I lost my job. Mos Def [aka] Yasiin Bey comes to me, he’s like, ‘Yo, I think I’ma do a single with these Rawkus dudes.’ I’m like, ‘Jarret and Brian?’ He’s like, ‘Yeah; they gave me some money.’ I’m like, ‘They gave you some money? [Laughs] How much money they give you?’ My whole thought pattern changed.” El-P, J-Live & Breeze Brewin Rap At Fat Beats’ Grand Opening (AFH TV Video) “Meeting those guys, it was very interesting, and I think Jarret can attest to this. Basically, we were having a moment in the underground, but we had very quickly—through people like Stretch & Bobbito—we had started to get a lot of attention, just from the little music that we had put out.” An assortment of major and independent labels took an interest in the New York-New Jersey trio. “Rawkus were the ones who said yes to what we thought it should look like. We were like, ‘We want to do this, and we want to own the masters. We want a 50/50 deal. And we don’t want to promise more than one album, ’cause we don’t know how it’s gonna work out. At the time, these were ludicrous thoughts. At the time, there was no [artist leverage]. We went into these guys’ offices and said the same thing that we’d said to other [labels, and they agreed]. I think that was a really genuine place for us to jump off with that sh*t. Because if they’re in that head-space where they respect that idea, and they’re willing, also, to give us money, then these guys are serious. So when you say the co-opting of the [‘independent as f*ck’ mantra], I think what they did was they [finalized] or expanded the thought. We had the thought of ‘independent as f*ck,’ the thing that became a rallying cry in our collective. We helped define that attitude.” El expands, “There was no independent record label system for dudes like us. Either you were on a major or you just were going around to different places freestyling—Washington Square Park or Nuyorican [Poets Café]. There was no middle-ground. Rawkus became the first step for a middle-ground. [They were] the first people to recognize and say—and they felt the same way that I did, politically—’this stuff actually has a monetary future. We can actually sell this, and not take this and try and change it.'” He expounds that the label offered a step apart from the politics and nepotism of the old-guard label system. El-P and Company Flow broke from Rawkus. El launched Definitive Jux Records, another heralded 2000s imprint. Juss created Subversive, and Len opened his Dummy Smacks company. Talib, who remained with Rawkus until the label was sold, has co-founded labels, including Blacksmith and Javotti Media. While both El and Talib criticized their former label on wax at times, they seemingly look back at the imprint’s positive qualities more than 20 years after signing. 10 Things You May Not Know About Rawkus Records (Audio) Elsewhere in the interview, El-P describes Zack De La Rocha living and recording with him in the days following the Rage Against The Machine breakup. He also remembers Def Jux, and confirms that Rick Rubin is not producing Run The Jewels’ fourth album. Last week, Talib Kweli confirmed that Black Star’s sophomore album, which is reportedly produced by Madlib, is completed. Talib Kweli Rocks A Rawkus Records In-Store At Fat Beats (AFH TV Video)Videos from Rawkus Records-era Talib Kweli and El-P are available at AFH TV. We are currently offering free 7-day trials.
B-Real is the latest guest on People’s Party With Talib Kweli. There, the member of Cypress Hill and Prophets Of Rage tells the co-founder of Black Star and Reflection Eternal about the origins of his groups. The Los Angeles, California native breaks down Cypress’ distinction among the the handful of artists on SNL‘s all-time “banned” list. The legendary MC/producer/entrepreneur also opens up about his neighborhood ties, and how gang graffiti coined him a name that he’s kept hot for nearly 30 years. In addition to music, B-Real and Talib discuss cannabis. Apart from “Dr. Green Thumb” recalling his days rolling with Brand Nubian to Harlem to cop a legendary strain en route to New Rochelle, B-Real offers some blunt reality surrounding the booming bud business. Bun B Tells Talib Kweli Why T.R.O.Y. Is The Biggest Hip-Hop Song Of All Time (Video) At 43:00, Talib describes the efficiency of recently buying cannabis at a dispensary in Colorado. “It was so easy, and I got really good weed. I was amazed at how people are caking up on it. But the Black and Brown people are locked out of that. It’s hard for us to even get into those spaces when we took the risk—our communities took the risk.” B-Real, who is involved with Gas Co. (and wears the hat for his appearance) responds, “They have this thing called social equity, which means if you’re an offender, where you’ve been convicted of a sort of cannabis-related crime, it’s supposed to put you in the front of the line [to get sanctions]. And for most, it does. And that’s a lot of Black and Brown people that can apply and actually get some of these licenses. But the problem is, a lot of us can’t afford those. And when we try to come into the scenario, we usually come in by ourselves, independent, with not much financial backing. They make it very hard for us to exist in that market because of what it costs to actually invest in actually becoming a cannabis brand or company. Supposedly, the system is that at some point, if you can’t afford that permit, they have a backup fund that pays for it for you because they want these permits working. But the problem is, even if they give you that, you still have to have the capital to actually start the business. My advice to any Black and Brown person trying to get in the game: there’s a lot of people operating sort of the same way that the corporate structure does. The corporate [structure] is a collective of a lot of people with money, obviously. They move all their money pretty much together. So what a lot of people are doing now is they’re partnering up with people that want to invest in the cannabis game, but they’re all investing together and going in as one. That’s what our folks need to do: they need to f*ckin’ get together.” Kweli summarizes, “Collective and cooperative economics.” B-Real Details How He Developed 1 Of Hip-Hop’s Most Distinctive Voices (Video) Co-host Jasmin Leigh interjects that she noticed a Black-owned dispensary in her neighborhood becoming white-owned overnight. B-Real explains, “They’re not making it easier for us. But that’s why I say we have to sort of unify our money and sort of move together in that business to have a presence there. They’re not gonna make it easy for us. They’ve made it easy for the corporate structure to get in. It’s just that some people have figured out how the corporations move.” B-Real notes that his proposed strategy has worked, and private investors have found success without outside backing. “It’s just a matter of people approaching the right people within our community and saying, ‘Hey, let’s move in this together.’ Like you see, a lot of athletes now are getting into the cannabis sector.” Kweli draws on what B-Real says regarding Black and Brown unity and stresses the importance of that bond regarding issues approaching the 2020 election. The two veteran artists move into politics for the close of the extensive and dynamic discussion. Fab 5 Freddy’s Documentary Sets The Record Straight About A Chronic Problem (Video Trailer) Elsewhere in the interview, B-Real describes bringing in percussionist Eric Bobo as an official member of Cypress Hill. He also describes an especially significant episode of his Smoke Box involving Pop/Rock singer Melissa Etheridge. #BonusBeat:Talib Kweli and B-Real were both featured on Chris Webby’s 2015 song “Dopamine,” which also has Trae Tha Truth and Grafh: