“RE:DEFinition” – Black Star
(Words/music: Tony Cottrell, Talib Kweli Green, Dante Smith, available on Mos Def & Talib Kweli are Black Star, Rawkus 1998)

On their first (and so far, only) full collaborative LP, Mos Def and Talib Kweli took the temperature of the hip hop underground in the late 1990s; this is in the phase where hip hop became a full blown commercial phenomenon (and after Tupac and B.I.G. were gunned down).  This isn’t an album of song length “samples” or odd rap-rock hybrids; Black Star seemed more in step with A Tribe Called Quest’s Midnight Marauders than anything Puff Daddy produced, and as a result Black Star still sounds as relevant in 2009 as it did when it first came out.

Kweli and Mos Def are known as skillful lyricists, and use the Black Star LP as an opportunity to decry some of hip hop’s ills.  Most notably, the track “Definition” calls for an end to the mounting violence in hip hop culture.  The track, produced by Kweli’s long time collaborator Hi-Tek, borrows the hook from Boogie Down Productions’ “Stop the Violence” (as well as it’s overall message of disarmament).  Mos Def sings the hook with a slightly reggae-tinged inflection and does such a great job that the pair modify it slightly for “RE:DEFinition,” a track that serves as the epilogue to “Definition.”  On “Definition,” Kweli follows Mos Def’s lead, rapping in a tightly wound, almost metronome like flow while Hi-Tek’s stuttering drum beat and repeated guitar sample drive home the beat.  It’s an appropriate mood for a song about violence; the tense beat and rapid-fire delivery almost sound like an assault.  Conversely, “RE:DEFinition” slows the beat down slightly and the two MCs rhyme in a more relaxed, free-formed manner (with Mos Def now appropriating some of Kweli’s flow).  The content too seems relaxed – while the first track carries weighty content, the second is more like a classic posse cut where the MCs declare their prowess, with Mos Def declaring himself “lyrically handsome,” one of my favorite lines on this entire album.  The sonic texture differs too, as “RE:DEFintion” features a near content tremolo string figure.  It gives the track a slightly sinister feel (especially with the electric piano that drops in an out), but even more than that it makes the track sound on the brink of unraveling at the entire time.  Appropriately the song (and, in essence, this two song suite) ends with the strings finally hitting a brief legato melody only to have the beat stumble on itself.  It’s an appropriate warning for hip hop (even in 2009) to watch itself, lest it self-destruct from its own vices.

More on Black Star: Allmusic | Amazon MP3 | Emusic | Last.fm