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words can't describe how hyped i was when this album dropped.

mos was my favorite rapper back then. universal magnetic and all that.

now i dont care for kweli so much, but on this album he brought it.

production was tight, for the most part.

and i was super geeked that i could turn on mtv and bet and see the definition video and the respiration video. this was before common's image was so ubiquitous.



my question is, over a decade later, how does the album stack up to other great albums in hip hop?



















ps. what was up with that bookstore?

i could see myself listening to this in another ten years, some albums are hot for a minute and then you kinda forget about em, not this one. Thieves in the night is IMO is one the greatest hip hop songs.

djjeffresh wrote: my question is, over a decade later, how does the album stack up to other great albums in hip hop?

Not very well.

this may very well be an unpopular opinion, but this album was pretty whatever to me on every level.. i respect mos def as a rapper. he's talented. but his best shit to me has always been on guest spots or random 12'' (universal magnetic was my shit). kweli is pretty much garbage though. his rise to fame has always befuddled me.
outside of the rapping, the beats were hit and miss overall. i also think "black on both sides" is pretty boring as well so, you know, maybe it's just a personal taste thing. i wanted to like this album, but it never took.
the only song i'd go back to is "thieves in the night".
i vote for "not at all great".

Blockhead wrote:this may very well be an unpopular opinion, but this album was pretty whatever to me on every level.. i respect mos def as a rapper. he's talented. but his best shit to me has always been on guest spots or random 12'' (universal magnetic was my shit). kweli is pretty much garbage though. his rise to fame has always befuddled me.
outside of the rapping, the beats were hit and miss overall. i also think "black on both sides" is pretty boring as well so, you know, maybe it's just a personal taste thing. i wanted to like this album, but it never took.
the only song i'd go back to is "thieves in the night".
i vote for "not at all great".

I 2nd that!

Other than "Thieves In The Night" and "Respiration" this album is hot garbage.

not a fan of this album...... sir menelik should be realesed instead of this album.. half of album is in large part boring.... talib kweli and mos def had a best songs on soundbombing compilation i must say.

Thun wrote:Other than "Thieves In The Night" and "Respiration" this album is hot garbage.

You called it. Those are pretty much the only ones that I listen to nowadays.

The b-side "Hard Margin" is better than most of the tracks on the LP, IMO.

Blockhead wrote:kweli is pretty much garbage though. his rise to fame has always befuddled me.

"2000 Seasons" is outstanding, though. "Manifesto" and "Fortified Live" are dope as well. Both tracks that Thun mentioned from the Black Star LP contain solid Kweli performances.

Otherwise, I agree with you. I'm not a Talib Kweli fan.

i wasn't big on it. it was solid but not classic.

that said I haven't listened to it in 10 years.

bad-cop wrote:

Blockhead wrote:this may very well be an unpopular opinion, but this album was pretty whatever to me on every level..

I 2nd that!

3rd that.

I blame this on the wigger/backpacker rawkus movement turned day trader mathematics because Boiler Room was such an influential film.

Ugh, these threads in which everyone agrees bore me. I know there are some people on this site who fornicate to (or with) this album on a weekly basis. Speak up and defend your precious album.

Roy Johnson wrote:

Blockhead wrote:kweli is pretty much garbage though. his rise to fame has always befuddled me.

"2000 Seasons" is outstanding, though. "Manifesto" and "Fortified Live" are dope as well. Both tracks that Thun mentioned from the Black Star LP contain solid Kweli performances.

Otherwise, I agree with you. I'm not a Talib Kweli fan.

i actually did like "manifesto" and "2000 seasons" as well. he peaked with both of those songs. but even on those joints, his vaginal voice and awkward flow were never very good.

kimani wrote:Ugh, these threads in which everyone agrees bore me. I know there are some people on this site who fornicate to (or with) this album on a weekly basis. Speak up and defend your precious album.

fo real. im totally surprised by the black star hate/apathy.

Good album, was never really feeling the beats that much though.

Respiration is my favorite blackstar song. Other then that everything else is alright.

Thun wrote:Other than "Thieves In The Night" and "Respiration" this album is hot garbage.

Seriously. Calling this album a classic is outrageous.

hellriser wrote:.... sir menelik should be realesed instead of this album..

Most under rated post. A Menelik album would have satisfied my tastes much more at the time.

I was in AZ when it dropped and pretty much sheltered from the outside hip hop world,aside from a few crates and all my tapes I lugged out there.
I saw it at a "Wherehouse" record store. They had headphones, so I could peep samples before copping. I thought it sounded kinda boring.
Instead, I copped the Killah Preist album and was pretty happy with my purchase.

So, now, the first time I heard the whole BlackStar album was probably in 2001.
Of course, I love the 2 tracks that have been mentioned.
The rest of the album is cool. Nothing that special, but listenable to maybe once a year.

EarForGoodMusic wrote:i could see myself listening to this in another ten years, some albums are hot for a minute and then you kinda forget about em, not this one. Thieves in the night is IMO is one the greatest hip hop songs.

it really is...

i can rock this on an off and it's still ill a decade later minus a track or two.


and word to "thieves in the night" being one of the best (hip-hop) songs ever. i love that cut and rock it weekly...


and i used to front on the rendition of "children's story" on here because of i thought it was a lazy jack but after hearing about how mos performed it before the lp dropped in front of puff and knew he was in attendance and still went in, i got a lot more respect for that cut.

i used to love this album, over the years my love has faded and now talib kinda pisses me off.

Verge wrote:

hellriser wrote:.... sir menelik should be realesed instead of this album..

Most under rated post. A Menelik album would have satisfied my tastes much more at the time.

black star might not have been a classic album but GTFO of here with that sir menelik bullshite.

djjeffresh wrote:

Verge wrote:

hellriser wrote:.... sir menelik should be realesed instead of this album..

Most under rated post. A Menelik album would have satisfied my tastes much more at the time.

black star might not have been a classic album but GTFO of here with that sir menelik bullshite.

why is that bullshit?

menelik is more intresting mc than these two boring ass sleepy mcs....

djjeffresh wrote:

Verge wrote:

hellriser wrote:.... sir menelik should be realesed instead of this album..

Most under rated post. A Menelik album would have satisfied my tastes much more at the time.

black star might not have been a classic album but GTFO of here with that sir menelik bullshite.

Like I said, it would have suited MY TASTE.
Menelik had some illlll tracks with Kool Keith during the Dr.Octagon period that not many people heard.
Not to mention the bangers that never saw the light of day under the Scaramanga and Juan Exelcia monikers.
You're flexing your jibbs about a cat whose catalog you haven't heard the half of yet.

Drug Cartels Armed Well demo track>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Black Star album

Drug Cartels Armed Well demo track - can you upload that?

hellriser wrote:Drug Cartels Armed Well demo track - can you upload that?

Sorry, I don't have that anymore. I had it on a couple of bobbito tapes back in the day. Hopefully it surfaces while some of these cats are ripping their Bobbito shows to mp3.
'32 Grams' was another unreleased banger they played that I hope to hear again one day.

hellriser wrote:Drug Cartels Armed Well demo track - can you upload that?

what he said

Cantin wrote:

hellriser wrote:Drug Cartels Armed Well demo track - can you upload that?

what he said

Sorry, man, see above post. I'm sure it'll surface eventually though. They played it more than a couple of times, so someone who's ripping tapes is bound to have it.

And let me back peddle a little here. I was talking out my ass when I said that one track was better than their whole album. LOL. It was a serious banger, though.

thought it was a pretty boring album overall with a couple good songs here and there (Respiration)

respiration remix with black thought is better than original

I always thought Black On Both Sides was a much better album than this.