Black Star

Yasiin Bey (formerly Mos Def) and Talib Kweli's 1998 debut, Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star, became the crown jewel of Rawkus Records' underground era, and then the duo went quiet for 24 years. No Fear of Time, entirely produced by Madlib, almost didn't happen at all, Kweli once said publicly he doubted it would ever see release. When it finally arrived in 2022, it came out in one of hip-hop's strangest rollouts ever, exclusive to the podcast app Luminary, meaning fans had to subscribe to a podcast service just to hear it. It later made it to Bandcamp, and eventually to the physical pressing sitting in this archive now, a real, hard-won release two decades in the making.