Black Star

¡Escúchela! La ciudad respirando

Black Star, Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Common. "Respiration." Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star, 2002 Rawkus Entertainment LLC, 2002.

Tonight we caught Yasiin Bey (fka Mos Def) close out the night at Oakland's Fox Theater, after a performance from the always-entertaining Reggie Watts. Although he was missing Talib, this track is still one of my all-time favourites nearly fifteen years later.

🎶 Breathe in, inhale vapors from bright stars that shine
Breathe out, weed smoke retrace the skyline
Heard the bass ride out like an ancient mating call
I can't take it, y'all, I can feel the city breathing
Chest heaving, against the flesh of the evening
Sigh before we die like the last train leaving 🎶

An hour later, sounds from Jamaica...

Mos Def. "Ms. Fat Booty." Black On Both Sides, Rawkus Entertainment LLC, 1999.

Off of his solo debut after collaborating with Talib Kweli on 1997's instant classic Black Star, this is one of my all-time most-spun tracks from Mos Def (aka Yasiin Bey). 

That sample off of "One Step Ahead," one of Aretha Franklin's rarest recordings. Those rhymes that showcase Bey's rhythmic agility and lyrical dexterity.

Mos paints us a vivid picture of this woman he's chasing -- she's got all the right weaponry -- and takes us through their misadventures from the club to the bedroom and back again.

Is sugar and spice the only thing that you made of?