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Bios: Black Star, Talib Kweli & Mos Def
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Buy: Black Star, Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Reflection Eternal & Idle Warship
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Members
Black Star:
Mos Def (A.K.A. Yasiin Bey, Pretty Flaco, The Mighty-Mighty Mos, Black Dante & Mos Definite) (Born Dante Terrell Smith, December 11, 1973 in Brooklyn, NY)
Talib Kweli (Born Talib Kweli Greene, October 3, 1975 in Brooklyn, NY)

Members' Other Groups
Reflection Eternal:

Talib Kweli (Born Talib Kweli Greene, October 3, 1975 in Brooklyn, NY)
Hi-Tek (A.K.A. Tekzilla) (Born Tony Cottrell in Cincinnati, OH)

Idle Warship:

Talib Kweli (Born Talib Kweli Greene, October 3, 1975 in Brooklyn, NY)
Res (Born Shareese Renče Ballard in Philadelphia, PA)
Graph Nobel

Black Jack Johnson:
Mos Def (A.K.A. Yasiin Bey, Pretty Flaco, The Mighty-Mighty Mos, Black Dante & Mos Definite) (Born Dante Terrell Smith, December 11, 1973 in Brooklyn, NY)
Will Calhoun (of Living Colour) (Born William Calhoun, July 22 1964, Brooklyn, NY)
Doug Wimbish (of Living Colour) (Born September 22, 1956 in Hartford, CT)
Dr. Know (of Bad Brains) (Born Gary Miller, September 15, 1958 in Washington, D.C.)
Bernie Worrell (of P-Funk) (Born George Bernard Worrell, Jr., April 19, 1944 in Long Beach, NJ)

See Also: The Boondocks, Hi-Tek, Stong Arm Steady, Res & Parliament/Funkadelic

Albums
Black Star - Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star
Talib Kweli - Quality
Talib Kweli - The Beautiful Struggle (Advance)
Talib Kweli - The Beautiful Struggle
Talib Kweli - Eardrum
Talib Kweli – Gutter Rainbows
Mos Def - Black On Both Sides
Mos Def - EP
Mos Def - The New Danger
Mos Def - True Magic
Mos Def - Mos Definite
Mos Def - The Ecstatic
Reflection Eternal (Talib Kweli & Hi-Tek) - Train Of Thought
Reflection Eternal - Revolutions Per Minute

Mixtapes
Talib Kweli - The Manifesto (Bootleg)
Talib Kweli - Top Kwelity Classics Vol. 1
Talib Kweli - The Beautiful Mix CD
Talib Kweli - The Beautiful Mix Tape Vol. 2: The Stuggle Continues
Talib Kweli - Kweli-Confidential
Talib Kweli Presents Blacksmith: The Movement
Talib Kweli & Year Of The Blacksmith Present The Community Mixtape
Talib Kweli & Z-Trip - Attack The Block
Mos Def - The Dangerous Mix
Mos Def - The Most Underrated E.P.
Idle Warship - Party Robot
Reflection Eternal - The Re:Union

Singles
Rakim & Talib Kweli - Getting Up Anthem: Part One (Single)

Also Featured On...
A B C D E G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V W

A
The RZA Presents: Afro Samurai The Soundtrack (Talib Kweli)
The Alchemist - Chemical Warfare (Talib Kweli)
Asheru - Insomnia Volume 1 (Talib Kweli)

B
B.o.B. & Wale - Leaders Of Tha New Kool Pt. 1 (Talib Kweli)
B.o.B. - E.P.I.C.: Every Play Is Crucial (Mos Def)
David Banner - Certified (Talib Kweli)
Barbershop 2: Back In Business (Mos Def)
Miri Ben-Ari - The Pulling Strings Mixtape (Mos Def)
Bigg Snoop Dogg & Daddy V Present Blaze It Up: Tha High 'Til I Die Compilation (Talib Kweli)
Bilal - 1st Born Second (Mos Def)
Black And White (Mos Def)
The Black Eyed Peas - Monkey Business (Talib Kweli)
Mary J. Blige - Soul Is Forever: The Remix Album
Booth Blasters Rip-Up The Mic!! (Talib Kweli)
Brown Sugar

C
Cadillac Records (Deluxe Edition) (Mos Def)
Chops - Virtuosity (Talib Kweli)
Common - Like Water For Chocolate (Mos Def)
Common - Uncommon Classics
Common - Be (Mos Def)

D
DangerDoom - The Mouse And The Mask (Talib Kweli)
De La Soul - Stakes Is High (Mos Def)
De La Soul - De La Mix Tape: Remixes, Rarities & Classics (Mos Def)
Chico DeBarge - Addiction (Talib Kweli)
Dilated Peoples - 20/20 (Talib Kweli)
DJ Finesse - Platinum Slow Jams 15 (Mos Def)
DJ Green Lantern, Russell Simmons & Barack Obama - Yes, We Can (Talib Kweli)
DJ Hurricane - Don't Sleep (Talib Kweli)
DJ Jam Presents WBALLZ 187.4 FM Vol. 1 (Talib Kweli)
DJ Kay Slay - Underground Part 1: Well Connected (Talib Kweli)
DJ Premier - Crooklyn Cuts Volume III: Tape A (Mos Def)
DJ Quik - Under Tha Influence (Talib Kweli)

E
Essential Underground Hip Hop (Talib Kweli)
Faith Evans - Remixes, Unreleased & Featured (Mos Def)

G
Goapele - Different (Single) (Mos Def)
Guru - Version 7.0: The Street Scriptures (Talib Kweli)

H
Hi-Tek - Hi-Technology˛: The Chip
Hi-Tek - Hi-Teknologył (Talib Kweli)
The High & Mighty - Home Field Advantage (Mos Def)
Hip-Hop Docktrine: The Official Boondocks Mixtape
Hip-Hop Docktrine Two: The Official Boondock Mixtape Disc 2wo

I
Immortal Technique - Bin Laden (Single) (Mos Def)

J
Quincy Jones - Q: Soul Bossa Nostra (Talib Kweli)
Justus League 2K8

K
K'Naan - Troubadour (Mos Def)
Alicia Keys - Unplugged (Mos Def)
Alicia Keys - The Hits (Mos Def)
Kid CuDi - NASA Music (Talib Kweli)
KRS-ONE & Buckshot - Survival Skills (Talib Kweli)

L
The Last Shall Be First (Mos Def)
Ryan Leslie - Used To Be (Talib Kweli)
Little Brother - ...And Justus For All
Lucy Pearl (Talib Kweli)
Lyricist Lounge Vol. 2

M
The Man With The Iron Fists (Talib Kweli)
Stephen Marley - Mind Control (Mos Def)
Brian McKnight - Gemini (Talib Kweli)
Medina Green - U Know The Flex: The Mix Tape Vol. 1 (Mos Def)
Metal Fingerz DOOM Presents Unexpected Guests (Talib Kweli)

N
National Vinyl Association: Straight From The Crates Vol. 1 (Mos Def)
Novel - Chapter One (Talib Kweli)
Novel - I Am: Future Black President: The E.P. (Talib Kweli)

O
Joell Ortiz - Me, Myself & I (Mos Def)
Joell Ortiz - Farewell Summer E.P. (Talib Kweli)
Joell Ortiz – Me, Myself & I Part Two (Talib Kweli)
Outlawz & DJ Warrior - Outlaw Warriorz (Talib Kweli)
Oz (Talib Kweli)

P
Papoose - Second Place Is The First Loser (Talib Kweli)
Pharoahe Monch - Internal Affairs (Talib Kweli)
Pharoahe Monch - Where Is Monch?
Pharoahe Monch - Y'all Know The Name
Phil The Agony - Steady Aromatic 2: The Purple Pack (Talib Kweli)

R
Radioplay Urban Express 802Y (Mos Def)
Raekwon - The BabyGrande Recordings (Talib Kweli)
Ras Kass - The Barmageddon (Talib Kweli)
Rawkus Radio The Mixtape
Pete Rock - Soul Survivor II (Talib Kweli)
Mark Ronson - Here Comes The Fuzz (Mos Def)
Royce Da 5'9" - The Album (Talib Kweli)

S
Scarface - My Homies Part 2 (Mos Def)
Jill Scott - Who Is Jill Scott?: Words And Sounds Vol. 1 (Mos Def)
Scratch - Loss 4 Wordz (Talib Kweli)
Erick Sermon - Chilltown, New York (Talib Kweli)
Skyzoo - A Dream Deferred (Talib Kweli)
Soundbombing
Soundbombing II
Soundbombing III
The Source Hip-Hop Music Awards 2001
Statik Selektah - Spell My Name Right (The Album) (Talib Kweli)
Statik Selektah - 100 Proof: The Hangover (Talib Kweli)
Statik Selektah - Population Control (Talib Kweli)
Strong Arm Steady - L.A. Ballin' 2004: All-Star Edition (Talib Kweli)
Strong Arm Steady - The Collector's Edition Vol. 1 (Talib Kweli)
Strong Arm Steady - Deep Hearted (Talib Kweli)
Strong Arm Steady - One Step b/w The Movement (Single) (Talib Kweli)
Strong Arm Steady - In Search Of Stoney Jackson (Talib Kweli)
Strong Arm Steady - Arms & Hammers (Talib Kweli)
Styles P - Time Is Money (Talib Kweli)

T
Termanology - Cameo King II (Talib Kweli)
Think Differently Music Presents: Now That's What I Call Hip-Hop! 1
Thug Radio Mixtape XV: Want That Old Thing Back (Mos Def)
Thug Radio Mixtape 19: Gonna Make A Change (Talib Kweli)
Thug Radio Mixtape 20: Real Shit (Mos Def)
Tony Touch - Mic Construction
A Tribe Called Quest - The Love Movement (Mos Def)
Tupac - The Rose That Grew From Concrete (Mos Def)
Tupac - The Rose Vol. 2 (Talib Kweli)

U
U.G.K. - Real Women (Single) (Talib Kweli)
U.G.K. - Underground Kingz (Talib Kweli)

V
Viva La Revolución Volume I: Get Up, Stand Up (Thug Radio Mixtape)

W
Kanye West - Freshman Adjustment (Talib Kweli)
Kanye West - I'm Good
Kanye West - The Lost Tapes (Talib Kweli)
Kanye West - College Dropout Advance (Mos Def)
Kanye West - College Dropout
Kanye West - The Remixes
Kanye West - Graduation (Mos Def)
Kanye West – Toast To The Scumbags (Mos Def)

Bio From AllMusic.Com
Marcus Garvey, founder of the united Negro Improvement Association manifested his ideas by creating the Black Star shipping line, designed to repatriate blacks to Africa. Garvey's political vision not only inspired Mos Def and Talib Kweli's band name, but many of their thematic concerns about the African-American community. Black Star is part of the Native Tongues crew, a collective that contains A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, the Jungle Brothers, the Bush Babies and Common. Def's first break was his showcase on De La Soul's album Stakes Is High on the track "Big Brother Beat." Kweli was half of Reflection Eternal prior to joining up with Def. Def has many television roles under his belt and continues to act. Black Star bought into the landmark African-American bookstore in Brooklyn, Nkiru Books, where Kweli had worked for years. Some of Black Star's early work can be heard on Lyricist Lounge Vol. 1, a club where rappers got to test their chops along with other up-and-coming artists. Articulate and provocative, Black Star looks to classic rappers like KRS-ONE, Run-D.M.C. and Public Enemy to inform their sound. Their self-titled debut grapples with "black love and esteem" and is concerned primarily about the stories that aren't being told in their communities. They are one of the few hip-hop bands that realize not everyone in the African-American community is involved in a gangsta culture. That fact alone makes them some of the most intelligent rappers to grace the vapid hip-hop scene in the late '90s. — Ryan Randall Goble

Talib Kweli's Bio From AllMusic.Com
If skills sold, Talib Kweli would have been one of the most commercially successful rappers of his time. As it was, however, the especially earnest MC became one of the most critically successful rappers of his time, which dawned in the late '90s when he rapped alongside Mos Def and DJ Hi-Tek as part of the group Black Star. This trio of up-and-comers and their widely acclaimed self-titled 1998 album debut helped make Rawkus Records one of the premier hip-hop outposts of the late '90s. In the process, they ushered in a short-lived "hip-hop" revival that took the music back to its roots, and thus away from the increasingly extreme and widespread gangsta motifs of the time. Black Star and their label, Rawkus, provided a clear alternative not only to gangsta rap but also to the watered-down and overly calculated pop-rap of Puff Daddy and his ilk. In 2000, Kweli and Hi-Tek then followed up this wide-ranging critical notice with a second acclaimed release for Rawkus: their Reflection Eternal album, which firmly established them apart from Mos Def, who enjoyed plenty of his own acclaim. For a moment there, Kweli and his Rawkus peers seemed like a full-fledged movement — a return to the sort of hip-hop associated with the so-called golden age. However, it wasn't to be. Rawkus somehow lost its momentum, and its roster sadly dispersed, leaving Kweli on his own to carry the torch. He steadily continued his output, beginning with Quality in 2002, and though he didn't rack up towering sales numbers, he remained a critical favorite. In fact, he just may have been the most admired and respected rapper on the major-label circuit during the mid-2000s, best evidenced by Jay-Z's famous Black Album rhyme: "If skills sold, truth be told/I'd probably be, lyrically, Talib Kweli."

Born in Brooklyn as the eldest of two sons born to college professors, Kweli's first name, Talib, is an Arabic name meaning "the seeker or student," while his last name is a Ghanaian name meaning "of truth or knowledge." He began developing his literary gift in elementary school, when he'd write short stories, poems, and that sort of stuff. It wasn't until years later in high school that he turned to hip-hop as an outlet for his self-expression. There in high school he met a young Dante Smith, better known today as Mos Def. This fateful meeting further drew Kweli toward hip-hop, and another fateful meeting further convinced him that he had a bright future as an MC. During a 1994 trip to Cincinnati he met Tony Cottrell, aka DJ Hi-Tek, who at the time was part of a local rap group called Mood. Kweli impressed Hi-Tek during their time together, and the DJ invited the MC to guest on several tracks for Mood's 1997 album, Doom. Shortly afterward, Kweli and Hi-Tek formed a partnership as Reflection Eternal and recorded "Fortified Live," which a then-fledging Rawkus label released on its first Soundbombing compilation.

A year later in 1998, the two invited Mos Def into the mix, and the Black Star album resulted. And with it came a steady downpour of critical acclaim that turned these guys into press darlings overnight. They might not have sold millions of albums, but Kweli, Hi-Tek, and Mos Def most certainly impressed a great many people, among them critics, fellow rap artists, and a lot of folks who enjoyed a good old-fashioned hip-hop album with an emphasis on beats, rhymes, and life — not dramatized gunplay or interpolations of proven pop songs. That was the end of Black Star, however. In 1999 Mos Def released his one solo album, Black On Both Sides, and turned away from music and toward an acting career, leaving Kweli and Hi-Tek on their own. The duo returned to their Reflection Eternal partnership and released an album of the same name in 2000. It spawned a few minor hits — "Move Somethin'" and "The Blast."

When Kweli returned with his Quality album in 2002, things had changed a bit. For one, he was truly solo. Mos Def was long gone, and Hi-Tek was off focusing on his own solo career as a for-hire producer. So Quality featured Kweli collaborating with a host of different artists, among them a young and promising yet still largely unknown producer named Kanye West. "Get By" was the fruit of Kweli's collaboration with West, and it became the rapper's biggest hit to date, aided quite a bit by a non-album remix featuring Jay-Z of all people. The remix got a lot of radio play, but still, Quality didn't put up Jay-Z numbers and Kweli remained a critical favorite, a reputation cemented all the more in late 2003 when Jigga gave him the aforementioned high-profile shoutout in "Moment of Clarity."

All of this set the stage very well for The Beautiful Struggle, which dropped in fall 2004. The expectations for the album were gargantuan because of the Jay-Z rhyme, and also because a great many hip-hop disciples felt Kweli was long overdue for a commercial breakthrough. The album was undoubtedly his most commercial effort to date, featuring a few token radio-ready hook singers like Mary J. Blige and Anthony Hamilton, not to mention a roster of hitmaking producers like the Neptunes, Just Blaze, and Kanye. It was also Kweli's most self-conscious to date, however, as it was well apparent that the commercial pressures had begun to affect his mindset. He responded by splitting from his distributor, Universal, and lying low for a while, releasing a stopgap mixtape, Right About Now (2005) via Koch.

In anticipation of his next solo album, Kweli collaborated with producer Madlib on the digital-only Liberation, which was made available as a free download during the first week of 2007 on the Stones Throw website. Finally, in August of that same year, Kweli issued the full-length album Eardrum on his own label, Blacksmith, via a partnership with Warner Brothers. Debuting at number two on the Billboard 200 and selling about 60,000 copies in its first week, Eardrum was Kweli's best-selling album to date and features beats from not only Madlib but also Hi-Tek, Kanye West, Pete Rock, and will.i.am, among others, and features guests like Norah Jones, UGK, Justin Timberlake, and Strong Arm Steady. — Jason Birchmeier

Mos Def's Bio From AllMusic.Com
Initially regarded as one of hip-hop's most promising newcomers in the late '90s, Mos Def expanded his reach in the years to come, establishing himself as a serious actor and also making a bid to reshape the rap-rock genre. His artistic career began in the late '80s as a television actor, a profession he began directly out of high school. By the mid-'90s though, Mos Def turned to rap music as his new profession, frustrated by how little acting paid relative to rapping. Based in Brooklyn, he began affiliating himself with the local hip-hop scene, appearing on tracks by such esteemed groups as De La Soul and da Bush Babees. Following these guest appearances and some singles for Royalty (most notably "Universal Magnetic"), Mos Def began recording for the upstart Rawkus label. His first full-length album, Black Star (1998), a collaboration with Talib Kweli and DJ Hi-Tek, shook the hip-hop community, which embraced the album and spoke of a Native Tongue revival. His solo debut, Black On Both Sides (1999), did much the same a year later. For the most part though, Mos Def maintained a low profile in successive years, rediscovering his passion for acting and forming the rap-rock supergroup Black Jack Johnson.

Born in Brooklyn, Mos Def pursued the arts at a young age, excelling as a performer. After high school, he began acting in a variety of television roles, most notably appearing on a short-lived Bill Cosby series in 1994, The Cosby Mysteries. He soon grew frustrated with life as an actor and switched to rapping. Appearances on songs by De La Soul ("Big Brother Beat") and da Bush Babees ("S.O.S.") — both released in 1996 — began Mos Def's rap career with much propulsion. A year later, he released a single of his own for Royalty Records, "Universal Magnetic," and it created quite a stir. Soon he moved to Rawkus Records, which was just getting off the ground at the time, and began working on a full-length album with like-minded rapper Talib Kweli and beat maker DJ Hi-Tek. The resulting album, Black Star (1998), became one of the most discussed rap albums of its time. A year later came Mos Def's solo album, Black On Both Sides, and it inspired further attention and praise.

Rap groups such as De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest, and Brand Nubian — loosely known as the Native Tongue collective — had set a precedent years earlier for socially conscious, thoughtful rap music more likely to celebrate Afrocentricity than gangsta culture. Yet these artists had fallen out of favor by the late '90s as they aged. Mos Def, on the other hand, was young and charismatic, an apparently capable and willing heir. Thus, listeners, critics, and everyone else who had heard Mos Def's work for Rawkus championed him as a sort of savior, a genuine, important MC in an age of flossin' gangstas and angry thugs. And Mos Def certainly fit the role as newly crowned king of the new-school Native Tongue artists such as Common and Kweli. However, for whatever reason — the hype, the pressure, the attention — he shied away from the recording studio after Black On Both Sides and began pursuing other interests.

During the early 2000s, he acted in several films (Monster's Ball, Bamboozled) and even spent some time on Broadway (the Pulitzer Prize-winning Topdog/Underdog). He simultaneously worked on the Black Jack Johnson project with several iconic black musicians: keyboardist Bernie Worrell (Parliament/Funkadelic), guitarist Dr. Know (Bad Brains), drummer Will Calhoun (Living Colour), and bassist Doug Wimbish (the Sugarhill Gang, Grandmaster Flash, Living Colour). This project aimed to reclaim rock music, especially the rap-rock hybrid, from such artists as Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst, who Mos Def openly despised. What made Black Jack Johnson so anticipated though was not so much the supergroup roster of musicians or even Mos Def himself, but rather the lack of black rock bands. Following the demise of Living Colour, there were few, if any, that had attained substantial success. Mos Def hoped to infuse the rock world with his all-black band and during the early 2000s, he performed several small shows with his band around the New York area. In October of 2004, he finally delivered a second solo album (The New Danger), which involved Black Jack Johnson on a few tracks.

Two years later, after a few more acting roles — including the Golden Globe-winning Lackawanna Blues and the Emmy-winning Something the Lord Made, both of which were made-for-television movies — Mos Def released his third solo album, True Magic (2006). A contract-fulfilling release for Geffen, which had absorbed Rawkus years prior, the album trickled out in a small run during the last week of 2006. Bizarrely, the disc came with no artwork and was sold in a clear plastic case — though its single, "Undeniable," did manage to grab a Grammy nomination for Best Rap Solo Performance. The Ecstatic, released on the Universal-distributed Downtown label, followed in June 2009; at that point, Mos Def had significant acting roles in Michel Gondry's Be Kind Rewind (in which he co-starred with Jack Black) and Cadillac Records (he played Chuck Berry). — Jason Birchmeier

Official Sites: Black Star Hub, Facebook, YouTube, Fuckin' Twitter, Talib Kweli, Talib Kweli's MySpace, Talib Kweli's Fuckin' Twitter, Mos Def, Mos Def's MySpace, Mos Def's Facebook, Mos Def's Fuckin' Twitter & Idle Warship's MySpace