Released: August 26, 1998

Featuring: Weldon Irvine

Songwriter: Yasiin Bey Talib Kweli

Producer: Da Beatminerz

[Intro: Mos Def & Talib Kweli]
Haha
Against the canvas of the night appears a curious celestial phenomenon, called Black Star, but what is it?
Black people unite and let's all get down
We got to have what? We got to have that love

[Verse 1: Mos Def & Talib Kweli & Both]
What is the Black Star?
Is it the cat with the black shades, the black car?
Is it shinin' from very far, to where you are?
It is commonplace and different
Intimate and distant, fresher than an infant
Black, my family thick like that-strap molasses
Star on the rise, in the eyes of the masses
Black is the color of my true love's hair
Stars are bright, shining, hot balls of air
Black like my baby girl's stare
Black like the veil that the Muslimina wear
Black like the planet that they fear, why they scared?
Black like the slave ship belly that brought us here
Black like the cheeks that are roadways for tears (Mm)
That leave black faces well traveled with years
Black like assassin crosshairs
Blacker than my granddaddy armchair
He never really got no time to chill there
'Cause this life is warfare, warfare
Deep on the front lines, the Blacks is all there
Black like the perception of who on welfare
Black like faces at the bottom of the well
I've been there before
To bring the light and heat it up like la cocina
Make without imagine happen but maybe I'm just a dreamer
I love rocking tracks like John Coltrane love Naima
Like the student love the teacher
Like the prophet love Khadija
Like I love my baby' features
Like the Creator love all creatures
Who are knowledge, truth, and peace seekers
We on point like heatseekers
Targetting the black marketing strategists
Run up on em with the heaters
Everybody followin' with no leaders
Feelin like we killin' ourselves because I know they can't defeat us
It don't stop 'til we complete this, keep this fly
There's so much to life when you just stay Black and die
Blacker than the nighttime sky of Bed-Stuy in July
Blacker than the seed in the blackberry pie
Blacker than the middle of my eye
Black like Fela man cry
Some man wan' ask, "Who am I?"
I simply reply, "The U.N.I.-V.E.R.S.A.L. Magnetic"
Work to respect the angelic (Ugh!)
Climb the mountain top and tell it 'til the valley's enveloped
You're full of big chat but you nah know me
I'm dark like the side of the moon you don't see
When the moon shine newly
You know who else is a Black Star? (Who?) Me

[Hook: Mos Def & Talib Kweli & Both]
You know who else is a Black Star? (Who?) Me
You know who else is a Black Star? (Who?) We
(And we) Be shinin' and shinin', when we rhymin' and rhymin'
We be shinin' and shinin', when we rhymin' and rhymin'
Now everybody hop on the one, the sounds of the two
It's the third eye vision, five side dimension
The 8th Light is gon' shine bright tonight
It's the third eye vision, five side dimension

[Verse 2: Mos Def & Talib Kweli & Both]
You know the light come from the dark
The other way is ass-backwards
It's absurd, make you wanna crow like a blackbird
That's right, you livin' from your first day to your last night
Sometimes you show your ass like lint on your clothes
When you froze in the black light, dead that
Before you get your head wrapped like Badu
We see through your voodoo
Just like Eve's Bayou, you dealin' with that black magic
Try to civilize you, not walk on by you
Like Sybil lies do, get you blacklisted, it'll
Be unlucky for you like a black cat, a panther
Revolution is the answer; that's what we need
Greed plague my people like the cancer; true, indeed

[Hook: Mos Def & Talib Kweli & Both]
Now, Black people unite, and let's all get down
Now everybody hop on the one, the sounds of the two
It's the third-eye vision, five-side dimension
The 8th light is gon' shine bright tonight (Uh, uh, uh)
Everybody hop on the one, the sounds of the two
It's the third-eye vision, five-side dimension
The 8th light is gon' shine bright tonight
It's the third-eye vision, five-side dimension
Equaling up to eight, light shine bright

[Outro: Talib Kweli]
It's the Black [?](3:18) right there!

Black Star

Black Star consists of Yasiin Bey and Talib Kweli and they arose from the underground movement of the late 1990s. They released one self-titled album. Though the record achieved little commercial success, they (and other members of the Native Tongues Posse) helped shape underground alternative rap and helped bring it further into the mainstream eye. Both have gone on to greater commercial and critical success in separate solo careers.

Black Star’s emergence into the hip-hop scene came at a crucial point in music history. Following the deaths of both Biggie Smalls and Tupac Shakur, hip-hop was consumed in a world of chaos. Black Star attempted to bring reconciliation in the wake of these violent deaths.

In a talk with Rap Genius' SameOldShawn, Talib Kweli explains the influence Yasiin Bey had on him as a young hip-hop artist.