Together, yasiin bey and Talib Kweli are known as Black Star - the seminal hip-hop duo from New York City who changed music forever in 1998 with their self-titled album Mos Def and Talib Kweli are Black Star. yasiin bey and Talib Kweli first united to form what they penned “the best alliance in hip-hop,”. Mos Def and Talib Kweli are Black Star – which quickly became one of the genre’s most revered works and launched both already-rising stars into the MC stratosphere. Luminary, the leading subscription-based podcast and audio entertainment platform, has released Black Star’s highly-anticipated album No Fear of Time – their first in nearly 24 years – exclusively on the Luminary platform. Black Star fans can access the album by subscribing to Luminary, which will be the exclusive home to No Fear of Time beginning today. In addition to No Fear of Time, which is produced by Madlib, Luminary is the home for bey and Kweli’s other audio projects, including their groundbreaking Luminary Original show with Dave Chappelle, The Midnight Miracle, as well as Luminary/UPROXX Original People’s Party with Talib Kweli.

Born in Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood, yasiin bey is a multidisciplinary artist. He has been making hip-hop music since 1994, and first gained national attention in 1998 with the release of Mos Def and Talib Kweli are Black Star, with Talib Kweli, and his subsequent solo album, Black on Both Sides, in 1999. Throughout his career, bey has balanced music with acting, appearing in films such as The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (2005), 16 Blocks (2006), Be Kind Rewind (2008), and Bamboozled (2000), among others.  

The Brooklyn-based MC earned his stripes as one of the most lyrically-gifted, socially aware and politically insightful rappers to emerge in the last 20 years. “I’m a touring artist. I’m an artist that’s internationally known. I’m not just a local artist at this point in my career. I’m cognizant of the fact that what I do is beyond where it started. I’m trying to reach the apex of where I am now, but without turning my back on or dismissing what I’ve done before.” After nearly 20 years of releasing mesmerizing music, Talib Kweli stands as one of the world’s most talented and most accomplished Hip Hop artists. Whether working with yasiin bey as one-half of Black Star, partnering with producer Hi-Tek for Reflection Eternal, releasing landmark solo material or collaborating with Kanye West, Pharrell Williams, Just Blaze, J Dilla, or Madlib, Kweli commands attention by delivering top-tier lyricism, crafting captivating stories and showing the ability to rhyme over virtually any type of instrumental. In 2011, Kweli founded Javotti Media, which is self-defined as “a platform for independent thinkers and doers.” Kweli has set out to make Javotti Media (which released his 2011 album, Gutter Rainbows, and is named after his paternal grandmother) into a media powerhouse that releases music, films and books.