In 1998, hip-hop was at a turning point. The genre was going through huge changes: 2Pac and the Notorious B.I.G. had just been murdered (13th September 1996 and 9th March 1997 respectively), the East Coast/West Coast rivalry was at its height, and the hugely commercial “bling bling” rap lead by Puff Daddy was on the rise. However, some refused to succumb to this fate and set out to revive the original hip-hop along with its core values: sharp lyrics, politically engaged punchlines and productions that were centred around groovy, non-pop beats. In New York, open-mic nights such as the Lyricist Lounge brought together young MCs and DJs who walked in the footsteps of golden age rappers, from the likes of Eric B. & Rakim and A Tribe Called Quest to Slick Rick and De La Soul. Among this pool of rebellious wordsmiths, Dante Terrell Smith a.k.a. Mos Def and Talib Kweli Greene stood out from the crowd with their Black Star outfit. Their album Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star was released on the indie label Rawkus on 29th September 1998. On the track Definition, Mos Def reflects on what was happening on the hip-hop scene: “I said, one, two, three. It’s kind of dangerous to be a MC. They shot 2Pac and Biggie. Too much violence in hip-hop, Y-O.” Without being minimalist or sounding cheap, the album re-discovers a certain roughness and uses a wonderful mix of samples from jazz (Cannonball Adderley, Roy Ayers, Gábor Szabó), funk and soul (Bobby Womack, Patrice Rushen, Gil Scott-Heron, Minnie Riperton) and even rap (Boogie Down Production, A Tribe Called Quest, Slick Rick). Most importantly, it never slips into the “it was better before” mind-set, instead going back to the genre’s roots to make something new out of something old. In doing so, they found a formula that has stood the test of time. © Marc Zisman/Qobuz