Yeah, we livin' in the era of ringtone rap.
But a few days ago, we here at Crossfade got word that the Rock the Bells Festival Series will be bringing Ghostface Killah, Raekwon, and Mobb Deep to Miami Beach. So we started getting all nostalgic about that "Golden Age of hip-hop when rappers only carried pagers."
We also, however, lamented the fact that the 305 wasn't getting the "fest's full thrust" (three acts instead of 30), hoping next year would bring the big load.
Well, it ain't even 2012 yet. But Rock the Bells seems to have gotten our page 'cause the tour just announced that it'll also be bringing Black Star (AKA Mos Def and Talib Kweli) to the Fillmore Miami Beach September 27.
Formed in late-'90s Brooklyn, Def and Kweli's Black Star collabo project never really took off. The pair only recorded one full-length album, Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star. But while they didn't sell slabs, they reshaped minds, tossing off lyrically dense rap theses, converting both underground and street-level heads, and helping to set the right psychic climate for the mainstream success of their own solo careers as well as introspective hip-hoppers like Common and, arguably, even Kanye.
So yeah -- thoughtful, poetic, and cerebral -- Black Star is all these things. But don't expect a quiet night. These MCs will drop a beat, mangle a mike, and Rock the Bells.
Black Star's Mos Def and Talib Kweli as part of the Rock the Bells Festival Series, co-presented by Guerilla Union. Tuesday, September 27. Fillmore Miami Beach, 1700 Washington Ave., Miami Beach. The show starts at 8 p.m. and tickets go on sale Friday, July 22 at 10 a.m. via livenation.com. Call 305-673-7300 or visit fillmoremb.com.
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