January 8, 2003
SOB's - 204 Varick St. New York, NY

Nkiru Benefit featuring Blackstar

Mos Def and Talib Kweli ARE Blackstar, don't get it twisted. Even though
these two have taken some time off to work on their solo projects, they're at
their best when on the stage together. The cause this time was to raise money
for the Nkiru Book Store and Cultural Center (www.nkirucenter.org)

Opening up for Blackstar was DJ Jahi Sundance. Jahi who just returned from
touring with Me'shell Ndegeocello, kept the crowd energized with his electic
mixes. His ability to make good music flow was evident from when I walked in
the door. He went from Dead Prez's "Turn Off The Radio", to Dead Prrez's "Hip Hop",
into Outkast's "B.O.B.", and then the Ghostown DJ's "My Boo" flawlessly while
keeping the crowd with him. He then continued to bless the crowd with a set
of classics including Nice and Smooth, EPMD, Boogie Down Productions, Black
Moon, and Poor Righetous Teachers. This provided for a smooth segue into the
featured act, Blackstar.

Wasting little time, Mos Def and Talib Kweli alongside DJ Chops came out and
ripped a new track over Nas' "Made You Look". The freshness of some new
material, in addition to seeing the two of them on stage together again had
the crowd captivated for the rest of the night. Giving us a 90 minute set,
they went through Blackstar classic such as: "Astronomy (8th Light)",
"Definition", "Brown Skin Lady", "K.O.S. (Determination)", "Respiration"
and "Twice Inna Lifetime". Unlike many groups who only do snippets of their
older music, they did the full versions of each song with the strength
exhibited when the album was first released.

Dispersed in between tracks from the Blackstar album, were performances of
tracks off of Kweli's latest release, Quality. Kweli performed, "Get By",
"Waitin For The DJ", the Kayne West produced "Good To You" and "Joy" which features
the Mighty Mos Def. Kweli also gave us "The Blast" and "Move Something" from his
previous release, Reflection Eternal.

We can't forget Mos Def, as he performed both version's of "Brown Sugar". The
crowd was not feeling the video version of Brown Sugar (the one that has
Faith Evans on the hook), as it was the only song of the night that either of
them had to cut short. Mos also took us back to his Black On Both Side
release, hitting the crowd with "Umi Says" and "Ms. Fat Booty". "Ms. Fat Booty" may
have had the best response of any track performed all night, as the crowd was
not only singing the entire track, but dancing to it as well. He also took
time to bless us with a brand new track which he performed acapella,
Pornographic Content.

A little more than halfway into the show, a funny thing happened in the
crowd. While Talib Kweli was making a "PSA", someone from the crowd tried to
call Kweli a jerk from the crowd. Kweli singled the guy out, and after having
the crowd vote on it, he made the guy leave the building ... classic! As part
of their public service announcement, Mos Def gave us his take on "beef"
exhibited through a rhyme, calling out that the Nas / Jay-Z , 50 Cent / Ja
Rule dramas aren't "real" beefs, but that unemployment, poverty, etc are the
true beefs that we face. Truer words couldn't have been spoken.

The highlight of the night had to be the performances of "Universal Magnetic"
and "Fortified Live". Mos flipped "Universal Magnetic" by performing it over
"Grindin" by the Clipse and slightly altering the lyrics. "Fortified Live"
brought it back to the foundation of the Blackstar movement, and for that few
minutes during the performance of these songs, we were taken back into the
early stage of what we now know as Mos Def and Talib Kweli.

This was a great night for a hip hop event, as the crowd and the performers
came together to support the Nkiru Cultural center. What we were left with
was a remarkable performance that will leave us hanging on until Blackstar
comes together again for another joint effort.

Review by Nick Diunte
Contributing Writer- PhillyHipHop.com
January 2003