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It’s no secret of the immense respect that Questlove has (and many of us have) of the late J Dilla, but it was J Dilla’s immense respect for Pete Rock that caused him to nearly destroy a beat that Questlove thought was the most amazing and intricate piece of sampling in hip-hop he’s ever heard. That beat, which J Dilla created on a lark trying to emulate his hero Pete Rock, using a Roy Ayers sample that Pete had used before, would end up mistakenly on a beat tape that Mos Def and Talib Kweli received and consequently turn into “Little Brother”, which appeared on the sountrack of a Denzel Washington flick, The Hurricane. Now that Black Star did Fallon Tuesday night, and performed “Little Brother” no less, Quest tells the story of what makes the “Little Brother” beat so special. The actual performance from that night is after the jump.

UPDATE: The Roy Ayres Project gives its own take on the sample, including the original Roy Ayres song, the studio recording of “Little Brother”, an a bit more background from the perspective of an Ayres enthusiast.

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Mos Def (Yaasin Bey) and Talib Kweli are Black Star, and they took to the stage last week at San Francisco’s Mezzanine for two dates—the second one added after the first sold out in hours. The two prolific artists who personified 90′s independent hip-hop proved once again that they are still at the top of their game and the classic tracks from their debut album, released 13 years ago, are far from forgotten. read more »

Talib Kweli took time to talk to MTV Hive about a myriad of topics, none the least is that he and Yasiin “Mos Def” Bey has been recording quite a few tracks and will be releasing something, either an album, an EP, or something else that “people can buy” in 2012. He also talks about Spotify, and his decision to debut his Idle Warship project on Spotify first and how that is going for him and Blacksmith Records. Kweli also made it a point to call out major mainstream music publications, in general and specifically Spin and Rolling Stone, about a bias they have against politically outspoken rappers like himself.

And as a politically outspoken emcee, he shares his politically-minded thoughts on Herman Cain, how he feels about Obama (spoiler: the exact same as he did in ’08), Occupy Wall Street, and Ron Paul, who seems to be everybody’s favorite thinking Republican, even if that’s not saying much.

(And don’t forget: Black Star is playing at the Mezzanine in San Francisco on November 15 and 16. Tickets are sold out for the 15 but are still available for the 16th.)

Read more: MTV Hive

News that Black Star cancelled their tour dates with Live Nation must have been disappointing to many, but we know for sure that Talib Kweli and, most definitely, Yasiin Bey are not done touring yet. Fresh from debuting their new single on the Colbert Report, Black Star will be back on the road next month and have scheduled two west coast appearances: Seattle at the Showbox SoDo on November 5 (tickets on sale now at Ticketmaster) and San Francisco at the Mezzanine, November 15 (tickets will be available via Ticketmaster this Friday, October 14). read more »

Mos Def and Talib Kweli’s newest collaboration was debuted on Colbert Report last Wednesday night. What’s more, the track, “Fix Up”, is their first track in a very long time recorded under the Black Star name. Before the performance, they also chatted with Stephen Colbert, touching on why Mos would want to change his name to Yasiin Bey. And for Colbert’s website, they performed “Astronomy (8th Light)” for the webcams. The interview and bonus track is on after the jump. read more »

Rock The Bells, the hip-hop superfestival that has also become a Bay Area fixture every summer since 2005, just concluded west coast run last weekend with a show at the Shoreline Ampitheatre in Mountain View, Calfornia. We’ll have backstage interviews and other exclusive materials from the show later, but for now, take a look at the photos that Madelynn and Amari Kenoly took for us in the crowds and press pits.

Guerilla Union has announced this year’s Rock the Bells Festival lineup, which will tour with stops in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, and Boston. As with last year’s event, Rock the Bells is going classic, bringing in some of the biggest hip-hop artists around to perform their most memorable material. This year’s headliners are no strangers to the now-classic summertime hip-hop festival, as Ms. Lauryn Hill, performing songs from Miseducation, and Nas, performing from Illmatic, set to grace the same stage. Joining them on the classics tip are Cypress Hill, Mos Def and Talib Kweli as Black Star, half of the Wu-Tang (GZA, RZA as host, Ghost and Rae, and Masta Killah), Erykah Badu, Mobb Deep (along with Big Noyd), Immortal Technique, Black Moon, Souls of Mischief, Evidence of Dilated Peoples, and Slaughterhouse, the supergroup of Joe Budden, Royce the 5’9″, Joell Ortiz and Crooked I. For the cool kids, there’s Mac Miller, Blu, Exile and Fashawn, Childish Gambino (aka, Donald Glover of TV’s Community), Random Axe, Macklemore, Big KRIT, Freddie Gibbs and Roc Marciano, all there on support.

For more, check out rockthebells.net. The flyer is after the jump. read more »

MOS DEF PERFORMS NEW SONG “WORLD PREMEIRE” LIVE ON FUEL TV

DAVE CHAPPELLE & BLACK STAR

(Mos Def & Talib Kweli) Scheduled to perform Friday Sept 3rd

at the new Parish in Oakland! 1st show sold out in 3 hours.. 2nd show added!

more info

With DJ MR E.

Friday Sept 3rd

Early Show Doors 8pm / Show 9pm

Late Show Doors  11:30pm / Show 12am

HIP-HOP.COM SPECIAL EVENT!
Mos Def & Talib Kweli reunite as The Legendary BLACK STAR for a SPECIAL SHOW Tonight at the historic FOX Theater in OAKLAND CA
plus performing Bay area’s Zion I & DJ Mr.E on the 1′s & 2′s

FOR MORE INFO & TICKETS
SATURDAY JULY 31st
FOX THEATER OAKLAND

ALL AGES

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HIP-HOP.COM, GARDEN GROWN, ANOTHER PLANET & ANKH MARKETING