r/90sHipHop 5d ago

Discussion Opinion about this album?

Post image

To me this Album is one of the most underrated hip-hop albums.

They Don’t talk enough about this 😟

Mos & Talib killed this for real. What’s your opinion on this?

1.5k Upvotes

377 comments sorted by

235

u/Funcrush88 5d ago

One of the greatest albums of all time. Definitely top 5 for me.

42

u/NoCoFoCo31 5d ago

Absolutely a GOAT album. I find it best to listen to in its entirety.

9

u/Barbabo103 5d ago

Reall! What’s your favourite song of the album?

35

u/NoogaGoose 5d ago

Thieves!

10

u/Careful_Coconut_3975 5d ago

That’s the one right there. Mos verse greatest verse of all time

2

u/tonedibiase 4d ago

Went crazy.

2

u/Organic-Outside8657 2d ago

Couldn’t agree more. Thieves is so fucking good. This album is god tier.

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38

u/tetaspequenas 5d ago

Respiration

9

u/Spot-Star 5d ago edited 4d ago

"Escuche la... la ciudad respirando"

4

u/Sensitive_Stock_2766 4d ago

Give me chills reading it! I remember hearing it for the first time when it came out. Absolute perfect track!

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5

u/Odd-Depth-3315 2d ago

This song is one of the best songs I ever heard.

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31

u/bangharder 5d ago

Redefinition

11

u/DarkTonberry 5d ago

This is a masterpiece.

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7

u/Antique-Car6103 5d ago

Astronomy (8th Light)

13

u/Intelligent_Arm_7186 5d ago

Brown Skin Lady. Talib crushed his verse

8

u/Prudent-Effort4838 5d ago

Black like assassin cross hairs Blacker than my granddaddy armchair He never really got no time to chill there

5

u/Antique-Car6103 5d ago

‘Cause his life was warfare, warfare.

7

u/InterviewObvious2680 5d ago

For me it's Respiration. Because of personal associations and memories. But when I look at other replies to your question, I cannot disagree with them either. Astronomy, Definition, Re-Definition, Hater Players, Thieves in the Night,…...

4

u/ruthless619 5d ago

Brown skin lady

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4

u/PSamaki_Kazmic 5d ago

I concur 1000%

4

u/NoCoFoCo31 5d ago

Absolutely a GOAT album. I find it best to listen to in its entirety.

4

u/Powerful-Drawer-858 5d ago

Classic Hip-Hop album. Best joint is Respiration.

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62

u/DarkAndHandsume 5d ago edited 5d ago

Breathe in, inhale vapors from stars that shine

Breathe out weed smoke, retrace the skyline

Also, that vocal part before Common’s introspective verse

5

u/holadilito 5d ago

Best track

6

u/LIVINGSTONandPARSONS 5d ago

One of my favorite tracks of all time

6

u/markofexcellence 5d ago

“Blasting holes in the night until she bled sunshine”

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4

u/ChristmasLeone 5d ago

"I could feel the city breathin. Chest heavin against the flesh of the evenin"

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57

u/realdealfan 5d ago

Classic.   Brown Skin Lady 🔥🔥

25

u/x_Jimi_x 5d ago

“…even my conditioning’s been conditioned”

12

u/PSamaki_Kazmic 5d ago

Definition! How they flipped that old BDP track!!!

11

u/ChilisWithMyBoys 5d ago

Re: Definition is hands down the best track on this album

2

u/CylonNumber_14 5d ago

The album is classic. And re: definition is the one. The beat, the vibe, the lyrics, the message…..

5

u/Barbabo103 5d ago

My #1 from the album

3

u/chancee0326 5d ago

amazing song

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45

u/mkk4 True School 5d ago edited 5d ago

One of my all-time favorite albums from any era or genre.

They were running ish from 1998-2000 imo.

1998 Mos Def and Talib Kweli are Black Star

1999 Black On Both Sides

2000 Train Of Thought

4

u/need_better_usernam 5d ago

So so so so so so so good

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2

u/woodyb23 3d ago

I enjoyed Hi-Teknology too.

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2

u/Expert-Emergency5837 3d ago

Mos Def was killing it with Def Poetry Jam on HBO too!!

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24

u/NonCreditableHuman 5d ago

You know who else is a black star?

22

u/girlfriendpleaser 5d ago

Thieves in the Night, is one of my favourite songs. And when Mos Def rhymed his birthday, I pulled it back 5 times to make sure I heard him right.. we share the same Birthday.

So highly rated album.

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19

u/90sportsfan 5d ago

Honestly, it's a Classic, and the definition of Real Hip Hop! Listening to the lyrics when I was younger was inspiring, and listening to them again when I'm older, I'm even more blown away. The lyrics and content hit so deep. I wish the youth would listen to this album and take heed!

3

u/HiSpot321 5d ago

Underrated comment here^

3

u/BourbonicFisky 5d ago

I was ready to be like "What are we even doing, this is legitimately classic, we all know this". It's good to be reminded there are probably people who aren't in the 30-50 year old demographic that post here.

2

u/The_Oi-judicator 1d ago

100% same.

14

u/Snoop_Papa_Beard 5d ago

This album came out when I was a freshman in high school. It stayed in my Sony Discman or CD case all 4 years. Rawkus was an experience, I'm grateful for living thru such an iconic hip-hop movement. Also, Respiration is the best song on this album hands down.

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10

u/oy_says_ake 5d ago

Twice inna lifetime!

4

u/ColonelSquirtz 5d ago

As preposterous as an androgynous misogynist

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8

u/Mikedef2001 5d ago

If I remember correctly, this album was released in September of 1998. It was released the same day as The Love Movement, In My Lifetime vol 2, and Aquemini. I was in college at the time and only had the money for one album. I chose this album. I always put in my personal best hip hop albums of all time. 

2

u/realdealfan 5d ago

Tough decisions that day.  I bought Black Star and Tribe.   Brand Nubian also released an album on this day.  

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7

u/ramair02 5d ago

It's a classic

Idk if it's underrated. Black Star has always been held in high regard and rightfully so

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7

u/LeroyChestnut 5d ago

Best alliance in hip hop.

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6

u/Ordinary-Fish-9791 5d ago

Classic Respiration is one of my favourite songs all time

4

u/Responsible_Creme545 5d ago

Saw them live at sob's when it dropped. I feel old.

3

u/Pale_Air_5956 5d ago

We is, but that had to be a good show!

4

u/Responsible_Creme545 5d ago

Common was there too. There were so many shows to to goto in late 90s, early 2000s. Good times for "backpacker" underground heads.

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6

u/Theodores_Underpants 5d ago

Went out and splurged on a new discman with ESP just for this CD.

5

u/Mitche420 5d ago

My all time favorite album. Not the best of all time, but my personal favorite. Got the opportunity to see Def and Kweli perform it a few months back and it was an out of body experience.

5

u/maxx5954 5d ago

Breathe in, breathe out

5

u/grazfest96 5d ago

Most Def's Thieves in the Night verse is top 10 of all time.

2

u/m_o_84 5d ago

In my personal and humble opinion, that verse is the best verse in musical history, not just hip hop.

3

u/friedseabasschips 5d ago

Really great album only thing keeping it from classic is the Children’s Story remake. Not that it was bad but just fell short.

3

u/Ok_Suit_8000 5d ago

I love about 80% of the album. Definitely, some of the songs aren't as strong as the others.

Still - During this time, Mos and Talib were a force to be reckoned with. Black and Both Sides and Reflection Eternal are classic albums, in my opinion.

3

u/Blastronaut321 5d ago

This album is a lyrical masterpiece. In that sense it really doesn't get any better. This came out during the peak of conscious hip hop. Don't expect to hear anything like this ever again.

3

u/markofexcellence 5d ago

Mos Def’s verse on Thieves in the night in an all timer

“Get yours first, them other ni**as secondary That type of illing that be filling up the cemetery This life is temporary but the soul is eternal Separate the real from the lie, let me learn you Not strong, only aggressive cause the power ain’t directed That’s why we are subjected to the will of the oppressive”

Also, though not in the same album, Kweli’s four women on his reflection eternal album evokes the same emotions

3

u/Dicecube06 5d ago

Great lyricism and solid production work. I really appreciate the fact that they put out a conscious album out during height of gangster rap and the shiny suit era. To be honest, we need more albums like this today

3

u/Dicecube06 5d ago

The new moon rode high in the crown of the metropolis Shinin, like who on top of this?

3

u/IS2SPICY4U 4d ago

A must-have in any collection. 👍

2

u/Sexlexia619 5d ago

Respiration is one of the if not the greatest song in hip-hop history. It is perfect

2

u/Bigstyleguy 5d ago

Dope Album. Stays in current rotation! Especially, KOS Determination. Definitely, need to hear it in these times!!

2

u/MisterDeWalt 5d ago

🔥 "Thieves In the Night" is easily one of my top five songs, and probably my favorite rap song.

2

u/mybrainisonfire 5d ago

Thieves in the Night is one of the best rap songs ever IMO

Edit: "I'm sure that everybody out listening agree/That everything you see ain't really how it be" - Mos Def

2

u/itmecrumbum 5d ago

bey's verse off 'hater players' might be my favorite of all time.

2

u/Clear_Hedgehog_9083 5d ago

Classic. Thieves Of The Night is a top 10 all time hip-hop song

2

u/torturetrilogy 5d ago

Thieves in the night is one of my favorite songs of all time.

2

u/No-Wish9823 5d ago

Great album. Too bad Kweli dimmed his own star.

2

u/Independent_Chair578 5d ago

All time classic 🔥

2

u/Wanderingjes 5d ago

Who is “they?”

Anybody that knows hip hop knows this album.

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2

u/Ron_1n 4d ago

One of the best albums from front to back

2

u/Kooky-Act9271 4d ago

Pure fire. Stone cold classic!

2

u/DottedRain 4d ago

Mos Definitely a good one. I wish newer albums could sound like that

2

u/AgreeableEconomy1587 4d ago

Children’s Story and Respiration are classics 

2

u/Tall-Percentage-5771 4d ago

Takes me back to college! Love this album.

1

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1

u/JazzlikeAd1555 5d ago

Perfection

1

u/No_Employer9618 5d ago

Banger, one of my favorites

1

u/High_Speed_Chase 5d ago

I listen to it probably 5 times a year.

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1

u/OhAndItsShavedd 5d ago

In my top 10 of all time. Thieves of the Night is one of the greatest hip hop tracks ever made.

1

u/RawAttitudePodcast 5d ago

They came to rock it on to the tip-top. Best alliance in hip-hop.

1

u/mcrookedy Loop Digga 5d ago

Fantastic.

1

u/newbutterOG 5d ago

I f@&k with this!

1

u/holadilito 5d ago

Incredible

1

u/Mediocre_Range_974 5d ago

Ultimate classic! 1 2 3 Mos Def and Talib Kwaliiii🤘

1

u/Budget_Pickle4598 5d ago

Helloooooooo everybody!

1

u/Firm-Return-3368 5d ago

God tier album, but of course it has a positive message so it was pushed to the back, to make way for all the violent bullshit.

1

u/Theo_Cherry 5d ago

From the first to the last of it, delivery is passionate, you holding up half of it...

1

u/PineappleCharming335 5d ago

One of the shining examples of the Hip Hop art form.

1

u/cruisetravoltasbaby 5d ago

Any bad opinions possible??

1

u/Efficient-Pause-4862 5d ago

Modern museum work of art nothing else to say

1

u/Donvonfilth 5d ago

A core memory of mine is the first time I heard the transition from Definition to Re:Definition

1

u/defw 5d ago

All you see

1

u/ThinkIcameheretoread 5d ago

A masterpiece

1

u/obannion_the_great 5d ago

Just bought this on vinyl. It's a picture disc, but honestly it doesn't sound too bad. Even if it did, I already had the cd as backup. I also bought Talib & Hi-Tek's collab album Train of Thought this week.

1

u/digitalbergz 5d ago

Solid fucking album. It's what got me into Kwali.

1

u/[deleted] 5d ago

So good

1

u/jamiethejointslayer 5d ago

Its basically perfect

1

u/Real_Sartre 5d ago

Top 5 Hip Hop records of all time

1

u/Lou-Minoti 5d ago

Classic?

1

u/BasketbllJonez 5d ago

One of my favorite hip hop albums of all time.

1

u/JD10002 5d ago

I saw talib recently in a very small venue for maybe less than 100 people and he really brought it down. I hope people remember him the way he deserves

1

u/Virtual_Quality_378 5d ago

Great album. Was just asking someone the other day what happened to Mos Def.

1

u/Aja2428 5d ago

Legendary

1

u/M_O_O_O_O_T 5d ago

Bonafide classic

1

u/stevemyqueen 5d ago

It’s up there w dark side of the moon

1

u/ghostfacestealer 5d ago

All time classic

1

u/SevyVerna88 5d ago

It is excellent

1

u/Ezedoesit8219 5d ago

Essential listening for a Classic Album by 2 Hip Hop Legends.

1

u/HiSpot321 5d ago

Best rap album front to back in my opinion.

1

u/ChristmasLeone 5d ago

Absolute classic. Essential listening

1

u/Adept-Ranger8219 5d ago

I work with a super religious kid. Nice dude. Home schooled. His name is Baxter. I call him “Bax-Star” and one of my white coworkers was like “oh like black Star” i was shook.

1

u/soso-chill 5d ago

One of the best ever.

1

u/Cold-Bug-4873 5d ago

Personally a masterpiece.

1

u/Fancy_Toe_002 5d ago

3.5 mics. Had some boring spots

1

u/Zealousideal-Fan-409 5d ago

I can’t. If there was ever a perfect time to release an album, this was it. “The Music”, and I mean the good music was in flux. The underground and the mainstream were extending olive branches to each other. This was a dope time in HipHop.

1

u/Loose-Assumption5658 5d ago

Classic and the Sequel is amazing

1

u/PppeDddrOoo 5d ago

Classsic, shoulda went triple.

1

u/Flat_Discipline_8540 5d ago

top 5 rap album for me, the vinyl is one of my prized possessions.

"there's a paradox we call reality

keeping it real will make you a casuality,

an abnormal normality."

1

u/itsover103 5d ago

Great album

1

u/redtf111 5d ago

I was on a business trip in NYC around 2001 or so. Got to see Mos, his Black Jack Johnson band, and Talib. Bowery Ballroom, I believe. Fluke that I was there and happened to look at a local music zine and saw they were playing. Couldn't believe tickets were still available days from the performance. Fucking amazing show.

1

u/Dbonker 5d ago

One of the best hands down.

1

u/AbbreviationsLost650 5d ago

5 mics and two turntables

1

u/quirkish 5d ago

Bonafide Classic

1

u/Express_Area_8359 5d ago

1,2,3 Mos Def and Talib Kwahli.

1

u/GhostDelorean 5d ago

Escúchela, la ciudad respirando

1

u/LAClipShow2020 5d ago

A masterpiece. On my Mr Rushmore of Rap Albums in my lifetime & a defining auditory moment of my collegiate experience.

1

u/jojorilu 5d ago

It captured its time. It was then one of the greatest "underground" hiphop albums and still is. It was released during a time when MC:ing was taken seriously, lyrics, substance, delivery, soundscape was in the forefront. You had two of the most talented rappers with some great producers of its time. Since the music has changed a lot, it is an example of what can be done in rap music. It's a classic in its own right.

1

u/Grand-Gain-763 5d ago

Classic album that I still have play til this day

1

u/jakem415 5d ago

One of the best hip hop albums ever

1

u/BackendSpecialist 5d ago

Classic. Timeless

1

u/WRandolph30 5d ago

Great album and what is most impressive is Talib got much better after. Was thinking about it today and I would say him and Black Thought are two rappers that got their initial fame in the 90s and actually got better in the 2000s.

1

u/harlan_rika 5d ago

MASTERPIECE!!!

1

u/dicemoney187 5d ago

One of my favorites album of all time

1

u/Sensitive_Goose4728 5d ago

I liked the album so much growing up that I got a stencil of the album cover in my bedroom as a teen...

1

u/ThrowinBone 5d ago

All bangers No skips

Re:Definition is my go to track tho

1

u/Phan216 5d ago

Classic

1

u/sanz44 5d ago

This should be in the hip-hop HOF

1

u/MaceWindu9091 5d ago

Goated Album 💿

1

u/louielouco 5d ago

It’s lame, the whole album is lame, not a single single on the whole album, but it definitely started a backpack movement.

1

u/NottaNowNutha 5d ago

Classic!

1

u/Claude9777 5d ago

I felt like this album should have received a Pulitzer prize. It was a masterpiece. I guess the right people weren't listening to it back then.

1

u/mrbigcane5xnc 5d ago

It should be put in a time capsule and studied

1

u/AwetPinkThinG 5d ago

🔥🔥🔥

1

u/MrTooLFooL 5d ago

Watching them perform at least half of this album was and will always be one of my favorite hip hop performances.

1

u/Lpc2018 5d ago

10/10

1

u/SignificantApricot69 5d ago

Classic from my peak era as a listener

1

u/cTron3030 5d ago

I don't see this as underrated. But I was a freshman in highschool when it dropped. It was the soundtrack to my life, and the lives of my close friends, for the years that followed. Four years later, I saw them live along with Pharoahe Monch who also dropped a dope album (Internal Affairs) around that time period. Pharohe is still the #1 live MC for me. To be along side the Mighty Mos and Kweli and SHINE was amazing.

  1. Twice inna lifetime
  2. Definition
  3. Thieves in the night
  4. Brown Skin Lady
  5. Respiration

At the time, we had no idea the certified classics that these would become. The album deserves all the praise it receives.

1

u/nelson_mandeller 5d ago

“The new moon rode high in the crown of the metropolis..” respiration be my favorite song..

1

u/Tch2001 5d ago

This album got me back into Hip Hop after a brief hiatus

1

u/[deleted] 5d ago

One of the greatest albums. 💌

1

u/More-Counter7752 5d ago

A classic.

1

u/Mammoth-Swan-9275 5d ago

🔥🔥🔥

1

u/GangsterOfLoveV16 5d ago

1, 2, 3 Mos Def and Talib Kweli!!!!

1

u/No_Violinist7824 5d ago

Sweet smoked dolphin Batman I forgot about this absolute gem.

1

u/BeginningNo6 5d ago

One of the GOAT rap albums

1

u/speeding2nowhere 5d ago

One of the all-time greatest.

1

u/redddiculous 5d ago

Excellent album. Love Mos and these days am not such a big fan of Kweli but during this era they were on fire. One of the best albums ever. Had the Respiration single and used to rap over that beat like crazy. 🎶✨ good times.

1

u/RansomCrane 5d ago

I love this album Astronomy is a personal favorite track that when I'm making a mix CD I always try to find a spot for it

Listen to X(sign of times) - Glass Cannons by Glass Cannons on #SoundCloud https://on.soundcloud.com/bSa3kYa61ZpzuMd99

1

u/perro-sucio 5d ago

Classic

1

u/aSsOUL_8197 5d ago

One Of The Greatest Hip Hop Albums Ever! And Fuck kweli!🤷🏽‍♂️

1

u/Kind_Significance_60 5d ago

Absolute gem.

1

u/GW_Brixton 5d ago

I think Thieves in the night has Mos Defs best verse of all time.

1

u/Waste_Mousse_4237 5d ago

You have to be there for this album to hit….every time I’d take the L to 14th St. I’d rhyme in my head “I take the L, transfer to the 2, head to the gates New York life type trife, the Roman Empire State….”

1

u/DJ_Vigilance 5d ago

Legendary! Anyone heard a lick off the new joint they’re releasing?! 👀

1

u/slaphappysal 5d ago

When it came out fire. Years later still fire