Wiki
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Length
3:21
The first of two “definition”-themed songs (peep the remix) on Mos and Kweli’s 1999 classic "Mos Def and Talib Kweli are Black Star".
Flips several songs by Boogie Down Productions. Hi-Tek’s beat is a reworking of “The P is Free”, the hook is an interpolation of “Stop the Violence”, and Mos throws in a line from “The Bridge Is Over”.
This song is Black Star’s take on violence in hip-hop and their dislike of it, this song comes a couple of years after 2Pac and Biggie Smalls were both shot dead.
Producer Hi-Tek said the following about the track:
"I went home to my Cincinnati studio and just did what I felt from it. I think I made the beat on the MPC60. Basically, I just flipped the ‘P Is Free’ beat and put my own thing on it. I gave Mos the beat and he liked it. He flew me and Kweli out to LA— he was out there doing some movie stuff—and found a studio through a good friend of ours. Even when he gave me the idea, I felt like it was too simple for me. At the time, I felt like I had something to prove to separate myself from a lot of other East Coast producers. I always try to do something different."
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