On July 31st, Nas and Black Star, the renowned hip-hop duo composed of Yasiin Bey (formerly Mos Def) and Talib Kweli, will join forces for a performance at Red Rocks Amphitheatre, the iconic outdoor venue in Morrison, Colorado. With three legendary MCs heading the bill, the newly announced Red Rocks show marks one of the best hip-hop lineups in Colorado this summer. In addition to Nas and Black Star, the bill will be rounded out by Pusha T, Brother Ali, and Colorado’s own ReMINDers.
Both Nas and Black Star are two iconic New York hip-hop acts. Nas (also known as Nasir Jones) first came to prominence with his critically acclaimed 1994 debut album, Illmatic. In the time since, Nas has been active, increasingly getting involved in film and television projects while sporadically releasing albums—his last album was 2012’s Life Is Good, though fans have been eagerly awaiting a new record following his standout track, “Nas Album Done”, on DJ Khaled’s 2016 Mayor Key.
Black Star formed in 1997, with the duo only releasing one joint album together, Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star, in 1998, before the two split ways to pursue successful solo careers of their own. In February, Yasiin Bey announced that Black Star was working on a follow-up to their lone studio album during a Madlib late-night set in Denver, declaring “New Black Star with Madlib, Talib Kweli, Yasiin, coming soon!”
However, in the weeks since, Kweli has addressed these claims, telling HipHopDX, “It looks like it might happen. … I found out on the internet the same way y’all did. We’ve been talking about doing an album with Madlib for years. That’s been an idea we’ve had for so long.” He continued, “He went to a Madlib show and he got hype. It’s not like we discussed it and said, ‘Ok, we’re going to announce it.’ I got off the plane, I landed and was like, ‘Oh ok.’ It’s an idea we have been discussing for a long time, now we just gotta make it happen.”
Regardless of the status of the new albums from Nas or Black Star, this show will be one for the books. You can snag tickets for the July 31st performance here, when they go on sale to the public tomorrow, April 13th, at 10 a.m. (MST).
