If real MCs are only found underground, then Mos Def and Talib Kweli, a.k.a. Black Star, are representing the real. The Brooklyn duo's debut is not only an eagerly awaited rap album but also a desperately needed one.

For Black Star, hip-hop is, simply, skills, self-awareness and love of their art – not Rolexes, Benzes and the Benjamins. Corny? Maybe. But Black Star would rather be corny than predictable. Take "Brown Skin Lady," a lush ballad dipped in the honeyed soul of yesteryear: Framed by a throbbing drum loop and hypnotic guitar licks, the track is a neat mesh of Public Enemy and the lyrical charms of Bill Withers. "K.O.S. (Determination)," featuring a sugary chorus by songstress Vinia Mojica, has a laid-back, minimalist drumbeat but includes blunt lyrical bytes like, "The young, gifted and black is sprung, addicted to crack"; "So many MCs focusin' on black people's extermination"; and "The most important time in history is now."

Black Star stumble in remaking the Slick Rick classic "Children's Story," a blistering critique of wack rappers that falters here in execution. And while one can certainly groove to "Definition," one is also offended, as a hip-hop purist, that Black Star have lifted the backing track of Boogie Down Productions' "The P Is Free" – particularly since Mos Def and Talib Kweli go to great pains elsewhere to condemn other rappers for doing the same. But those few mishaps aside, Black Star are socially conscious and lyrically sound – with their hearts close to the underground. (RS 798)

KEVIN POWELL