BLACK THOUGHT

Black Thought Is Ready To Go Deep On His Life, The Roots, And Late Night

by
Getty/Ralph Ordaz

There’s a kind of intimacy that comes from hearing someone recount the odyssey of their life. Subtle sways in tone that give away the emotion behind a certain beat in the story. 7 Years (which you can hear on Audible), by Tariq Trotter, aka Black Thought, delivers on that promise as we learn about the hip-hop icon’s childhood, the emergence of The Roots, and his many influences — both in music and life. But it’s not an obvious choice for anyone to be this open and introspective.

In this expansive interview, we spoke with Trotter about opening up, his guiding philosophy about control and flexibility, anxiety about joining forces with Jimmy Fallon, his influences, and not forcing music history onto a younger audience.

What’s the motivation behind going deep and telling your story like this? Is it a want to be more deeply understood or is it more about doing a personal excavation?

I think it was initially about being more deeply understood, but as you embark on that sort of project, different layers sort of reveal themselves during the process. So there’s definitely a certain degree of self-discovery that takes place, which is the beautiful part. For someone like me who hasn’t been as accessible as I am in this moment in time… I’ve shared personal stuff about my past and my family in Philadelphia and The Roots early on in our career and stuff like that, but I’ve never gotten too deep into any of it. So there’s something to be said about just sort of getting things off your chest and off your shoulders and just being able to lift some of those weights and to be more transparent. I was able to be vulnerable, on the 7 Years project, in ways that I’ve yet to in my music.

Why do you think you haven’t been as open in the past?

I’m a guarded person by nature, and I’m sure some of it has something to do with the time and place from which I come, but, you know, it’s a habit. I feel like it served me, it served me fine throughout my career to not necessarily be in the forefront, to not necessarily share that much information about my personal life. That’s the way that I’ve moved, so it was a decision that I made earlier on. [But] I feel like, at this point in my career, it’s sort of the final frontier. If you asked someone who’s a long-time fan and who has supported us over the years, what they’d like or what would be ideal for them in a project… which I’ve done, and people tell me, “I would just like to know more about you. About the person.” So, it’s a delicate balance because I am still very private, but yeah, I feel like this is sort of the ideal time to open up in that way.

I subscribe to a lot of what you were saying about the need to be flexible and kind of realizing our smallness against the forces of nature, the wind, as you use as a metaphor or the waves. When did you kind of land on that as sort of a bedrock principle with the need for reinvention every seven years and that need to be flexible?

I don’t even know that I had it when I was coming up, as much as it was something that dawned on me as an adult. I would say, in recent years, it’s something that I came to understand. Before then, it’s something that I always felt but never really could put my finger on why I felt that way. I wasn’t able to make sense of it until more recently, I would say.

We all have this healthy ego and we see ourselves as this indestructible force, but to have that ability to step aside and realize that we’re not and we need to kind of just try to hang on to as much as we can while surviving is really fascinating to me.

I agree. You know, when you think of things like the overview effect, and how that affects astronauts who leave Earth’s atmosphere and go out into space, it can be overwhelming for some. It depends on sort of how you’re prepared for it mentally. It could be overwhelming or it could be… It’s definitely life-changing, from what I understand, but it could be just this huge, more of a revelation when you sort of come to understand… not only the role that we play here on the planet but just how small of a cog the planet Earth is in the machine that is the universe. I feel like there are parallels in just the level of acceptance that you need to exercise in order to sort of come through, come out on the other side of it, without losing your mind. I think it’s comparable to that.

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It seems clear that you guys were looking at the Fallon job as a clear pivot, but when you went into that situation, did you envision that it would be that much of a commitment and this long-term of a thing?

No. I don’t think we had a complete understanding of how much of a commitment we were getting into, or how long of a run it would be. I feel like so much has happened over the past 12 years. Then I also feel like 12 years has sort of gone by in the blink of an eye. I don’t think we had any clue. We also had no idea how we were going to sort of navigate all our other endeavors and sort of balance that stuff out. Would that sort of be the end of one version of The Roots and the beginning of another? Obviously, yes, on some levels. Would we sort of lose ourselves in the process? That sort of remains unknown. You have to sort of watch it unfold in real-time.

It has been a blessing working on The Tonight Show and just working in the capacity of a comedian and just being in front of an audience every day and being on TV every day has only made us better. I think it’s made us sharper, it’s made us a tighter unit as a collective, just a higher level of artistry and brotherhood and everything that sort of goes with it. I feel like it’s definitely the best decision, but we couldn’t have known at that point in time.

Being more home-based during that time, as opposed to traveling as much — how do you think that’s influenced you? From the albums that you’ve recorded during this time to even this project, because I would guess that you could say that maybe you wouldn’t be as willing to be accessible if you hadn’t had that exposure constantly with Fallon. Is that fair to say?

Yeah. I think that might be fair to say. There’s a certain level of reinvention, reintroduction, like reminder introduction that takes place when you have a long career working in one capacity and then you pivot in the way that we did. I’m constantly trying to sort of … I mean, not that I’m frantic about it, or something that happens on as much on a conscious level as it does on a subconscious level. To a certain extent, I am just trying to balance the identity that people sort of know me as. You know what I mean?

Yes.

There are folks who weren’t familiar with The Roots before we came to NBC, who only know me as Tariq from The Tonight Show. They think I’m funny and they know I’m quick-witted and I can improvise songs on the spot. They don’t really know or understand the journey, or realize that from which The Roots sort of come. Then there are people who were diehard Roots fans from day one, who don’t necessarily know this person. They’ve gotten to know the person that I am or what my identity has become on The Tonight Show. Just like trying to balance that out is something that happens constantly. It’s a continuous thing. So, you just go from one end of the spectrum, and just as soon as you’ve sort of balanced out everything on that end, you need to return to the opposite end to restore balance down there.

Were you worried about that kind of situation when you jumped into this job, the idea of people only knowing you from The Tonight Show, not knowing how deep The Roots music goes? Also, are you surprised at how comfortable you’ve become with the knowledge that “Okay, some people know me for this, some people know me for that”? Where was your headspace then versus now?

I definitely feel it was a concern in the beginning. We had worked very hard, and we had made very many sacrifices, even at that point in our career, which ’07 was when we first met Jimmy. ’07 or early in ’08, something like that. Yeah, we had already made so many sacrifices just to maintain a certain level of integrity and to maintain a certain bar that we set with the brand. Yeah, it was definitely a concern. I was concerned that we were starting from ground zero again in very many regards. So there was that. Over the years, I have sort of been … I’ve surprised myself, just with my evolution… as a storyteller and as a musician and as an actor and as a comedian and TV personality, costar. Being able to sort of step up to the plate in all the different regards. I surprise myself. Sometimes I got to jump back and kiss myself. [Laughs] No, I’m just playing.

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This project also has the benefit of being able to take some of those fans that only know you from The Tonight Show and introduce them to the deeper complexity of your work and The Roots.

Absolutely. I think this project is able to function as the perfect sort of bridge on either side. For people who may have thought, or may have had a certain impression of what it’s like to be on a TV show, or ways in which my life may or may not have changed, I think I sort of paint an accurate picture. You know? And it serves as a bridge.

The situation with Questlove and with DaBaby where DaBaby said he didn’t know who Questlove was when responding to the criticism Questlove laid out there: hearing something like that, how does that make you feel?

I mean, I’m fine with it. You know? I don’t know. I can’t say that he’s not telling the truth. You know what I’m saying? Of course you know who Questlove is. Everyone doesn’t. You know what I mean? Some people work with musicians, producers… There are people who work in folks’ homes who the people whose homes they’re working in don’t know their names. So I can’t just assume because he’s been on The Tonight Show and because Questlove played drums for him that he’s familiar with him. I don’t know if someone knows Questlove or not. It doesn’t really matter to me. I feel like there are bigger fish to fry, especially in the world and in this moment. I mean, it is what it is.

This came to my mind when I was listening to 7 Years. The detail you bring to the conversation about all the artists that influenced you and the really broad coalition of sounds that you exposed yourself to… To me, when someone says that kind of comment, they’re kind of telling on themselves if they say they don’t know who somebody is. Is that a fair assessment?

I think it’s a pretty fair assessment. I mean, you know, the younger generation, just younger people, younger artists, for them, and I might be completely off on this, I can only speak to the way it seems or the way it feels. It doesn’t feel, to me, like paying homage to the foundation and to where the music sort of came from, to the old school, is as important to younger artists or the artists of today, as it has been over the years or as it’s been to me personally or to as important as it is and always has been to people from my graduating class. You know what I mean?

Yes.

I have children in their 20s. And I’m an artist, and I’m their father, and I don’t know that they’re… They’re not up on the legacy, the history, what made me want to do want it is that I do. This person influenced this person who influenced me. I mean, I don’t impress it upon my kids, but I don’t impress it upon them because they’re disinterested. They could care less. I don’t hold that against them. It’s just one of those things. The world has changed. People have changed, and what their concerns are have evolved to something completely different. Sometimes, I try to understand it, but more often than not, I just give up and I just accept that I don’t understand it and won’t. [Laughs]

At the end of the day, all you can do is what you’re doing, which is talking about your influences, putting those names out there, and drawing a map for people to find if they want to go down that path. Right?

Exactly. But it’s a delicate balance. I don’t want it to be preachy. I want it to feel like if you want to go down that path. I don’t want to have you reluctantly taken down that path against your will all the time.

You can download Tariq Trotter’s ‘7 Years’ on Audible by going here.

Black Thought Is Ready To Go Deep On His Life, The Roots, And Late Night

by
Getty/Ralph Ordaz

There’s a kind of intimacy that comes from hearing someone recount the odyssey of their life. Subtle sways in tone that give away the emotion behind a certain beat in the story. 7 Years (which you can hear on Audible), by Tariq Trotter, aka Black Thought, delivers on that promise as we learn about the hip-hop icon’s childhood, the emergence of The Roots, and his many influences — both in music and life. But it’s not an obvious choice for anyone to be this open and introspective.

In this expansive interview, we spoke with Trotter about opening up, his guiding philosophy about control and flexibility, anxiety about joining forces with Jimmy Fallon, his influences, and not forcing music history onto a younger audience.

What’s the motivation behind going deep and telling your story like this? Is it a want to be more deeply understood or is it more about doing a personal excavation?

I think it was initially about being more deeply understood, but as you embark on that sort of project, different layers sort of reveal themselves during the process. So there’s definitely a certain degree of self-discovery that takes place, which is the beautiful part. For someone like me who hasn’t been as accessible as I am in this moment in time… I’ve shared personal stuff about my past and my family in Philadelphia and The Roots early on in our career and stuff like that, but I’ve never gotten too deep into any of it. So there’s something to be said about just sort of getting things off your chest and off your shoulders and just being able to lift some of those weights and to be more transparent. I was able to be vulnerable, on the 7 Years project, in ways that I’ve yet to in my music.

Why do you think you haven’t been as open in the past?

I’m a guarded person by nature, and I’m sure some of it has something to do with the time and place from which I come, but, you know, it’s a habit. I feel like it served me, it served me fine throughout my career to not necessarily be in the forefront, to not necessarily share that much information about my personal life. That’s the way that I’ve moved, so it was a decision that I made earlier on. [But] I feel like, at this point in my career, it’s sort of the final frontier. If you asked someone who’s a long-time fan and who has supported us over the years, what they’d like or what would be ideal for them in a project… which I’ve done, and people tell me, “I would just like to know more about you. About the person.” So, it’s a delicate balance because I am still very private, but yeah, I feel like this is sort of the ideal time to open up in that way.

I subscribe to a lot of what you were saying about the need to be flexible and kind of realizing our smallness against the forces of nature, the wind, as you use as a metaphor or the waves. When did you kind of land on that as sort of a bedrock principle with the need for reinvention every seven years and that need to be flexible?

I don’t even know that I had it when I was coming up, as much as it was something that dawned on me as an adult. I would say, in recent years, it’s something that I came to understand. Before then, it’s something that I always felt but never really could put my finger on why I felt that way. I wasn’t able to make sense of it until more recently, I would say.

We all have this healthy ego and we see ourselves as this indestructible force, but to have that ability to step aside and realize that we’re not and we need to kind of just try to hang on to as much as we can while surviving is really fascinating to me.

I agree. You know, when you think of things like the overview effect, and how that affects astronauts who leave Earth’s atmosphere and go out into space, it can be overwhelming for some. It depends on sort of how you’re prepared for it mentally. It could be overwhelming or it could be… It’s definitely life-changing, from what I understand, but it could be just this huge, more of a revelation when you sort of come to understand… not only the role that we play here on the planet but just how small of a cog the planet Earth is in the machine that is the universe. I feel like there are parallels in just the level of acceptance that you need to exercise in order to sort of come through, come out on the other side of it, without losing your mind. I think it’s comparable to that.

Getty Image

It seems clear that you guys were looking at the Fallon job as a clear pivot, but when you went into that situation, did you envision that it would be that much of a commitment and this long-term of a thing?

No. I don’t think we had a complete understanding of how much of a commitment we were getting into, or how long of a run it would be. I feel like so much has happened over the past 12 years. Then I also feel like 12 years has sort of gone by in the blink of an eye. I don’t think we had any clue. We also had no idea how we were going to sort of navigate all our other endeavors and sort of balance that stuff out. Would that sort of be the end of one version of The Roots and the beginning of another? Obviously, yes, on some levels. Would we sort of lose ourselves in the process? That sort of remains unknown. You have to sort of watch it unfold in real-time.

It has been a blessing working on The Tonight Show and just working in the capacity of a comedian and just being in front of an audience every day and being on TV every day has only made us better. I think it’s made us sharper, it’s made us a tighter unit as a collective, just a higher level of artistry and brotherhood and everything that sort of goes with it. I feel like it’s definitely the best decision, but we couldn’t have known at that point in time.

Being more home-based during that time, as opposed to traveling as much — how do you think that’s influenced you? From the albums that you’ve recorded during this time to even this project, because I would guess that you could say that maybe you wouldn’t be as willing to be accessible if you hadn’t had that exposure constantly with Fallon. Is that fair to say?

Yeah. I think that might be fair to say. There’s a certain level of reinvention, reintroduction, like reminder introduction that takes place when you have a long career working in one capacity and then you pivot in the way that we did. I’m constantly trying to sort of … I mean, not that I’m frantic about it, or something that happens on as much on a conscious level as it does on a subconscious level. To a certain extent, I am just trying to balance the identity that people sort of know me as. You know what I mean?

Yes.

There are folks who weren’t familiar with The Roots before we came to NBC, who only know me as Tariq from The Tonight Show. They think I’m funny and they know I’m quick-witted and I can improvise songs on the spot. They don’t really know or understand the journey, or realize that from which The Roots sort of come. Then there are people who were diehard Roots fans from day one, who don’t necessarily know this person. They’ve gotten to know the person that I am or what my identity has become on The Tonight Show. Just like trying to balance that out is something that happens constantly. It’s a continuous thing. So, you just go from one end of the spectrum, and just as soon as you’ve sort of balanced out everything on that end, you need to return to the opposite end to restore balance down there.

Were you worried about that kind of situation when you jumped into this job, the idea of people only knowing you from The Tonight Show, not knowing how deep The Roots music goes? Also, are you surprised at how comfortable you’ve become with the knowledge that “Okay, some people know me for this, some people know me for that”? Where was your headspace then versus now?

I definitely feel it was a concern in the beginning. We had worked very hard, and we had made very many sacrifices, even at that point in our career, which ’07 was when we first met Jimmy. ’07 or early in ’08, something like that. Yeah, we had already made so many sacrifices just to maintain a certain level of integrity and to maintain a certain bar that we set with the brand. Yeah, it was definitely a concern. I was concerned that we were starting from ground zero again in very many regards. So there was that. Over the years, I have sort of been … I’ve surprised myself, just with my evolution… as a storyteller and as a musician and as an actor and as a comedian and TV personality, costar. Being able to sort of step up to the plate in all the different regards. I surprise myself. Sometimes I got to jump back and kiss myself. [Laughs] No, I’m just playing.

Getty Image

This project also has the benefit of being able to take some of those fans that only know you from The Tonight Show and introduce them to the deeper complexity of your work and The Roots.

Absolutely. I think this project is able to function as the perfect sort of bridge on either side. For people who may have thought, or may have had a certain impression of what it’s like to be on a TV show, or ways in which my life may or may not have changed, I think I sort of paint an accurate picture. You know? And it serves as a bridge.

The situation with Questlove and with DaBaby where DaBaby said he didn’t know who Questlove was when responding to the criticism Questlove laid out there: hearing something like that, how does that make you feel?

I mean, I’m fine with it. You know? I don’t know. I can’t say that he’s not telling the truth. You know what I’m saying? Of course you know who Questlove is. Everyone doesn’t. You know what I mean? Some people work with musicians, producers… There are people who work in folks’ homes who the people whose homes they’re working in don’t know their names. So I can’t just assume because he’s been on The Tonight Show and because Questlove played drums for him that he’s familiar with him. I don’t know if someone knows Questlove or not. It doesn’t really matter to me. I feel like there are bigger fish to fry, especially in the world and in this moment. I mean, it is what it is.

This came to my mind when I was listening to 7 Years. The detail you bring to the conversation about all the artists that influenced you and the really broad coalition of sounds that you exposed yourself to… To me, when someone says that kind of comment, they’re kind of telling on themselves if they say they don’t know who somebody is. Is that a fair assessment?

I think it’s a pretty fair assessment. I mean, you know, the younger generation, just younger people, younger artists, for them, and I might be completely off on this, I can only speak to the way it seems or the way it feels. It doesn’t feel, to me, like paying homage to the foundation and to where the music sort of came from, to the old school, is as important to younger artists or the artists of today, as it has been over the years or as it’s been to me personally or to as important as it is and always has been to people from my graduating class. You know what I mean?

Yes.

I have children in their 20s. And I’m an artist, and I’m their father, and I don’t know that they’re… They’re not up on the legacy, the history, what made me want to do want it is that I do. This person influenced this person who influenced me. I mean, I don’t impress it upon my kids, but I don’t impress it upon them because they’re disinterested. They could care less. I don’t hold that against them. It’s just one of those things. The world has changed. People have changed, and what their concerns are have evolved to something completely different. Sometimes, I try to understand it, but more often than not, I just give up and I just accept that I don’t understand it and won’t. [Laughs]

At the end of the day, all you can do is what you’re doing, which is talking about your influences, putting those names out there, and drawing a map for people to find if they want to go down that path. Right?

Exactly. But it’s a delicate balance. I don’t want it to be preachy. I want it to feel like if you want to go down that path. I don’t want to have you reluctantly taken down that path against your will all the time.

You can download Tariq Trotter’s ‘7 Years’ on Audible by going here.

Black Thought’s Audiobook Memior ‘7 Years’ Includes An Original Score And His Earliest Freestyle

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The Roots co-founder Black Thought has had a storied career in music. He’s consistently lauded as one of hip-hop’s best lyricists and has even appeared in a few films. Now, Black Thought takes a trip down his musical memory lane in his new memoir 7 Years.

The musician’s memoir is released in audiobook format exclusively through the platform Audible. The book details his career highs and lows and walks the listener through his experience founding The Roots and playing as part of the house band on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. On top of that, the entire audio book features an original score by Black Thought and even includes one of his first-ever freestyle raps.

In a statement on social media, Black Thought wrote that 7 Years is inspired by his commitment to continuously reinvent himself:

“It’s inspired by one of my life theories that every 7 years I should be actively working to become better creatively, emotionally, personally, and mentally as my body also changes and new cells replace the old. So in this piece of words and music I’m sharing some of these key important periods that have made me into the man I am today — with an original musical score that highlights the very first freestyle I ever wrote to our @theroots classics to performances of some of my more recent pieces.”

Listen to a preview of 7 Years below.

7 Years is available now through Audible. Get it here.

The Roots’ Questlove And Black Thought Are Teaming With Disney Junior For An Animated Short Series

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Questlove and Black Thought both keep themselves plenty busy outside of The Roots, and now the pair is teaming up for yet another new endeavor. This time, it’s Rise Up, Sing Out, a series of animated shorts they’re making with Disney Junior.

The series, which is set to premiere later in 2021, will feature music from the pair. Press materials describe the show, “Presenting important concepts around race, racism and social justice for the youngest viewers, the series consists of music-based shorts that are designed to provide an inspiring and empowering message about noticing and celebrating differences and providing a framework for conversation.”

In a joint statement, Questlove and Black Thought said, “It is an honor to work with the Disney Junior team to help create a series of shorts that will empower and uplift the future generations in the way we know best, through music. We hope these shorts will encourage the young audience to recognize and celebrate our differences as human beings while learning the tools to navigate real-world issues of racial injustice.”

Joe D’Ambrosia — senior vice president, Original Programming and general manager, Disney Junior — also said, “We recognize that many kids are experiencing a multitude of feelings around what’s happening in our world today and know that many families are struggling with how to discuss sensitive issues around race. Our goal with these shorts is to open up the conversation and provide families with the tools and knowledge to address these important topics with their preschoolers in an age-appropriate manner through music and relatable kid experiences.”

Justin Bieber Joins Jimmy Fallon And The Roots For A Classroom Instruments Version Of ‘Peaches’

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In March, Justin Bieber earned his seventh No. 1 single when the Justice single “Peaches” debuted on top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The track is still doing quite well, as it is No. 3 on the Hot 100 that was revealed yesterday. Now he has put a new spin on the song by joining Jimmy Fallon and The Roots for their longstanding Tonight Show series of “classroom instruments” performances.

Bieber starts out by playing the track on a toy piano, which actually adds a charming element to the track. From there, he is joined by Fallon and The Roots, who sport instruments like shakers, bongos, xylophones, buckets, paper bags (to tear), and other things of that ilk. Giveon and Daniel Caesar, who feature on the original track, were not involved with this performance.

Justice isn’t Bieber’s latest release, as on Easter, he dropped a surprise EP, Freedom, which features collaborations with Pink Sweats, Tori Kelly, Judah Smith, Beam, Brandon Love, Chandler Moore, and Lauren Walters. He’s also fresh off appearing in Earth Day! The Musical, a Bill Nye-hosted event that also featured Jack Harlow, Maluma, Ben Platt, Charli and Dixie D’Amelio, Cody Simpson, Steve Aoki, Tori Kelly, Zac Efron, Desus Nice and The Kid Mero, and Nick Kroll.

Watch Bieber, The Roots, and Fallon perform “Peaches” above.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

How The Roots Went From Underground Heroes To TV Legends With A Little Help From Jimmy Fallon

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In late 2008, when word broke that The Roots, the hip-hop group led by longtime friends Amir “Questlove” Thompson and Tariq “Black Thought” Trotter, were hired as the house band for Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, the news was met with bewilderment and bemusement. The reactions online tended to be some variation of, “Wow, that is huge for Fallon,” or, as one Gawker writer put it at the time, “The Illadelph generals opening up for that stuttering mop-headed ball of suck, Jimmy Fallon? It’s kind of tragic.”

There was definite logic to the hiring. The Roots remain one of the most versatile ensembles in all of music, comfortable and talented enough to both cover U2 classics at an NAACP event honoring Bono and serve as Jay-Z’s backing band for his legendary MTV Unplugged appearance. And they helped add a whiff of cool to Fallon as he brought his wide-eyed, constantly stoked brand of comedy to late-night TV.

But even the most ardent fan of The Roots had to wonder how this was going to work in reality. The band was coming to NBC after releasing the two darkest and most politically-minded albums of their career — 2006’s Game Theory and 2008’s Rising Down — that raged against school shootings, poverty, and institutional racism. The group was also a consistent concert draw, known for marathon-length performances and welcoming guests from every corner and era of the music world.

Underlying all of this was simple curiosity. How could one of the best hip-hop groups in the game translate their attitude and their sound for network TV, and appeal to middle-of-the-road viewers tuning in for toothless political humor, fawning celebrity interviews, and viral video-ready stunts?

The answer: by The Roots proving just how versatile they could be. For the past 13 years, even as they moved with Fallon from 12:30 am to 11:30 pm after the host was hired to replace Jay Leno as the host of The Tonight Show, the band has been game for anything.

They’ve taken part in various sketches that sometimes require them to dress in drag or act foolishly. They’ve been the backbone for beloved recurring segments like “Freestylin’ With The Roots,” “Slow Jam The News,” and Fallon and Justin Timberlake’s “History of Hip-Hop” bits. And they’ve proven to be welcome comedic foils, with Questlove and Black Thought bantering with Fallon in the manner of David Letterman and Paul Shaffer.

The Roots’ quick evolution into foils for late-night comedy was, in retrospect, inevitable. In an oft-told anecdote, Questlove remembers that, in 2008 when the band and Late Night’s producers were sizing one another up, he invited Fallon to come see them play at UCLA’s Spring Fling not expecting he’d actually show. But the lanky comedian did and quickly won The Roots over.

“I was doing an interview in a trailer,” Questlove told Brooklyn magazine in 2017, “and when I walked out… the eight of them — Fallon and the seven Roots — were making a human pyramid. He was able to disarm us in seconds… And I’m looking at my manager and we just stared there shaking our heads. I was just like, we’re stuck with this guy, aren’t we? And he just looked like, I’m afraid so.” A baker’s dozen years later and they’re still stuck with each other.

By all accounts, the members of The Roots were ready for something approximating a day job. The rigors of touring were starting to weigh on them as it meant leaving behind families and relationships for long stretches of time. As Questlove commented on Okayplayer.com around the time the news broke of their Late Night deal, “I don’t know if I want to be 40 on the road and single no more… I can’t even start to go on that path ‘til a woman takes me seriously. And ain’t no one taking a man serious who is in his home for only three months out the year.”

They were also students of music history, knowing that, although they were in a good spot financially after two decades of being together, they were potentially looking at a slow slide into obscurity. It was to the point that the group was tempted to sign a deal for a residency at The Borgata in Atlantic City.

The twist is, of course, that their nightly platform on NBC has made The Roots more popular than ever before, and, as a result, they’ve become even busier than ever. When he’s not DJing at various events around the world, Questlove has written a handful of books, directed the Sundance-anointed documentary Summer Of Soul (…Or, When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised), and hosts the popular Questlove Supreme podcast. Black Thought keeps popping up on mixtapes and albums by other artists and last year released his debut solo full-length that includes contributions from Killer Mike and Portugal. The Man. Both men are also likely the only hip-hop artists your grandmother would be able to easily namecheck.

What’s perhaps the most impressive part of The Roots’ move into late-night TV is how true they’ve stayed to themselves and the hip-hop culture they grew out of. As proven by the six albums they’ve released since joining up with Fallon, they’ve not lost an ounce of their fury and power. Or for a more concentrated dose, dial up the blistering 10-minute freestyle that Black Thought performed on Funkmaster Flex’s HOT 97 show back in 2017 and went viral shortly thereafter. It’s a testament to both the vaunted realms of celebrity that he and The Roots have reached and his skills as an MC that the performance was analyzed by writers at NPR and The New Yorker — and earned him a spot on the couch at The Tonight Show to talk about it.

That adherence to their personal politics did come at a cost back in 2011 when the band played on Tonight Show guest, and then-Presidential hopeful, Michelle Bachmann with a portion of Fishbone’s “Lyin’ A** B****.” The blowback was considerable and almost cost The Roots their cushy new job in network TV. But after agreeing to clear all walk-on music choices with the NBC brass ahead of time, the band was allowed to keep their spots.

Probably the most concrete example of how The Roots have moved easily into this strange land of TV celebrity while not losing an ounce of their credibility can be found in another video from the Late Night era. In it, the band is doing the job of helping get the crowd warmed up for taping an episode — playing some upbeat music to hype folks up. But for this moment, they’re joined by one of that night’s guests, rapper and actor Ice Cube, and with him, launch into a version of N.W.A.’s “Straight Outta Compton.” It’s a blast. The Roots drill down to the core of Dr. Dre and DJ Yella’s dense production and the rappers do their best to blur out the coarse language of the original song.

The key moment, though, comes when The Roots’ guitarist Captain Kirk Douglas puts down his axe and takes a turn on the mic, rapping Eazy E’s verse. Though they knew it was coming, the whole band seems to explode at that moment, watching their buddy step outside his usual role and play the part of a smack-talking, girl-chasing gangsta MC. Even the person holding the smartphone that’s filming the clip seems to shake with excitement at what is going down. But no one is more delighted than Questlove and Black Thought. As Roberts keeps spitting, they look over at each other with wide grins and sparkling eyes, giddy at what they’re witnessing and what they’re getting away with.

Black Thought Fans Rush To His Defense After A Controversial Tweet Was Shared About Him

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Black Thought is widely respected within the world of hip-hop thanks to his lengthy resume of impressive contributions to the genre. He’s often regarded as one of the best lyricists to grace the game. Much of his work came alongside The Roots, a group that is more than worthy of respect as a collective as much as they are for its members’ individual work. While the greatness of Black Thought may be an undeniable fact to most, one Twitter user seemed to be a bit uninformed about him. As a result, a tweet they shared delivered a controversial take about The Roots rapper and one that saw hip-hop Twitter rush to his defense.

Responding to a tweet that said Drake could not be grouped with names like “Kendrick, Lupe, Eminem, Black Thought and J. Cole,” a fan of the Toronto rapper looked to share their opinion on the matter. “Drake is more relevant, raps better, has more success, sings better than all these people,” they declared. “Plus who tf is a ‘black thought’ or any of these irrelevant rappers. Another example of HHT searching up rappers who no one listens to [and] comparing them to legends like drake.”

As one might have expected, the tweet brought a flurry of reactions that condemn the individual for their thoughts. One person said, “Saying ‘who tf is a black thought’ should disqualify you from listening to hip hop let alone speaking on it.” Another added, “If you don’t know who Black Thought is keep that to yourself it’s embarrassing.” Even Questlove, a fellow member of The Roots, saw the tweet and decided to share some thoughts of his own.

“Lol at this Black Thought trend. Y’all gone learn one day——I don’t care if he is 83 years old,” he said. “Psssssh even then he will out rhyme anyone….lol——for all of y’all frustrated about Riq’s standing in the world…y’all gotta preach the gospel too. THAT’S how people learn.”

You can find some more reactions to the Black Thought tweet below.