El Michels Affair

Freddie Gibbs And Madlib Are Going On A Mini-Tour For The Tenth Anniversary Of ‘Piñata’

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10 years ago, Freddie Gibbs and Madlib teamed up for the release of their pivotal joint album Piñata, a project that changed the trajectory of Gibbs’ career and returned Madlib to the mainstream rap spotlight. Since its release, Gibbs has gone on a truly breathtaking run culminating in the release of his first major-label album, while Madlib has been a hotly demanded producer by seemingly everyone from Mac Miller to Talib Kweli to Pusha T. And, of course, “MadGibbs” teamed up once again for the Piñata sequel Bandana, proving the prior album’s success was no fluke.

Now, to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the game-changing album, Gibbs and ‘Lib have announced a minor tour to celebrate. They’ll hit three cities — Boston, Chicago, and New York — in May, backed by El Michels Affair, the hip-hop band that most recently collaborated with Black Thought on his Glorious Game LP and played backing music for Gibbs and Madlib’s NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert. Openers will include Eyedress and Pink Siifu

The presale for the three shows begins Tuesday (January 23) at 10:00 am local time, while the general sale starts Friday (January 26) at 10:00 am.

freddie gibbs and madlib pinata 10 year anniversary tour
Freddie Gibbs & Madlib

You can check out the tour dates below:

5/10 — Boston, MA @ MGM Music Hall at Fenway *
5/11 — New York, NY @ The Rooftop @ Pier 17 ^
5/19 — Chicago, IL @ The Salt Shed *

* — w/ Eyedress
^ — w/ Pink Siifu

Black Thought And El Michels Affair Paid Homage To The ‘Glorious Game’ With Kirby On ‘Fallon’

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Earlier this month, Black Thought And El Michels Affair shared their collaborative album, Glorius Game, which features Black Thought rapping over music produced and played by the lattermost band. Last night (April 26), the supergroup made an appearance on The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon and performed the album’s title track.

During the performance, Black Thought & El Michels Affair were joined by singer Kirby, as Black Thought rapped over the band’s jazzy, soulful instrumentals.

“My mind is hard to explain / Call y’all all aboard for this train / I float like a nautilus, mane / Damn, I love this glorious game,” raps Black Thought over a pre-chorus.

Kirby’s soft vocals gave the song a sparkling touch, as she sang “Ooh, these are the glory days / If, and they did it, baby / Back in the day, baby / I swear, these are the glory days.”

With more than three decades in the game, Black Thought has garnered an impressive resume as a member of The Roots, as a solo act, and as a collaborator. But in a recent interview with The Fader, he revealed that he still has a lot he wants to do.

“Most of the things I do I’d be doing whether there was compensation involved or not,” he said. “I’m a creative, an artist. This is what I’ve always been. The medium is ever-evolving. The disciplines cross. I work in different spaces, different fields, but it’s all as a creative and a storyteller, using whatever tools I have at that particular moment to tell the same story.”

You can watch the performance of “Glorious Game” above.

Black Thought Details A Pair Of Highly Anticipated Projects

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Black Thought is sharing details about the highly anticipated Streams of Thought Vol. 4. The Roots rapper released the previous three versions of the album in He’s also gearing up for an album set to come out later this week. Glorious Game is a collaborative effort with the ever-soulful El Michel’s Affair. Both albums have garnered considerable interest from fans.

During an interview with Fader, Thought revealed that Glorious Game is a deeply personal album. “It’s probably my most personal record to date,” he said. “It’s going to be all narrative and it’s going to all come from a very personal place.” Meanwhile, Thought detailed the long list of artists set to feature on the Streams of Thought Vol. 4. “The album features Yasiin Bey, Pharoahe Monch, Fabolous, Redman, Rick Ross, Big K.R.I.T. Curren4y, Tobe Nwigwe, and J.I.D.,” he said. “There’s at least one feature on almost every song.” He went on to reveal that R&B veteran Nicole Wray also features on the album.

Black Thought Reveals Long List of Features on New Album

Black Thought of The Roots performs at Mass MoCA(Photo by Douglas Mason/WireImage)

Despite the long features lost, Thought says the album didn’t take long to record. “I wanted to shuffle through the recording process the same the listener shuffles through songs,” he said. Thought says the project is already complete. However, he’s not committing to a release date. “It’s been in my vault for a couple years now,” he said. “It could come out at any point in time.” Obviously, Thought gained stardom as a co-founder and frontman of the Roots. However, the members of the group have never shied away from doing solo projects. Thought credits this as the source of the group’s strength. “Everybody has there own thing they do when we’re not together as part of the roots,” he said. “There’s a great appreciation for what we are able to achieve independently.”

The Roots rapper has certainly been busy over the past year. He released the album Cheat Codes, a collaboration with Danger Mouse just last year. The album received generally favorable reviews from fans and critics. Moreover, the project features a posthumous feature from MF Doom. We will see how well his two newest projects perform with his loyal fan base.

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Black Thought & El Michels Affair Relish The ‘Glorious Game’ From Their Upcoming Joint Album

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We’re another day closer to the release of Black Thought & El Michels Affair’s joint album Glorious Game, and today, the rapper and his other band rewarded fans for their patience with the title track from the album. “Glorious Game,” like “Grateful” and “That Girl” before it, sounds like an excerpt from a 1970s-era Blaxploitation film while Black Thought displays his usual virtuoso, rhyming an ode to the titular “Glorious Game” and detailing the secrets to his effortless cool.

Glorious Game is Thought’s second joint project in as many years, following 2022’s Cheat Codes with Danger Mouse, which saw him take a step back from his duties as the frontman of The Roots to spit alongside some of the rap biz’s finest MCs, including Joey Badass, MF DOOM, and Run The Jewels. Meanwhile, the multitalented rap pioneer has also been busy as a producer of film, television, and stage, most recently teaming up once again with his bandmate Questlove to produce a four-part documentary series about James Brown for A&E titled James Brown: Say It Loud. Mick Jagger of The Rolling Stones is also listed as a producer.

Glorious Game is due for release on April 14 through Big Crown. Find more information here.

Black Thought And El Michels Affair Get In The Valentine’s Day Spirit With ‘That Girl’

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In case you haven’t heard, Black Thought is keeping his hot streak going with a new collaborative album. Glorious Game, due April 14 through Big Crown, sees The Roots frontman teaming up with New York “cinematic soul” band El Michels Affair. They announced the new project in January with the lead single “Grateful,” and today, they share its follow-up, “That Girl.”

Appropriately for its release date, “That Girl” is an ode to the latest object of Thought’s affections, who he describes as “a flower from a garden / A pure, fleur de jardins.” The production is, as usual, very similar to the score of a Blaxploitation film, with an orchestral soul intro and woozy funk loops. It’s a short but sweet track that previews what fans can expect from the new album.

Black Thought has spent the last few years branching out from his role as the The Roots’ rapper. In addition to playing a low-key co-host role on The Tonight Show alongside Jimmy Fallon, he’s been releasing a string of collaborative projects, including Cheat Codes with Danger Mouse and the Streams Of Thought EPs with 9th Wonder, Salaam Remi, and Sean C.

Listen to Black Thought and El Michels Affair’s new song, “That Girl” below.