Black Thought

“I remember when I was 15 or 16 years old, I couldn't imagine what life would be like past the age of 30, just because I didn't know that many men who had lived beyond their 20s.”

“You can always hear me breathing during my verses, but that breathing becomes part of the music.”

“We are true to our name. We're somewhat beneath the surface, and I think well always be to a certain extent.”

“For me, the arts has always been sort of my saving grace.”

“I strive for improvement. want to be a master of my craft.”

“To be in a band with the other founding members that never sleep is inspiring. Questlove put out five books a year and deejays every night and still do the same day job that I do, only with more responsibility. It drives me to find a way to juggle it.”

“There probably won't be an animated The Roots or Black Thought as there was, say, an animated Michael Jackson when 'The Jackson 5' cartoon show was on when we were kids.”

“I used to be a Def Jam artist. I was - I survived Def Jam.”

“I give back because that is what I was taught and it is what I believe.”

“I was raised as a Muslim.”

“The difference between a Black Thought album and a Roots album is the texture, the instrumentation.”

“We usually overrecord. Then we boil it down to the cream of the cream.”

“I think we need more community health programs and we need to develop programs that are low-cost.”

“To me I think leadership is activism. It's giving back to your community, it's investing in oneself, and you know women and children.”

“A lot of our earlier material was freestyle tunes.”

“What we were doing was alien in '92. We were less than immediately accepted by our fans and peers.”

“You are an instrument if you understand your voice and how to use it - this sound, that sound and certain ranges and different pitch. Within that I try to find a rhythm and play the voice as if it was a horn.”

“The most profound memory I have from my childhood is burning down my house at 6 years old.”

“I move in silence. I don't like puttin' too much of me out there to be dissected, analyzed.”

“If there's a track that's rhyme friendly, the verse will basically write itself. If the track is less rhyme friendly, you have to put forth a little more effort to get the song out.”