A biography for Black Thoughthasn’t been written yet.
“I'm down to work with anyone as long as it's an organic collaboration.”
“As we get further into our career we're figuring out how to become more efficient as artists, and doing so many different things is testament to our cohesiveness as the Roots.”
“I think the true artist - musician, dancer, writer, actor - a true artist is able to sort of articulate pain and tragedy, in a way that sort of expresses what the listener or the beholder may have been feeling but was less able to communicate.”
“I feel like I've been around for such a long time, as a writer and as an artist, that I need to sort of speak to the way that my perception of the world has sort of changed.”
“I'm anti-ageism in the arts.”
“You can only be the great artist for so long - come out with effort after effort that garners all this praise.”
“I've never studied music.”
“I feel like visual art, the culinary arts, the theatrical arts - the medium changes, the tools that you use to tell whatever the story changes, but you're still all telling stories.”
“I'm in great company and some may say that the underexposure has added to my allure and the staying power of me as a MC and The Roots as a band.”
“Some of my favorites are the classics like 'What They Do,' 'Proceed,' 'You Got Me,' and 'Silent Treatment.'”
“I like to say hip-hop was born when I was in my mother's womb.”
“So in my personal opinion, I definitely feel like I'm a legendary emcee, and I also feel like we're a legendary brand, which is why I started rebranding ourselves years ago by saying 'The Legendary Roots Crew,' which is how we're introduced on 'The Tonight Show.'”
“I mean, I'm no superhero.”
“There are some millennial artists that I totally get and understand, and I know what they're talking about. People who I've worked with and who I'd like to work with. But there's a whole element of artists that I can't explain what they're talking about.”
“I don't know that Dilla was the father of neo-soul as much as he was highly influential in that time when he was doing what he was doing at his best... Dilla's influence transcended genre and it transcended region.”
“I've always sort of listened to news radio.”
“I work well within The Roots because I can let my music speak for itself while Ahmir does most of the press and the promotion and the brand-building because he enjoys that.”
“The Roots want to dip our toes into everything in the arts.”
“When people see that we're signed to Def Jam, the perception has changed.”
“Anyone that I've ever worked with, it's not like I just meet you or someone throws us together for the sole purpose of coming up with a song that's gonna be a hit. I have to have some sort of relationship, or we had to have interacted on some other sort of level and that's when it feels most natural.”