Black Thought Biography

Tariq Trotter has been rapping for 19 years ten of which have been shared with his legendary crew the Philadelphia live hip-hop band The Roots. They have been hailed as pioneers of the burgeoning sound now being identified as the “Philly Sound.” Tariq “Black Thought” Trotter has been the highly recognized voice of this sound. He is the MC whose lyrics have recalled the poetic passion of Amiri Baraka the truth and rawness of Donald Goines the unquestionable flow and lyrical styles of Big Daddy Kane and Rakim and a skill and rhythmic cadence that can be liked to no one but himself. He has served as the voice to so many poignant thoughts wrapped in a skill level we thought had been lost.
The labels and hopeful projections placed upon The Roots was one of the driving forces behind Black Thought's desire to create his own image and define his sound and album. He considers the creation of a solo album his “way of showing another dimension of myself while still being a member of the Roots I can have other grooves of myself. With the solo album I have a chance to really highlight myself by using very straight ahead rhymes & beats. But one thing I want to take from The Roots into my own work is the idea of pushing the musical envelope.” A versatile MC Black Thought has held his own through one capricious decade of hip-hop finally to emerge like a phoenix from a flame. Like any great artist Black Thought has learned to layer and play with the phonetics and syllables of his words. Yet he all the while keeps in use his powerful metaphoric imagery that makes him one of the most intense and ingenious lyricist of our time.

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