To witness Black Thought rap is glorious, in and of itself. No, watching the Roots on Fallon doesn't count: one needs to experience it live to truly understand. It's the reason I hold indelible memories of a Roots festival set caught in Ottawa a little over a decade ago; a half-hour of power over which Thought literally did not stop rapping — save to punctuate the slivers of time between songs with a full-throated ask of the crowd, "DO YOU FEEL IT?" Everyone in attendance did on that early evening, if I had to guess.
Leon Michels also knows this to be true, particularly after getting his El Michels Affair together with the acclaimed MC for collaborative album Glorious Game. Speaking with Bandcamp, the accomplished NY soul revivalist recalls watching Black Thought cut one final song for the LP, "The Weather," in-studio: "It was essentially one take, and it ain't easy to catch those tempo changes. Also, just the breath control of rapping for that entire song, no chorus, no break. It was definitely a moment where I was like, 'Fuck, this guy is on some other shit.'"
"On some other shit" is where the Roots frontman remains across 12 tracks of reflection on the self, street scenes and happier memories of his South Philly upbringing, Blackness, love and life — all a part of the Glorious Game he's played for nearly four decades. You best believe he's still winning, proclaiming as he jets through the title track's churning instrumental, "My mind is hard to explain / Call y'all aboard for this train / I float like a nautilus, mane." More gems will surely arrive when the story continues this November.
Some of the greatest rap records are born out of friends getting together purely to create, and Glorious Game fits the bill with Thought and Michels finally linking after years of being in one another's orbit. The latter's production — cutting up original compositions, and mixing in samples of Shabba Ranks and his Big Crown Records kin Brainstory for good measure — supports his collaborator's voice and expectedly captivating pen in a variety of moods, whether with impressionistic instruments on "I'm Still Somehow," the heavy-hearted thump of "That Girl" or the beat switch that grabs one by the collar on "Hollow Way." It's been nearly a decade since the Roots' most recent album, making this glorious team-up all the more important to bask in.
(Big Crown Records)Leon Michels also knows this to be true, particularly after getting his El Michels Affair together with the acclaimed MC for collaborative album Glorious Game. Speaking with Bandcamp, the accomplished NY soul revivalist recalls watching Black Thought cut one final song for the LP, "The Weather," in-studio: "It was essentially one take, and it ain't easy to catch those tempo changes. Also, just the breath control of rapping for that entire song, no chorus, no break. It was definitely a moment where I was like, 'Fuck, this guy is on some other shit.'"
"On some other shit" is where the Roots frontman remains across 12 tracks of reflection on the self, street scenes and happier memories of his South Philly upbringing, Blackness, love and life — all a part of the Glorious Game he's played for nearly four decades. You best believe he's still winning, proclaiming as he jets through the title track's churning instrumental, "My mind is hard to explain / Call y'all aboard for this train / I float like a nautilus, mane." More gems will surely arrive when the story continues this November.
Some of the greatest rap records are born out of friends getting together purely to create, and Glorious Game fits the bill with Thought and Michels finally linking after years of being in one another's orbit. The latter's production — cutting up original compositions, and mixing in samples of Shabba Ranks and his Big Crown Records kin Brainstory for good measure — supports his collaborator's voice and expectedly captivating pen in a variety of moods, whether with impressionistic instruments on "I'm Still Somehow," the heavy-hearted thump of "That Girl" or the beat switch that grabs one by the collar on "Hollow Way." It's been nearly a decade since the Roots' most recent album, making this glorious team-up all the more important to bask in.
