Black Thought breaks down his favorite albums over the years.
To celebrate hip-hop’s 50th birthday, Black Thought sat down with Pitchfork and named the albums that made him what he is today. In the conversation, The Roots rapper breaks down rap albums from the likes of OutKast, Big Daddy Kane, A Tribe Called Quest, Lauryn Hill, Tierra Whack and more.
Black Thought also named Kanye West’s fourth studio album “808s & Heartbreak”, and reveals why he connects with Ye’s music less now. “When he [Kanye West] was still coming up as a producer, I remember how Kanye would just pop up at sessions,” said Thought. “He was operating from that place of “I’d rather ask for forgiveness than permission.” He’d be there playing some beats when you arrived, and if you were offended he’d apologize. That business model worked for him. I’ve always admired people who are able to turn it on in that way, who are that dedicated to the grind and the hustle.”
“I move through life in a different way. I’m one of the people who’s such an introvert, sometimes to a fault. I wish I could be that dude who’s like, “F–k that, I’ll just be in his session and play my beats.” Being that guy is what it takes to get to where people like Kanye are destined to go. His belief in himself was always impressive. He was trying so hard to get on, just refused to quit, and f–king made it. I watched him will sh-t into existence. Even as a kid, he was still Kanye West.”
He continued, “With 808s, it was the audacity. Like, “What the f–k?” Here’s the thing—I spent so much time being too cool for school. That’s my default setting. I’ve often thought of a musical idea, but the whole getting-out-of-my-head-ness of it all had me going through every possible outcome for such a long time that somebody else would have a similar idea and just do it. The level of bravery to destroy and build in the way Kanye did with that project, it’s admirable. That is the stuff of legend.”
“I felt my creative world opening up in the late 2000s. The Roots dynamic changed with the onset of our TV gig; being able to end one another’s creative sentences began at that time. We were just beginning to think of different ways we could apply ourselves. That’s when we started to put out Roots albums that were far, far shorter than anything we’d done before but way more dense and more spiritually meaty, on some levels. Because of that, I identified with and was inspired by other albums of that time, like 808s, that had the abandon it took to say, “F–k it, I’ma come this way.” If it ain’t broke and you got a good thing going, it’s not always easy to push yourself to conjure something more, or different.”
“I connect with Kanye’s music less now. Maybe it’s because of the rate at which he’s been putting out art and having to keep up. I think his process has become more assembly-line, which in many ways is the Motown model. It works. I don’t know if anything’s lost, but what is sometimes compromised is the personality. The main person it’s supposed to be about is sometimes overshadowed by all these other writers, producers, and people who are contributing. Kanye is less Kanye now than he was when I was a bigger Kanye fan.”
808s & Heartbreak was released in 2008 through Def Jam Recordings and Roc-A-Fella Records. The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, selling just over 450,000 copies in its first week.
