Lots of people are saying that I shut down mumble rap in one 10-minute setting. But that wasn't my intention, because mumble rap - if we go back - that's something I invented.
I grew up in Mount Airy, a middle-class enclave in the Northwestern area of Philadelphia.
What we do every day onstage, there's lights, there's lots of other musicians, there's an audience, there's a microphone and mic stands - layers of the onion we have to kind of hide behind.
I'm not driven by the spotlight and I'm not that outgoing.
Nah, I don't feel overlooked, underappreciated, or none of that because it's a short list of artists, past and present, that I kind of have respect for. And in all of those situations, the admiration and respect is mutual.
Philly DJs sort of always won battles and always won awards and stuff like that and were always super sharp.
Passyunk Productions is our film & tv production company. The name comes from a street in Philly, Passyunk Avenue, where the concept of The Roots was born, as Ahmir and I started out busking on the corner of 5th & Passyunk back in the early '90s.
In a lot of places Jay-Z is considered God, Philly, our hometown being one of them.
We don't try to please everyone. Those older fans who expect something from The Roots are a tad more important to me than getting new fans.
We're trying to plug a void and bring what's been missing back to hip-hop.
For me, I'm a super private person.
The Roots - we signed our first record deal when I was about 19 years old.
For me, the arts has always been sort of my saving grace.
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.
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.
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 feel like Black Thought is a name that has so much meaning and depth, not only to me but to my fans, that it's something that I wanted to hold onto a little bit tighter.
I love Trader Joe's.
I'm tryin' to get some acting credibility, get some other work.
You can always hear me breathing during my verses, but that breathing becomes part of the music.
