A new Black Thought album?! You already know we’re here for it.
After connecting with Danger Mouse for their incredible Cheat Codes project in 2022, Black Thought has linked with New York-based cinematic soul group El Michels Affair for Glorious Game.
Birthed from a friendship and healthy admiration between Thought and EMA founder Leon Michels that spans twenty years, the album is the culmination of a roughly three-year collaborative process. One in which Michels takes a different approach to the project’s production.
Considering Thought is the co-founder and emcee for one of the best live band in hip hop, Michels went against sending recorded tracks of live compositions and decided to wholly compose and record soul songs in his studio, sample himself, and then chop and loop up his own sounds to create instrumentals for BT to rhyme on.
“What I write about is determined by the equation of the producer’s energy and my energy,” Black Thought says. “It’s about where we meet. To me, these songs are like scenes from a film that is my life. That’s the way it evolved.”
“This is an effing rap record,” Michels adds. “He’s a storyteller; the point is to listen to the story. It’s not a verse-chorus, verse-chorus approach. Listen to what he has to say and the way he has to say it.”
Equipped with a dozen songs, including the previously-released “Grateful,” “That Girl,” and “I’m Still Somehow,” the LP is void of any rap features (KIRBY, Son Little, Brainstory), allowing the talented Mr. Trotter to do his thing.
Press play and be sure to add Glorious Game wherever you get music.
