Here, he finally locates himself within his songs: as a hometown hero who brought rap game theory to national TV yet remains cognizant of the Black struggle, who is trying to reconcile the world he's entered with the one he's from. As a soloist, Trotter has tended to write like a world traveler, making offhand references to the chupacabra or Bach, Amon-Ra or the hajj, his raps crowded but fluid as if he were sloshing on foot through a quagmire.

Even as Black Thought the solo artist steadily took shape, his album - the album - remained elusive.Ĭheat Codes, Trotter's new collaboration with the producer Danger Mouse, is that quintessential Black Thought album, the one long awaited by diehards, the first of his recent projects to transcend his supreme skill as a rhymer and define his music beyond his intense technique.

For a rapper in a group, it is also a chance to establish a fully independent identity. But for most rappers, a proper debut album is a statement of artistic purpose. The Philly rapper born Tariq Trotter had of course already displayed his otherworldly dexterity as frontman and co-founder of The Roots, and, beginning in 2018, emerged as a willing and capable soloist with a series of freewheeling mini-releases. It went by several names - Masterpiece Theatre, The Talented Mr. For many years, the Black Thought solo album felt like an imaginary object, long rumored yet never revealed.

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