Black Thought released his excellent new solo album Streams of Thought, Vol. 3: Cane and Able last week, and yesterday (10/21) he appeared on Hot 97's Ebro in the Morning to talk about that album and what's next. He mentioned a new Roots album is more or less finished, and he says "2021 for a new Roots album for sure," and also adds that he'll put out more Streams of Thought volumes in 2021 and a collaborative album with Danger Mouse, which Black Thought says has been in the works for 13 or 14 years. "It's a full-on album, and it's a return for him to hip hop and for sampling in this way," Black Thought says. "It's a feel-good record, it's a record for people who got into hip hop and who evolved at the same time that we did. We're elder statesmen at this point so I feel like this record is reflective of that too."
More recently, Danger Mouse worked on music with Karen O, Michael Kiwanuka, Broken Bells, Parquet Courts, Portugal. The Man (who are also featured heavily on Streams of Thought, Vol. 3), and others, but as Black Thought said, it's been a while since he's done a hip hop record.
On The Roots' upcoming album, Black Thought said, "We have the music, but as has always been the case with The Roots, it's just a different level of contemplation and deliberation that goes into releasing a project... It's helped us to maintain such a high bar for all these years." He later adds, "The new Roots album is bangin' too. It feels familiar in the way that it needs to feel familiar. It feels like The Roots but it doesn't feel like we're stuck in time or anything."
Ebro also asked Black Thought about politics and Ice Cube working with Trump. He kind of avoided the Ice Cube question, but he did give his own views on the 2020 election, saying, "I don't agree with all the policy in Joe Biden and Kamala Harris' camp, I don't agree with everything they've done historically [...] but I don't agree more with the current administration and the way that they've been serving the people. A lot of people say it's the 'lesser of two evils' but I'll take the lesser of two evils on any given day in a concentrated effort to reach a specific goal. We're beyond doomed if the current administration serves another term."
Watch the full interview:
Meanwhile, Ebro also had Ice Cube on his show the same day, and Cube further discussed his decision to work with Trump. "We were contacted by the Trump campaign because they said they loved our plan and wanted to talk to us about our plan. So once we talked to them about our plan and what we had and what we were envisioning and also making sure money went exactly where it was supposed to go. They upgraded their plan. I didn’t come out of there, it was not a photo-op situation. No look what I did look what I did. I actually told them nobody is going to believe you unless you do something."
Cube also added, "White supremacy does turn me of, but it's everywhere, and it is on both sides of the aisle. That’s just the reality that we live in, and I’m not naive to that. We’re engulfed in white supremacy that’s just something we have to fight our way out of man. We’re going to have to fight on all fronts."
He also said that he has "voted democratic in every election" but also that he's "a true undecided voter because they are not doing enough."
