Credit: Wikimedia

Black Thought is a master of his craft and considered one of the best MCs of all time for good reason. As the lead vocalist of The Roots, he’s released classic albums like 1995’s Do You Want More?!!!??!, 1996’s Illadelph Halflife and 1999’s Things Fall Apart. Fast-forward to today, he’s branched out with equally impressive projects alongside Danger Mouse, Salaam Remi and 9th Wonder.

The 51-year-old (real name Tariq Trotter) wouldn’t have developed the skills on display today without some of his inspirations. He cites Rakim, Big Daddy Kane, and Whodini as early influences while also nodding to George Clinton, Stevie Wonder, and Sly and the Family Stone.

However, his favourite rap verse of all time belongs to Kool G Rap. The New York City rapper is one of the most gifted lyricists ever to do it, inspiring future greats such as Biggie Smalls, Nas, Eminem and Jay-Z. Thought’s ultimate G Rap verse appears on ‘Road to the Riches’ from his 1989 album with DJ Polo.

“Kool G Rap has always been super scalpel sharp,” he told Pitchfork. “It was, you know, it was repetitive in that way, but in a good way. In a way, that was inspiring to me. That sort of rubbed off, whether it was what I was trying to do or not, you know what I mean? It just, that’s what was impressive for me.”

Thought went into detail about the first time he heard the song as a school kid, having just formed a partnership with Questlove. Little did he know then that it was the origins of The Roots.

“The first time I heard ‘Road to the Riches’ I was probably somewhere ninth or 10th grade,” he explained. “I recently formed a rap group with my partner, who was a drummer at the time, who would later go on to call himself Questlove, and I would later call myself Black Thought. We would later become The Roots but we were, I don’t know what we were called at that time.

“I was also working after school I had an after school job at a pizza place called Pizzeria Uno. And I remember I had like a yellow sort of sports Walkman that was chunky and you could drop it without breaking it and stuff. I would listen to this record on my way to work and on my way home at three o’clock in the morning after work.”

Black Thought could relate to the lyrics due to his job at the time, giving him inspiration as a young man trying to make it in life. “I just really identified with the story of not only was it a rags to riches story, with which I could absolutely identify because I was in the rags phase of my life,” he said. “But he was talking about in this tale, which is a well-rounded sort of narrative and a full cautionary tale.

“He was talking about working in a restaurant, and being a porter. And washing dishes and sweeping floors and doing many of the things that I was doing while listening to this record. So, it sort of gave me hope. You know what I mean? It gave me hope as an artist that where I was in life, I wasn’t necessarily destined to be there forever.”