Black Thought is an exceptional lyricist who is often overlooked and underappreciated in hip-hop due to his unwillingness to make commercial rap music. The emcee (real name Tariq Trotter) is a fantastic wordsmith and has been recognised by the likes of Nas and Lord Jamar as one of the best storytellers in the culture.
Born and raised in Philadelphia, the rapper was born to parents who were both part of the Black-Islamic religious movement, The Nation Of Islam. As a result, his music is extraordinarily Afro-centric and politically controversial.
Although Trotter is highly lyrical and has a distinct flow of his own, in an interview with the What Had Happened Was podcast, Philadelphia instrumentalist, producer and journalist Questlove, who worked alongside Black Thought as a member of The Roots, revealed the various rappers Trotter impersonated on the group’s track, ‘In Your Dreams Kid’.
Speaking to Open Mike Eagle about the track from their 1995 album, Do You Want More?!!!??!, Questlove stated, “Tariq and I basically said that in order to make a mark, we have to scientifically study the DNA of every participant in this culture. So we were like, ‘Yo, the first thing that comes out has to be ‘In Your Dreams’ so that way people could see that Tariq was literally every emcee!”
In astonishment at how easily Trotter was able to impersonate other artists, Eagle stated, “So first of all, I just gotta say this: I have never felt worse about being an emcee in my life than right now. Like…just the amount of artistic development it takes to even solidly sound like yourself, let alone for him to not only have the cadences of all these other people, not only have the vocal ticks of all these people but to have the writing style of each individual emcee!”
You can see a list of all the MCs Black Thought impersonated on ‘In Your Dreams Kid’ below.
The MCs Black Thought mimicked on ‘In Your Dreams Kid’:
- Guru
- Afrika Baby Bam
- Mike G
- Q-Tip
- Pete Rock
- Ol’ Dirty Bastard
- Method Man
- Chuck D
- Busta Rhymes
- Kool G Rap
- Ice Cube