Black Thought | still from video
Watch Black Thought get his croon on in new “Conception” video
Mouthpiece of hip-hop heroes The Roots, Philaelphia’s Tariq Trotter — better known as Black Thought — got a lot of much-deserved mass-acclaim over the past twelve months, first for his viral freestyle on Hot 97 and later for his debut solo EP, Streams of Thought Vol. 1.
The sequel to that project is out on Monday, November 26th, and Thought’s new video gives a teaser of the EP; “Conception” opens on the MC not just spitting but singing in such a honey-dipped gravel delivery that we’re wondering why he didn’t provide hooks for Roots jams more often.
The video alternates between beautiful amber, green and red tones as Thought rocks the mic for a dance party grooving in the studio, and a more cinematic depiction of a love story in the city on the verses. Check out a teaser of the Morian Thomas-directed video below; Tidal subscribers can watch the full thing here.
The cover art for Streams of Thought Vol. 2 is also visually striking. A collaboration with artist Lesliw Hewitt oit shows a blue notebook on an olive carpet with script scrawled on the front and a faded photo in the center. Whether its sketches or verses, you can’t help what the worn notebook contains — a window into the mind of Tariq, as it were.
#StreamsofThought Vol. 2 cover art collaboration with visual artist Leslie Hewitt — presenting “Riffs on Real Time (Streams of Thought)” pic.twitter.com/I2uvvH0n2X
— Black Thought (@blackthought) November 15, 2018
As Okayplayer reports, Black Thought and Hewitt will appear at the MoMA in New York City on November 28 for the series Conversations: Among Friends; tickets and more information can be found here.