As an Amazon affiliate partner, Albumism earns commissions from qualifying purchases.

El Michels Affair & Black Thought
Glorious Game
Big Crown
Listen Below

Another year, another outstanding Black Thought collaborative endeavor. Considering the persistent absence of an album by the acclaimed Philadelphia collective The Roots, the group’s lead emcee Tariq “Black Thought” Trotter has taken on himself to record and release quite a few solo and partner projects. He often works exclusively with a single producer on each of these releases, each time pairing up with someone that fans don’t expect, but still makes a lot of sense. For his fifth of these projects, Black Thought collaborates with El Michels Affair and, to no surprise, the results are highly satisfying.

Black Thought has established history with El Michels Affair and its frontman Leon Michels. The group is a mainstay in the mix of the New York throwback funk and soul scene, sharing members with the Menahan Street Band and The Budos Band, a pair of like-minded collectives. El Michels Affair have released eight albums and is best known for Enter the 37th Chamber (2009) and its sequel Return To the 37th Chamber (2017), a pair of largely instrumental projects where they cover songs by the Wu-Tang Clan. Over the years, The Roots have enlisted members of El Michels Affair to bolster their ranks while serving as the house band for The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.

Glorious Game came together during the COVID pandemic. While much of the world was on lockdown, Thought reached out to Michels to see if he was interested in collaborating. Michels sent the Philly emcee some beats, and hours later Thought sent back full recordings. “As restrictions lightened up, we got together in the studio and worked on stuff,” Michels said in a recent interview with Bandcamp, recording more and more material at a rapid rate.

Glorious Game represents Michels’ first full foray into traditional hip-hop production (rather than just covering Wu-Tang tracks). To create the beats for the album, Michels employed the “sample yourself” approach, utilizing unreleased songs from the archives of his own Big Crown imprint. The results are appropriately soulful and fit well into Thought’s wheelhouse.

Lyrically, Glorious Game may be Black Thought’s most intimate and personal project. He spends a lot of time considering his upbringing in South Philly, and reflecting on the highs and lows that shaped his life. He says a lot in a limited amount of time, as he usually kicks just a pair of verses on each track. However, his approach makes the undertaking sound epic, even though only one song tops three minutes in length.

Watch the Official Videos & Live Performances:

Even though he’s on the other side of 50 and already arguably the GOAT emcee, Black Thought continues to find ways to get even better as an artist. He has never shied away from capturing the pain, despair, and violence that can run through the streets of South Philly, but on Glorious Game, he’s become an even stronger street reporter, creating vivid scenes within the confines of each song.

For much of Glorious Game, Black Thought turns his attention to the inner-city, chronicling the human experience for people of all walks of life. The reggae/dub influenced “Grateful” features Thought describing the rough-and-tumble residents that populate the streets. He recounts the tragedies of these “Dale Carnеgies with big dreams to get rich quick that fail horribly.” “Hollow Way” unfolds in two separate movements, with Thought narrating a pair of unforgiving winter nights on the streets of Philadelphia.

Glorious Game is at its best when Black Thought describes in minute detail the sights, sounds, smells, and feel of the South Philly neighborhoods of his youth. “The Weather” was inspired by Thought’s memories of cleaning his grandmother’s marble stairs. He transports the listener to these stairs and the front stoop, then painting in intricate detail a picture of a summer day on the blocks where he spent his youth. He captures everything, from the powerlines adorned with “pigeons and fly sneakers” to the cracks in the pavement to the “Peppermints in the Lazy Susan” of his grandma’s home. He captures the residents’ outright happiness, which can give way to wariness as the night falls.

Thought hones in on his own childhood innocence on “Miracle,” fondly reminiscing about life’s simple pleasure as a pre-teen. He recalls the joy of walking down the avenue, pursuing puppy love, making mixtapes, and eating Swedish Fish while playing hooky from school. Still, he conveys melancholy as well, as he documents how life’s hardships slowly encroach upon his idyllic existence. “Drifting in the dawn, everything was innocent and pure,” he raps. “Fast forward, I know ain’t nobody innocent no more.”

On “I Would Never,” Black Thought is unflinching in his portrayal of a place “where true regard for human lives is few and far.” But he emphasizes how his exposure to these environs made him a better person, explaining how these experiences can strengthen the ability and resolve of emcees and like-minded artists. “We repress it, then express it selectively through the bars,” he raps. “Be whoever you need to be, just don't forget who you are.”

And because Black Thought continues to be one of the greatest lyricists of all time, he does take opportunities to remind the audience of how nice he is on the mic. He displays his skills on the project’s title track, employing a laid-back flow over meandering guitar licks and a watery bassline “That's all, it ain’t too much talk,” he raps. “All y’all chumps, it ain’t enough chalk / Y’all thought the name was just Thought? / C'mon, I'm too strong for y'all to cut short.”

Black Thought gets introspective on Glorious Game as well. He describes his own metaphorical experience as an “alien” on “Protocol,” traversing Philadelphia via the SEPTA train, learning to appreciate everything humanity has to offer, while also trying to accept the constant threats of violence and death. The album ending “Alter Ego” is his meditation on aging and self-discovery. He considers how all the decisions he has made in his life, both good and bad, have led him to where he is now. However, he resolves that even as he’s entered his second half-century, he’ll continue to be a better person.

In the interview with Bandcamp, both Thought and Michels stated that they plan on recording more music as a team. “It’s proven itself too easy,” Michels states. “There’s no reason not to.” With Thought continuing to operate at the peaks of his talents and Michels able to craft soundscapes tailored to match the depth of subject matter, I’m hoping that this is another pairing that will endure. Black Thought still has so many more stories to tell.

Notable Tracks: “Alter Ego” | “Glorious Game” | “The Weather”

As an Amazon affiliate partner, Albumism earns commissions from qualifying purchases.

LISTEN: