In an interview with Maria Myraine, Black Thought spoke on his relationship with legendary emcee Big Pun and the process of his collaboration with Pun on "Super Lyrical" off the big man's 1997 album Capital Punishment. (Listen to "Super Lyrical" below, Pun turned it up to eleven lyrically, goddam.)
"He and I would talk on the phone often and exchange bars and when he was working on his album he said he wanted me to get on his album," said Black Thought. "When he recorded 'Super Lyrical' he wasn't in the studio with me. He was on the road some place. I had just come from Europe and came straight from the airport to the [studio]... I knew the song, what I was going to spit, what the song concept was."
The Roots rapper demonstrated his intellect and appreciation for hip hop history when he spoke on the vast influence of Kool G Rap and Rakim on '90s rappers.
"I was also a fan from the gate from before 'I'm Not A Player.' He would spit those joints and I would be like, 'Dude is nice. [He's] a Puerto Rican [Kool G Rap], which essentially that's what artists like Nas, myself, so many of us are some sort of variation of G Rap meets Rakim meets someone else. I appreciated that about Pun."
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