MyMindWarpsandBends
33119 AllMoneyIn4Ever
I say this cuz when people mention the GOATS of this shyt they always fail to mention him, but whenever he’s brought up people consider him to be top tier
Where do y’all rank BlackThought when it comes to true MC’s?
- Thread starter MyMindWarpsandBends
- Start date
He’s dope but I could never get into him. Top 30?
blankstairz
Superstar
Thought is cool and respected.
One of the best technically, in terms of flow, fitting into the pocket of the beat and breath control on the mic.
Content is his weakness. Whether it is ill metaphors, punchlines, storytelling or just saying some real shyt that people feel.
Always thought even though Thought was the better MC overall, Malik B brought something to the table that Thought lacked. Yin and Yang type thing. Hearing them go back and forth on those older Roots records was great.
No Alibi is one of their best records. Thought's verses on that are some of his best flows ever, especially his 1st verse.
One of the best technically, in terms of flow, fitting into the pocket of the beat and breath control on the mic.
Content is his weakness. Whether it is ill metaphors, punchlines, storytelling or just saying some real shyt that people feel.
Always thought even though Thought was the better MC overall, Malik B brought something to the table that Thought lacked. Yin and Yang type thing. Hearing them go back and forth on those older Roots records was great.
No Alibi is one of their best records. Thought's verses on that are some of his best flows ever, especially his 1st verse.
....would say top 25....he still sound hungry...same tenacity....its hard tho...he in my top 25 but could in someone else top 50...its one of those kinda things....
Ukbrotha
Superstar
Thought is in my top 10. I've been a roots fan since 99.
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Easily top 15, i think he gets forgotten in the GOAT convo simply because of the type of group the Roots are. If they had released their singles on some The Roots feat Black Thought shyt instead of just The Roots, he would get mentioned more in that debate.
KravenMorehead™
Barrel Brothers.®
Personal top 10.
Actually it's top 5. Cause it always goes
NaS, Ghost, Doom. <=== Tier 1
André, Blackthought, Mos Def <=== Tier 2
Actually it's top 5. Cause it always goes
NaS, Ghost, Doom. <=== Tier 1
André, Blackthought, Mos Def <=== Tier 2
blankstairz
Superstar
I think it is the beats too and ?uestlove's direction of the group.
Illadelph was like their only straight up hip-hop record.
Thought never really had the schowcase for himself to rap over pure hip-hop type records, outside of Illadelph.
Every now and then you would get a 75 bars, where it's just Thought going off.
The Black Thought (and beats he raps over ) you hear on freestyles on youtube, you rarely get to hear on Roots records. Thought gets buried on these weak concept records of theirs.
Rather hear this type of Black Thought with J. Period over James Brown beats:
You can hear how animated and inspired he feels in rapping over beats like this.
Plus, Thought isn't a self-promoter. He was a reluctant talent for years. People, to this day rarely know much about him. The tonight show has helped. They didn't know he could sing or his life growing up. Preferred to just rap and rarely talk in interviews. He didn't promote his childhood experience and life story like a lotta rappers.
TheDarceKnight
Veteran
In terms of pure rhyming ability, probably top 10-20 for sure.
His content is what has kept him from cracking the top 10 for me. As a rapper on his best day he may be the best. But he doesn't have a discography that would put him as a solo emcee up there with the Jay's and Nas's, etc. And for me I just put a lot into discographies when I rank artists, so it's not a shot at him at all. I love Thought.
His content is what has kept him from cracking the top 10 for me. As a rapper on his best day he may be the best. But he doesn't have a discography that would put him as a solo emcee up there with the Jay's and Nas's, etc. And for me I just put a lot into discographies when I rank artists, so it's not a shot at him at all. I love Thought.
be back in a bit
All Star
Agree with this 100%. He his voice and rap technique are top MC, he's just lacking the content. The Roots are great, but people usually won't think of you as a GOAT unless you have some solo material too.
Piff Perkins
Veteran
I like him but feel while he's a technical master, his content and songwriting are not particularly interesting when compared to people I feel deserve a spot in the top 5 or even top 10. Is he a better technical rapper than Ice Cube was at any point in his career? Yea...probably. But Ice Cube is in my top 10 and Black Thought isn't. Ice Cube has multiple songs, verses, and ALBUMS that make his presence on any top ten justified. Black Thought doesn't reach into my soul like that. I think this is the case with a lot of technically sound rappers. Same with Talib Kweli who you could say is more technical than Mos Def and uses bigger words...but I feel Mos Def way more.
Being in a group and rapping over live instrumentation hurts him too, not to mention the fact that Questlove is the defacto leader/director of the group's sound. The Roots have some great albums but they also have very middling albums, and I'm not sure they've done anything amazing in quite some time.
Being in a group and rapping over live instrumentation hurts him too, not to mention the fact that Questlove is the defacto leader/director of the group's sound. The Roots have some great albums but they also have very middling albums, and I'm not sure they've done anything amazing in quite some time.
