Black Thought freestyles from his bedroom, plans a Tiny Desk At Home concert for this Friday

Philadelphia’s Tariq “Black Thought” Trotter has been keeping busy since he and his bandmates in The Roots stopped going to NBC Studios every day for their day job at The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.

In a recent appearance on Sway Calloway’s Bedroom Bars series, Black Thought talks about the creative tear he’s been on since being forced into self-isolation due to the Coronavirus quarantine.

Citing three new tracks recorded with producer Salaam Remi (who worked with him on the stellar Streams of Thought project), a collaboration with Smoke DZA, and “a couple surprises in the tuck,” he says “I’ve been more productive than if I had to go in, work in the city, work at NBC and go to the studio.”

Thought then launches at the drop of a hat into a freestyle from his bedroom. Calloway and his daughter watch admiringly from their side of the screen as he drops bars like “The killer lion separated from the pride / I rule zion, I am the most hated one alive / A gun was fired, another one expired / I represent the unwanted, unadmired.” Watch below.

This isn’t the only gig-from-home Black Thought or his Roots bandmates have lined up in the coming month; as Okayplayer reports, a week of events has been rolled out on the band’s YouTube page, from Questlove DJ sets to guitar talk with Captain Kirk and Thought deliversing a Tiny Desk From Home performance. More details can be found here. The annual Roots Picnic, previously scheduled for May 31st at the Mann Center, has been mored to Saturday, August 1st. Tickets and info here.