Black Thought

Tariq “Black Thought” Trotter a.k.a. Bad Lieutenant, Big Bank Willie Gank, and ‘Riq Geez Born October 3, 1972. is the MC of the Philadelphia-based hip hop group The Roots. Although nowhere near the most popular performer in hip-hop, Black Thought and The Roots have a solid and devoted following. Thought, who co-founded The Roots with drummer ?uestlove (Ahmir Thompson), is widely lauded for his lyrics’ political bent, lyrical complexity, and his live performances.

Tariq and ?uest met in the Philadelphia High School for Creative Performing Arts, and formed a drummer/MC duo performing on the streets of Philly and at talent shows. Thought would subsequently spend some time as one of two MCs in the group The Square Roots: the other one was Malik B.

A name change (to simply The Roots) and an album release (Organix) Black Thought and Malik struck a balance, with Malik bringing more personal raps and Thought oriented more towards a more political style infused with battle raps.

After Malik B. left the group due to drug issues, Thought continued drifting toward the political, and was featured on several other records like Common’s One Day it’ll All Make Sense, Linkin Park’s Reanimation and more recently its frontman Mike Shinoda’s The Rising Tied, as well as Damian Marley’s Welcome to Jamrock and The Coup’s Pick a Bigger Weapon.