thaFormula.com - Now back when "Things Fall Apart" dropped, you said you named the album that because you felt things were moving fast in Hip-Hop, but in the wrong direction. Looking back at what you said and at how Hip-Hop is today, do you think that maybe you didn't appreciate more what was happening back then?

Black Thought - Yeah, I don't know man. Everything is correlated. If what didn't happen before never happened there would be no what's happening now, but it just is what it is. There was no way I could have appreciated it more than I did. I appreciated what I was doing and I appreciated Hip-Hop music and I had the utmost appreciation for it, but yeah, it's fucked up. Like Hip-Hop is over as I know it and as people my age know it. That shit is no more so it did fall apart years ago.

thaFormula.com - Before you decided to scrap your solo album that you had been working on, did you have a vision of what you wanted your actual solo album to be like?

Black Thought - Nah, I didn't have like a vision for the album. The songs that were for my solo album became "Phrenology." Songs like "Water," "Thought At Work," and "We Will Rock You." Like 9 of the songs that were on "Phrenology" were songs that were from my solo album. It ain't that I scrapped it, I just called it something different because as a Black Thought album it wasn't going to count towards my debt to the label. I owed Geffen and MCA records so I wasn't trying to start over. If I'm gonna call it "The Roots" then it's gonna count. It didn't count though, I was just doing the record because it was a record that I wanted to do. At that point in the game we (The Roots) weren't using a lot of outside producers. Our camp wasn't the camp that it is now. So I wanted other production and I reached out for it and you know me against other production is considered a solo record. I don't know why because I'm a solo artist. I'm the only MC in my band, I'm the vocalist but you know if I get you to do a beat for me, then that's me solo. If I get Questlove to do it then it's "The Roots." That's just how it is.

thaFormula.com - I ask because to this day people are still waiting for a "solo" album from you...

Black Thought - Yeah, but they trippin'. Every fucking album I put out is a solo album. Go buy my 11 CD's and shit. They are all solo albums. That's what I'm saying. People that tell me, "yo why you scrap your solo record? I'm still waiting for that shit." How many albums have I put out since "Phrenology?" They've all been solo albums. They're introspective, they are all about me, I'm the only MC on them and shit. Like I may have a couple of guests, but I would have guests on a solo album too. There is completely no difference, its just perception. If I said the last Roots album was the Black Thought solo album, it would have been perceived as the Black Thought solo album and shit and not "Game Theory." It's all in how people perceive the shit man.

thaFormula.com - So if you would have actually followed through with that perception and called it a Black Thought solo album, would you have done it the same exact way as you record a Roots album with the live instrumentation and everything else?

Black Thought - Yeah, I mean the way I do the Roots albums are just the way I work, period. I don't only use live instrumentation. I use you know whatever I feel like. Whatever sounds right is what I use. I don't discriminate. I don't feel like I'm so musical that anything I do has to have instruments on it and shit. It's like whatever works and whatever is banging is what I do. I only fuck with music that I get a feeling for.

thaFormula.com - Do you or have you ever felt underrated as an MC?

Black Thought - Nah, I don't feel underrated.

thaFormula.com - Now when you guys came out, you were known as the first Hip-Hop band or one of the first, and during this time the Beastie Boys began using live instrumentation, do you ever wonder or wish you guys could have worked together back then?

Black Thought - We did work with the Beastie Boys, that's one of the first bands that we went on tour with. If you mean on a record, not particularly and shit. Like I would, but it's not like that's my life dream. Like I have worked with them. I don't differentiate touring with someone and then booking me to do a lot of shows. That's just as good as them putting me on a record. I don't give a fuck. It's not like "oh why didn't you put me on a record," but how come you gave me all these thousands of dollars in concert money? So yeah the Beastie Boys is one of the first bands that ever gave the Roots a chance and took us out on the road.

thaFormula.com - I just wonder sometimes what it would have sounded like because I thought you guys would and still could have made some crazy records together…

Black Thought - Yeah that shit would probably be dope but you know my lyrical content and my beliefs differ from the Beastie Boys beliefs and what they are talking about. So that's why you probably will never hear Black Thought and the Beastie Boys you know rapping together on a record. There are things that we have in common that we stand for but you know we just have two separate lists of ideals.

thaFormula.com - Why do you think it took so long for Hip-Hop groups to put out live albums seeing as that's how Hip-Hop started out in the park?

Black Thought - Because it has to come back. It's like if that's where it started then it's gonna take a long time to come back full circle to where it started. It's got to go everywhere else it could possibly go before it comes back to where it started. It's a cycle. It has to go through all those changes and shit and then come back through full circle.

thaFormula.com - Many people debate over what a real MC battle should be like. Some say "writtens" are cool, other feel it should be all "freestyles." Do you have a definition of what it should be?

Black Thought - I don't have a definition, it's up to you. It's up to you to choose your own weapon and shit. If you duel with somebody and y'all decide you wanna use guns, then it's a duel with pistols. If you decide you want to use a sword, then it's a duel with swords. That's the same thing. If you want to use some shit you already wrote and compare who has the better stock of rhymes they have written on deck, then that's one thing or if you wanna see who can come up with the best shit off the top, that's another thing. I don't see people battling today. That shit is prehistoric to me. Like who battles?

thaFormula.com - I mean like when they do the Fight Clubs and battles of that nature…

Black Thought - Oh yeah, shit like that. Yeah I think that shit is up to either the referee or whoever is moderating it or MC'ing. Like it's up to you to determine that first. Like "yo we gonna battle, it's gonna be written" or "if we gonna battle its gonna be off the top."

thaFormula.com - When you look at the battles of today and the battles of yesterday, do you think that it's in peoples heads when they say we have taken a step back lyrically?

Black Thought - No it ain't in their head. Lyrically? Fuck, there ain't no lyrics man. Muthafuckas don't even uh, back in the day, 20 years ago, 15 years ago, just the vocabulary was so much broader. We were all younger, we were all closer to college and high school age where we were immersed in all this different literature and all these different vocabulary words and shit and we would use them in our songs. We would use them in conversation. It's like you don't even realize it, but as you grow older, the longer the time has been since you were in school and were exposed to that, then like the more inactive it becomes. And I mean now as MC's, like people who rap, they rap about bullshit. They rap about nothing, nothing! "This is why I'm hot, because you not." Like that's what the fuck lyrics is about now? So you know I don't listen to that shit so don't even ask me.

thaFormula.com - So with that being said, what keeps you sharp and motivated in 2007?

Black Thought - I got a family to take care of and kids to feed. That's my motivation, this is my job. I don't have enough training in any other field to you know start that shit at this late age. So this is what I do and so that's why I do it.

thaFormula.com - Was there ever a point where it wasn't just that, that motivated you?

Black Thought - I mean when I was young. Before I had a realistic view on the world and shit.

thaFormula.com - But when you do that Thought, and it becomes about supporting your family, how does that effect your music and I don't mean in a bad way, I just wonder how does that affect you and your music mentally?

Black Thought - I don't know, it makes it more real and it makes your shit that much more important. It's different when you're doing it for fun and when you're doing it to eat.

thaFormula.com - Does it change your lyrics and how you write the tracks?

Black Thought - No not necessarily. What changes your lyrics is once you got kids and they are able to listen to what you are saying. Then you know, your lyrics may change to become more politically correct, something that you wouldn't mind your children listening to.

thaFormula.com - Do you ever think that maybe Hip-Hop hasn't changed as much as we think it has, but that maybe as we have gotten older we have just had a hard time accepting any change in Hip-Hop as we know it?

Black Thought - I mean whether you have a hard time accepting it or not, you can't deny the fact that the shit has changed. It's unexplainable how much Hip-Hop and not even just Hip-Hop, how much the world has changed. No, it's not in your head, it's not your imagination. Every fucking thing is changing everyday B.

thaFormula.com - Now you have had some things said about you in papers like The Village Voice and The Times, why does it bother you so much what the mainstream publications say when before it never mattered what media on that level said about us?

Black Thought - Well when you got muthafuckas with such a large following where millions of muthafuckas read that paper everyday, if they discredit something that you're doing, then it's gonna fucking effect you. Their opinion is gonna immediately be the opinion of all of their fans or whoever reads their publication. So if it's some shit that's untrue or some shit that you feel is unjust or off point, then yeah that shit is gonna effect you and I'm gonna feel the same kind of way about it. So that it didn't matter before, that was then and it's not before anymore, it's now. It is mainstream media and it's like the past was the past, so what it didn't matter before?

thaFormula.com - So why does it matter now?

Black Thought - Because there are different things at stake. It's just more risks on the table because people have family's, because people aren't doing it for fun, because people are realizing that this is their only chance at a career in life and the shit is just changing.

thaFormula.com - What's the status of the "Dangerous Thoughts" album your working on with Danger Mouse?

Black Thought - It's going well. Like we are still working on it but I just got other shit to do and he has other shit to do but we are still doing the album. It don't really have a direction and shit though. I do albums that have direction when I'm doing different projects. This shit with Danger Mouse is just he and I getting together and seeing what comes out of it.

thaFormula.com - Now after what happened with DJ Drama, did it affect the mix tape you guys were working on in any way?

Black Thought - Nah. It's not necessarily not happening, it's just something that I decided to fall back on for a second and shit because I really got to finish this new Roots record.

thaFormula.com - Sales wise were you satisfied with how "Game Theory" ended up doing for you guys?

Black Thought - You have to be. Like you have to accept that and shit. Happy or not happy, what the fuck does that matter? Like the record came out, it was lauded the way it was lauded and all you can do is keep it moving. I never made a cent from record sales ever. In all of my career since 1987 to 2007, my shit has never been about making a quarter from selling a record because I haven't. I have never made a record sale royalty ever. Never, ever, ever! So that's how much of a fuck I give about royalties. I don't give a fuck. I don't make albums to sell records. I make albums so I can continue doing shows and getting work and doing what I do to make money. I need to sell a fucking billion records to make a dollar.

thaFormula.com - You never made a dollar off of one record?

Black Thought - Not 50 cents. I never made 20 cents off record sales. I make money from my records being played. I make money from royalties and shit, I make money from publishing and writing my songs, but mechanical record sales royalties, nah that's a fucking fantasy. Yeah that's how the industry is.

thaFormula.com - So to close it out, how is everything going with the new Roots record?

Black Thought - Oh it's 80 percent finished. That shits coming out probably in November or December. Everybody's record is coming out this summer so we're trying to let everybody come out first.

feedback: info@thaformula.com

Be  sure to join the over 600,000 Industry Heads that have signed up to our exclusive mailing list!!  Click here to join and receive exclusive interviews only available to members. Leave contact info ( name, email address, city, state, and country) at info@thaformula.com.