Quotes from Black Thought

We've been branded 'the thinking man's hip-hop.' So the music's got to have some level of maturity.

The first rhymes I wrote, I was 9. It was Kool Moe Dee-style.

I definitely enjoy performing on stage with The Roots.

The Roots are well-respected and considered vanguards in the music.

I started as a visual artist and I've always dealt with music in that same sort of way.

I feel like visual art, the culinary arts, the theatrical arts - the medium changes, the tools that you use to tell whatever the story changes, but you're still all telling stories.

You are an instrument if you understand your voice and how to use it - this sound, that sound and certain ranges and different pitch. Within that I try to find a rhythm and play the voice as if it was a horn.

Everything we've ever done has been for artistry's sake, and for the greater good and paying homage to those who came before us and paving the way for those who come after us.

What we were doing was alien in '92. We were less than immediately accepted by our fans and peers.

'Rise Up' is very necessary. Point blank.

I feel like I've been around for such a long time, as a writer and as an artist, that I need to sort of speak to the way that my perception of the world has sort of changed.

The Evolution of Greatness' was an amazing experience, and it's something that we hope to have been a steppingstone for us to come back and not only do more NBA All-Star performances, but do halftime performances at events like the Super Bowl.

I mean, I'm no superhero.

I grew up in Mount Airy, a middle-class enclave in the Northwestern area of Philadelphia.

I made the mistake of going to a barber who was not from Philly, and let's just say, I would never do that again.

Philly DJs sort of always won battles and always won awards and stuff like that and were always super sharp.

By the time I was, you know, 16 years old, I had done a lot of growing up.

We are true to our name. We're somewhat beneath the surface, and I think well always be to a certain extent.

The principles of true hip-hop have been forsaken, It's all contractual and about money makin'.

Crazy frustration, about my lovin situation; When patience was a virtue...but I wasn't used to waitin.

In a lot of places Jay-Z is considered God, Philly, our hometown being one of them.

We don't try to please everyone. Those older fans who expect something from The Roots are a tad more important to me than getting new fans.

I've become a functioning cog in the machine called The Roots, but in my youth I was comin' from a more braggadocious, egotistical perspective.

I used to be a Def Jam artist. I was - I survived Def Jam.