Before the conversation even starts, Black Thought is already bridging past and present—moving from festival stages to intimate rooms while keeping his sharpest work in rotation.
As the voice of The Roots, he enters 2026 with momentum on multiple fronts, led by the announcement of The Roots Picnic, set for May 30–May 31, 2026, at Belmont Plateau in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia. The lineup sparked immediate buzz across social media, with the group headlining opening night alongside Jaÿ-Z—a full-circle moment tracing back to their MTV Unplugged collaboration nearly 25 years ago—with Erykah Badu closing out the second night.
Running parallel is the continued evolution of his solo catalog. The Streams of Thought series—Vol. 1 (2018) with 9th Wonder, Vol. 2 (2018) with Salaam Remi, and Streams of Thought, Vol. 3: Cane & Able (2020)—became a showcase of his musicality outside of The Roots umbrella, further cementing himself as a lyrical stalwart and one of the purest emcees hip-hop has produced.
Now, Black Thought’s latest installment, Streams of Thought, Vol. 4, waits in the wings, with a tentative release date scheduled for this year. Arriving amid a prolific run that includes the acclaimed collaborative efforts Cheat Codes (2022) with Danger Mouse, African Dreams (2022) with Seun Kuti, and Glorious Game (2023) with El Michels Affair, the upcoming album has been billed as some of the best work of Black Thought’s career.
Black Thought at the 2025 Peabody Trailblazer Award held at The Sun Rose West Hollywood on October 10, 2025 in West Hollywood, California.
JC Olivera/Variety via Getty Images
“I feel like it’s an opus,” he says of the project during a phone conversation in March. “It’s not my magnum opus, per se,” he added, slightly tempering expectations.
However, his exuberance regarding Streams of Thought, Vol. 4 remains palpable, as he feels the music aligns with the overarching conversations and occurrences impacting the world today.
“I listened back to what I was saying and what some of the concepts of this record were when KT [14KT] and I sort of embarked on the journey,” Black Thought shares. “I feel it’s become more urgent and more timely and more relevant now.”
In the meantime, the 52-year-old has placed much of his focus on his residency, Black Thought Presents: Another Night At The Jazz Club, at the Aman New York. The dedicated music venue, Aman New York’s Jazz Club, is open to non-resident guests, a first for the space, making Black Thought’s residency equal parts inclusive and exclusive. Backed by longtime collaborators David Guy, James Poyser, and Ian Hendrickson-Smith, alongside Brian Richburg, the group blends soul, jazz, hip-hop, and lovers rock into an immersive set.
LaMont Richardson
With each performance, expect surprise collaborations like veteran vocalist Nicole Wray’s appearance at the opening show. The atmosphere is deliberately controlled—no flash photography, no recording, phones on silent—leaving room for Black Thought’s smoky vocals, aura, and long-held mystique to fully settle in.
VIBE spoke with the emcee about the inspiration and ambiance of his residency, the anticipated Streams of Thought, Vol. 4 album, the possibility of new music from The Roots, The Roots Picnic’s economic impact on Philadelphia, and more.
Your residency feels like an intimate and elevated experience. How did that concept come to life?
I just had a desire to sort of cater to myself, really. To people like me, to an audience of a certain age, and that has had a certain amount of experience. That have traveled and set a bar for themselves when they go out. It has to be worth it. It has to be worth the trip.
Back in the day, there was plenty of that in New York City, in Philly, and all over the country, but times have changed. We’re in a point of time now where the night belongs to the young, to the youth, so to speak.
There’s nothing that really feels adult or elevated in the ways that I feel it should, so I wanted to create something. I wanted to create some place, any place, really, that could speak to that and the demand. The venue at that hotel was one of the few places in New York City that I felt was able to check all those boxes. A lot of music residencies in New York City, especially sort of the intimate thing, is part of what’s always made New York feel like New York, right?
The fact that you could experience a one-of-one sort of thing. That you couldn’t be able to experience in the world. That’s what has made New York the global music capital over the years. I guess its proximity and the ability to sort of experiment, and the fact that it’s a cultural exchange.
I wanted to bring that back at a venue that I also wouldn’t mind having a drink and relaxing in. Something that felt nice, and The Aman speaks to all that.
Jazz has always been a foundational influence for you. Can you speak to your love for jazz?
In terms of jazz and music in general, my love for musicality and the live collaborative improvisational experience is that it gives the opportunity to create something that is living and evolving. That is a body of work that continues to grow as you make a new installment.
So, if I’m doing this every month, every time I come with a new installment in this residency, it’s adding on to the original idea. It’s not just a concert; it becomes like a living body of work. And then night to night, just as in the jazz setting, the set can shift in the spur of the moment.
A guest can appear out of the audience, you know what I’m saying? Like at the Blue Note, and then become part of something that’s unique and unrepeatable. I’ve always loved legendary iconic New York City venues like the Blue Note for that reason. I wanted to create an opportunity to experience something comparable in a different sort of setting.
Speaking of venues, you and Questlove work with the Brooklyn Bowl a lot. You’ve also got Hollywood Bowl, where you have A Great Night in Hip-Hop, which is set for June. Can you describe the relationship with Hollywood Bowl and Brooklyn Bowl?
Brooklyn Bowl is a group of venues owned by the same investment group or the same partners in real estate who, a long time ago, owned a venue called Wetlands. It was here in New York City, right outside the Holland Tunnel many, many years ago.
It’s where we had our very first jam sessions that would ultimately become something that we’d take to Philadelphia and start calling The Black Lily. But the first venue where we actually held the jam sessions was the Wetlands here in New York City. It was the same owner, so we’ve had a long and storied history.
There’s a Brooklyn Bowl in Philadelphia, there’s a Brooklyn Bowl in Las Vegas. They’ve opened these venues all around the country, but they’re actual bowling alleys that also serve as live music venues. The Hollywood Bowl is a legendary amphitheater that’s in Hollywood. It’s one of my favorite venues in the country.
My top two venues are the Hollywood Bowl and probably Red Rocks Amphitheater in Colorado for the same reason. In the amphitheaters, I feel like I can almost make eye contact with everyone in the audience. They’re just laid out and designed in a really thoughtful way that makes you feel like you could sort of reach out and touch. You just have a different connection with everyone in the entire venue. Just beautiful, beautiful auditoriums with wonderful acoustics and all of the things. In terms of what we’re doing at Hollywood Bowl now, it’s become the West Coast home base—the venue on the West Coast where we now have the annual evolution of the Roots Picnic.
Roots Picnic
We do like a one-off, one-night-only, super-closely curated Roots Picnic experience that happens every year, usually in conjunction with, or around the same weekend as, the BET Awards. And yes, it’s become an annual thing. As the Roots Picnic brand continues to expand, the idea is to take it not only to the West Coast but beyond. Like other places, other countries. I feel like all of that is coming.
Speaking of the Roots Picnic, how has the festival impacted the local economy in Philly?
The Roots Picnic affects really everything in Philly in the time leading up to it. Once the announcement goes out about who we booked for the festival that year, the city sort of goes into overdrive in terms of the accommodation.
Philly is always going above and beyond to accommodate us and make it feel like not only our hometown but also the home and foundation of this brand, so it isn’t just a music festival. The Roots Picnic is a cultural institution for Philly. When you look at the picnic, it reflects really an evolution not only of hip-hop, but also of Black music.
Black music, community, creativity, courage, sacrifice, perseverance, and all the things. It’s something that was created on a small scale and grown slowly but surely over the past 20 years. This is something that has stood the test of time. It’s become a proven, scalable model.
The original idea for the picnic was to break down genre barriers and bring hip-hop, R&B, soul, and all the things into one short shared space. A shared experience that was compatible with what we were experiencing out on the road touring Europe and doing some of those real-deal big festivals overseas.
What does it mean to have Jaÿ-Z headline for the first time? He hasn’t headlined a live show recently, and this will be his first one.
On the stage, it’s huge, man. Jaÿ-Z is one of the most revered artists to the city of Philadelphia. Philly loves Jay-Z, like to the moon and back. The fact that he’s headlining the picnic, I think it represents a full circle on a few different levels. The Roots has been his backing band before. He has signed The Roots to a record deal before, when he was an executive at Def Jam.
Just a long relationship with Questlove and with myself. I feel like this billing is going to represent completion in many ways. I think what the Roots Picnic is bringing to Philadelphia and the surrounding area this year is unparalleled.
Roots Picnic
Thinking back to Jaÿ-Z’s MTV Unplugged, which was also 25 years ago. What was the energy like leading up to that show?
I think that move at that period of time was strategic. It was about building a thing. It was about creating avenues for ourselves and a platform where there hadn’t necessarily been one. I feel like it represents more now. It’s a legacy moment. The Roots backing Jaÿ-Z on Unplugged was about the potential it held, and I feel like it definitely served this purpose in that moment and definitely lent validity to what The Roots has done and what we’ve been able to do in our career.
What do you feel makes him gravitate to Philly?
Philly has always been a city of innovators. We’ve always prided ourselves on individual wit and just being unique. There’s something about the way we walk, and the way we talk, and the way we do what it is that we do that’s different from someone from the South, or from New York, or from the West, or Midwest, or anywhere else in the world. I think it’s that unique sort of Philadelphian sensibility that just appeals to you. It has mass appeal.
I want to shift gears to Streams of Thought, Vol. 4. You teased last year that it was coming out soon. What’s the status on that?
I think we’re finishing up a partnership for that project right now. Me and KT have been just trying to figure out the best place to do it, and I think we figured it out. I don’t want to jump the gun and bite my tongue, but it’s coming out soon, man. It’s such a beautiful piece of work.
You’ve described it as your opus. What makes this album feel like your defining statement?
I feel like I still have so much to say and to do. But in terms of just speaking to a desire to show a more vulnerable side as an artist and to show more personal depth to my writing, I think I’ll reach that on Streams of Thought, Vol. 4. In terms of just balancing the personal with the socio-political commentary, I think I hit a stride in that. I think the lyrics were timely in a way when I recorded them, that they had somehow become more timely now.
Right. When did the recording process for Streams of Thought, Vol. 4 start? And when did it end?
Definitely over the past few years, but the project has been done for a minute.
You already spoke about your collaboration with Redman, and it sounds meaningful to you. What made that verse stand out?
It’s just been a long time coming. We talked about some of our history, sending songs back and forth, and our desire to work together. Having come close in the past, it’s never come all the way to fruition. This again talks about the full circle moment of it all. This also represents our mutual admiration and respect for one another. Redman has influenced me, as an artist, I’ve influenced Redman. I think that’s the beauty of it, man.
I think it’s one of those situations where we’re from the same graduating class and cut from such a similar cloth. Philly is so much like Newark, especially when we came out. I feel like we had some of the same things to prove, and that we were able to do so. And I live in Jersey now. New Jersey artists also hold a special place in my heart.
What’s another collaboration from Streets of Thought, Vol. 4 that you can’t wait for fans to hear?
I can’t wait for fans to hear this J.I.D joint. He’s made mention of it, I think. We got a dope record—me, J.I.D., and Saba Pivot. I do think sometimes the artists are surprised at some of the other artists that I forge relationships with. I think it’s always cool for folks to find out, “Oh damn, I didn’t even know these cats had that sort of rapport,” but such is the case. I’m excited for that record.
I’m excited for this record with me, Tobe [Nwigwe], and Krit. I’m in for everything, man. Everything to come out. I keep the bar where I keep the bar. When it’s done, it’s done. There is no particular order that I need stuff to drop in or whatever. So, I’m just excited for the whole project.
I spoke with Questlove about a year ago, and he said that The Roots were starting on a new album. What’s the status on that?
If he told you a year or so ago we were starting, man, we’d be in trouble [laughs]. We’re pretty much done. Hopefully it’s coming out sooner [rather] than later.
Can you say 2026?
I mean, it could. It should.
This year is a year of anniversaries for many artists from that ’96 era. You, Erykah Badu, everybody. How do you plan to celebrate Illadelph Halflife this year?
Well, we celebrated thirty years of Illadelph.
I think it was Do You Want More.
It was. It was thirty years of Do You Want More. In the performance, it’s like we split all the material that we did in our Do You Want More performance. Half of that was Illadelph Halflife stuff. It was like “Concerto of the Desperado” and “It Just Don’t Stop” and stuff like that.
I feel like the only thing we will probably do different is maybe perform Illadelph in its entirety as we celebrate it. But now I think back, maybe we did that at one of these picnics. We may have done the 20th anniversary of Illadelph or something like that. We may have already performed it in its entirety at the picnic. I don’t know, bro. That’s the Questlove’s department.
Next year marks roughly 40 years since you and Questlove started on this journey.
Yo, you know what? Just yesterday, he sent the text to The Roots thread. He said that yesterday [March 24, 2026] was 40 years to the day that we met. He somehow [remembered] because it was like his start of coming from private school to public school and all these things. He remembers it vividly. Apparently, it has been 40 years exactly.
What’s it like in this moment for you personally to reflect on the road traveled?
It’s a beautiful thing, man. So much has taken place and sort of played out just as we planned. There’s also the beauty in the unplanned of it all, and it’s just been a beautiful journey. There’s not much that I would change in terms of the career I’ve had thus far. Not that it’s over, but we’ve been blessed enough to, thus far, enjoy such a lovely career, man. We’ve gotten to see the benefit of hard work. We’ve been around long enough to see it pay off and to usher in many an era, and we’re still here.
Do you feel that hip-hop has moved beyond battle rap? There’s a conversation there with Kendrick and [Drake beef]. J. Cole had a statement. Jay-Z recently made a statement. I know that your style and Philly’s known for battle rap. Even if you’re on a song, sometimes you’re kind of competing. What’s your stance on that, as far as battle rap?
I feel like there’s a place in time for everything. In terms of what I would want to define me as an artist, I think a lot of it has to do with my age. I’m in my 50s. For me, with the valuable time that I’m given to say it, I want to say more. I want there to be a broad range of topics with topical discussion.
I feel like sometimes when the idea is just to one-up the artist that you’re featuring with or someone that you’re sort of sharing the stage or spotlight with in that moment, that could potentially overshadow making the composition the best that it could be. I think the idea should always be to be complementary.
Not necessarily to say I’m gonna get on this record and just compliment the other artists that I’m rapping with, but to be complimentary in aesthetic. Like stylistically. A good example of that is I just had this conversation earlier today with someone who was telling me, “Yo, I was arguing with my guy about who cooked who between you and Big Pun on “Super Lyrical.” I mean, this is a record that we did probably 30 years ago at this point.
But on that song, because both Big Pun and I were students of the Kool G Rap school of lyricism, I knew that if I rapped the same way Pun rapped, which would have come natural, then it would have felt like overkill. It would have felt like sort of trying to one-up one another in a way that wasn’t what we were going for.
We wanted something that felt more cohesive. So, the way to be more complimentary in that segment was not to battle, not to push back, and try to out-Kool G Rap Big Pun on that record. I just went the total opposite, and that made for a record that people are still talking about today. I feel like that’s what made it a classic. If I had just went in on my [imitates Big Pun], then it wouldn’t have been as much of a standout as it was.
The Soulquarians. Will we ever see an official tour or documentary with the complete lineup?
I don’t know, bro. I mean, never say never, right? Maybe there’ll be something that we put together, that some of the musicians involved with Soulquarians put together and take on the road. Or for some platform for the people in some way, shape, or form to honor those of the Soulquarians who are no longer with us. There’s that, but I’m not sure. There’s nothing that I can speak of to you in this moment.
Mount Rushmore of The Roots songs?
“Clock With No Hands,” “Get Busy,” “Dear God 2.0,” and “You Got Me.”
Black Thought of The Roots performs onstage during Day 1 of the 2024 ESSENCE Festival of Culture presented by Coca-Cola at Caesars Superdome on July 05, 2024 in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Josh Brasted/Getty Images for ESSENCE
