Black Thought’s battering ram of a Hot 97 freestyle blew up earlier this week, garnering over 800,000 views in a couple days. The Roots’ MC went off for 10 minutes, barely pausing for breath, tipping his hat to Kendrick Lamar, Tupac, Shakespeare, Rakim, Yeats, Voltaire, Kim Kardashian, and F Scott Fitzgerald. If you’ve somehow avoided watching it already, go do so right now.Last night, he moved out from behind his microphone on The Tonight Show to sit down for an interview with host Jimmy Fallon. Fallon was his usual self—a little too effusive to fully vibe with—but there were some nice moments. Black Thought joked that he wanted to steal Fallon’s job, Fallon presented the rapper with a scroll of his lyrics from the freestyle, and the two brought up old stories about The Roots’ formation in Philadelphia, with Questlove laughing from behind the kit.But the highlight was another one-minute freestyle from Black Thought towards the end. Here’s some:
I look forward to a future in which we settle in to watch The Tonight Show with Black Thought.Follow Alex Robert Ross on Twitter.The meaning of a scrimmage I forgot
I go full throttle, whether exhibition match or not
On my off day, I get it how I live, the boss way
Years of blood, sweats and tears would have cost me
To ball like Vince Lombardi and Paul McCartney
Think like Marcus Garvey and dress sharply