-Every night throughout the show,
we get to watch one of the greatest MCs of all time
behind the mike.
This week, he dropped a ten-minute freestyle
on Hot 97
that blew up the Internet and was trending number one
on Twitter last night.
[ Cheers and applause ]
Let's take a look at a clip.
Take a look at this.
-♪ I'm a griot that make you wanna peacock your arm ♪
♪ Every heavy dignitary paying me top regards ♪
♪ Boy, I'm three optics far from your binoculars ♪
♪ So that smart money finna get that heat out the car ♪
♪ Yo, I'm K-Dot Lamar meets 2Pac Shakur ♪
♪ Got profiled by a few cops, too hot to charge ♪
[ Cheers and applause ]
-Please welcome, from the legendary Roots crew,
a multiple Grammy Award winner,
Tariq Trotter, A.K.A. Black Thought!
[ Cheers and applause ]
-T-Metaphor hand on the ball with five seconds left!
He does a reversible -- [ Laughs ]
He does a reversible slam!
T-Metaphor wins again!
[ Cheers and applause ]
-Now, that's what I'm talking about -- Tariq Trotter.
Yeah, T-Metaphor in the house.
Thank you so much.
I love having you on this side, man.
-Yeah, man, me too. You know, it's cool.
One step closer to behind the desk.
[ Laughter ]
-Unbelievable. Unbe--
[ Cheers and applause ]
Speaking of unbelievable, man, oh man,
when did you do that Hot 97 thing?
-Wednesday. -Gosh, that was unbelievable!
How in the heck do you do that?
That was all freestyle?
-Yeah, yeah. -What does that mean?
You went on for ten minutes.
-Yeah, I mean, you know -- -I can't rhyme.
I can't freestyle for 30 seconds.
Give me a word. Give me a word.
-Okay. [ Crowd shouting ]
-Tomato. [ Drum plays ]
♪ Tomato doesn't look like a potato ♪
♪ I eat a whole thing and then I say, see you late-o ♪
-But that's okay, though. [ Laughter ]
-Oh, but that's okay, though.
What were you feeling? Do you know when to get out?
-Yeah, yeah, you know, I mean, I planned on doing, like,
10 to 15 minutes, you know what I'm saying?
Just because I -- Well, here's the thing.
Funk Master Flex, Hot 97 freestyles,
it's an iconic moment.
It's super meaningful for a rapper to, you know,
get that platform.
And in recent weeks, recent months,
I've been checking out videos and the bar has been set,
like, kind of high.
So people go on for, you know,
six, eight, nine minutes or so.
-It's just -- when you watch it, you're just --
Honestly, you know, obviously, I'm your biggest fan,
but you know that.
-You -- you call me your second-favorite rapper.
[ Laughter ]
-I like rapping dudes, man. -Yeah, you do.
[ Laughter ]
-But you --
You got some praise on twitter.
Here's Lin-Manuel Miranda, loved you.
He gave you props.
Best hip hop verse in 2017.
Diddy gave you -- said this is the greatest freestyle
in all of hip hop history. -That's major.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-And you said, "That verse is just what
I had to say at the moment, lol."
That's what you said.
[ Laughter ]
I just love you. I love you.
This -- We printed out everything you said.
This is for you.
[ Light laughter ]
This is everything you said.
[ Laughter ]
[ Cheers and applause ]
[ Band plays ]
That's everything you said, man. -Yeah, wow.
-It's unbelievable.
How did you and Questlove come together
and start working together?
-We met in high school in Philly at the high school
for creative and performing arts in the '80s.
-Yeah. [ Scattered applause ]
Dude, you going to blow off Philly?
[ Cheers and applause ]
As I recall, we met in the principal's office.
[ Laughter ]
I was either returning from a suspension
or about to be suspended.
And Ahmir was coming in to bring an apple to the principal.
[ Laughter ]
-Oh, my God. -Oh, word?
Word? Oh, yeah?
All right, all right.
-He just sold you out, man. Oh, my gosh.
So, two opposites.
-Yeah, yeah. And I think I was in there,
like, it was some issue about me and my girlfriend at the time,
like, we got caught making out in school.
And out -- That wasn't at, you know, as big a deal
as the fact that we were cutting class to do it.
So, you know, we were suspended for cutting class.
-Got you. Got you. And then you got together
and you figured out he played drums?
-Yeah, yeah, well, you know, he had on a medallion that was
like, you know, the black fist that you see on his pic,
and he had, like, a cool jacket that was hand-painted
and at the time, that was one of my hustles.
I would sell medallions and hand-painted jackets.
So I was like, "Who's this dude with something on
that he didn't get from me?"
[ Laughter ]
-Exactly. -Yeah, and we kind of
hit it off once I found out he could recreate
all my favorite drum breaks.
He had this cool sampler that he had just gotten
that he would walk around, you know, hitting,
"Jamming on the one. Jam, Jam, Jam."
[ Laughter ]
-"Jamming on the one." -Yeah, he had
a miniature Casio keyboard
that he would walk around school with.
-No way. You were such a nerd, dude.
[ Laughter ]
I love it, man. -He was like the Pied Piper.
-That's so cool. =So I went ahead --
I let him sit at the cool table 'cause he had the beats.
-Oh, my gosh. -It's true!
-That is true? -Yeah.
I was allowed to sit at the cool table as long as I drummed.
I didn't talk.
[ Laughter ]
-What was your first gig? Where would you play in Philly?
-The corner of South Street, right?
We busked. -Busked on the street?
-Yeah. -Really?
-Yeah. -That's wild.
-Did you have a drum set?
-Yeah. -A really minimal kit.
We were out there with a drum set,
an upright bass,
and really, that's it.
-That's bizarre, man. Look at you now.
Now you're legendary Roots crew.
Come on, they're doing it up. -Yeah.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-You guys are not only great musicians,
great actors.
You're fantastic in "The Deuce" on HBO.
I don't know if you saw Reggie Love, but that's Tariq.
You were fantastic in that. -Thanks, man.
-I loved that. But now you're producing
TV shows, right? -Yeah, yeah.
-Developing some shows? -Yeah, we got a couple shows.
We have one thing. I'm not allowed to mention --
Can I mention other networks?
-Yeah, sure. -Okay, we got one show on AMC.
-Don't say the AMC.
[ Laughter ]
-It's a show that we're EP'ing, executive producing.
It's called "The Rap Yearbook."
It's based on the best-selling book
by Shea Serrano.
-Oh, yeah.
-It deals with the impact of iconic hip hop songs
on the culture at the time that they came out
sort of thing.
-You did "Hamilton" mix tape?
-Yeah, yeah, we executive produced the "Hamilton" mix tape
and the original cast recording for "Hamilton."
-I mean, come on, that's what I'm talking about.
[ Cheers and applause ]
And then, I got to just give a shout out to Bilal
and your song "It Ain't Fair" on the "Detroit" soundtrack.
It's an original song.
[ Applause ]
Honestly, dude, I mean, best original song.
That's what I'm talking about. That was amazing,
what you guys did on that. -Thanks, man.
I'm really proud of it. -I know you did ten minutes
freestyling but I was wondering if maybe -- one minute?
-I mean, you know. Let it roll.
[ Drum plays ] [ Cheers and applause ]
-Maybe about what we just did or something.
I don't know.
-Uh-huh.
Lemme see.
Okay.
♪ I'm smart as Dr. Spock ♪
♪ The parents made their former daughter stop and watch ♪
♪ Def Jam's latest... ♪
♪ Kept the next man waiting while I slaughter my... ♪
♪ 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 wait ♪
♪ Years of blood, sweat, and tears ♪
♪ What it costs me to ball ♪
♪ Like Vince Lombardi and Paul McCartney ♪
♪ Think like Marcus Garvey and dress sharply ♪
♪ Fella took an oath and pledge ♪
♪ To let these other MCs know they alleged ♪
♪ Uh, look ♪
♪ Cuffs for me ♪
♪ I hope these gats'll still bust for me ♪
♪ Messages from Manuel and Puff for me ♪
♪ 15 minutes of fame ain't enough for me ♪
[ Cheers and applause ]
-My second-favorite rapper of all time, Tariq Trotter,
A.K.A. Black Thought!
Michael McDonald performs after the break.
Stick around, everybody!
[ Cheers and applause ]