Blurb

Tariq Trotter, aka Black Thought, sits firmly within the pantheon of hip-hop’s greatest MCs. But the cofounder of the multi-platinum selling hip hop band The Roots is best understood not through all trophies and awards, but the sheer weight of his lyrical force.

In 7 Years, Trotter’s new addition to Audible’s Words + Music series, the prolific rapper examines his life and career in dynamic seven-year increments. Featuring a powerful and personal musical score, Trotter takes listeners through his intimate journey, including his tumultuous childhood in Philadelphia, facing off with a justice system that was stacked against him, and adapting to commercial success in mainstream America. Mixing complex rhymes with searing insight, 7 Years finds a singular creative voice opening up, and speaking volumes.

Review

I have now done a few of these Words + Music editions on Audible. Just a quick check, there are currently 38 of these. Snoop is in my TBR. I really enjoyed the Chuck D one. Steve Earle obviously. Gary Clark Jr., T Bone Burnett, Common.

When people start to name their favorite emcees, Black Thought tends to fall into the well respected, but not commercially powerful the way some of his similarly ranked emcees were, at least before the Fallon gig. 7 Years is built around the general concept that a person tends to become a new version of themselves every seven years. The episodes in this series are short, this one just 1 hour, 47 minutes, so these barely touch the surface if they are done as autobiographical tellings of a life. That is what this one one. The better ones have been an artist discussing one subject, like Chuck D and Steve Earle did. Moments in music history that had an impact. 7 Years was more a brief description of a few events of a life. I see Trotter has other books. I will have to look into those to see if they provide more depth into the man that I contend is one of the more underrated emcees out there.