.......

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prmQgSpV3fA

Flames throughout. Part of wants me toth think he was just sitting written verses but I'm not sure now.

Either way, that was a straight up clinic in rapping. I don't think there was a weak bar in the whole 10 minutes.

Man, I was never a 'I want more Black Thought on Roots' albums' guy. But man, if we got a few songs with Thought blacking out like this...

but def pre writtens.

Quest said what, he can hold 25 - 30 songs in his head?

you can tell when he switches from the very first verse to the second.
It's seamless on his part but the entire scheme just jumps to another set of rhyming words. A new 16 or 32 in his head begins.

I guess I could be wrong but there's no way anyone on the planet
could rhyme that well, that intricate for 10 mins straight and not have one misstep.

imo.



this is all FIRE btw.

this is MOSTLY written, but the flawless delivery of what is likely 6 or 7 separate unheard verses - sewn together seamlessly by legitimate freestyles (he does this all of the time, perfect example is coming out of that Sway freestyle from a few weeks ago, he goes off the top for quite a few bars and the drop off is negotiable) - is heart-stoppingly frightening.

to point out that this isn't entirely a freestyle is tantamount to pointing out that our sun doesn't also provide light for the nearest galaxy.

but aight....

All for it.
I been on the spit something you got in your head instead of coming off the top
since at least 2002 - 2003.

I only even brought pre written into convo because poster said he believed Thought could've been for real freestyling.

If there are sections where BT does freestyle to transition from one verse to next,
cool!
More power to him. Just shows even more of his other worldly ability.

again... it's all fire.

if you want to hear off the type see this one

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=so4TuqRSye4

Just add intros/hooks/bridges and it's 5 songs, 25 minutes of music.

He had the storytelling element at the beginning. Some social commentary, braggadocion bars. Just amazing.

it's seizing a moment

I been watching yall since the jump...I believe it and i DONT believe it lol

Not that this is album material.

Talk about “seizing the moment”

They got the best MC to ever pick up a mic and he keeps getting reduced to mostly one verse per song.

Granted that’s not solely ?uest’s decision at all but, Thought just was the number one thing trending...seize the moment and capitalize on that.

.

pendulum is back in our corner.

our up years are the 7-3 years.

the shop is closed on the 4-6 years.

sort of....


1993-1996 - couldn't get arrested in this town

1997-2003- our zone

2004-2008 - fuck the roots mayne

2009-2014- oh shit we back in style baby

2014-2016- why tf are yall still on that show AFTER.......

2017- we love yall again.....

This is flawless. Breath control is ridiculous. Who in the rap game is fucking with this?






werd.

Entirely different showcases.

Sure, they’re both long verses but that’s about it.

The metaphorical and double/triple entendre nature of Muruals is still second to none.

You are completely unsure why I would reference a different close to 10 mins, untethered blackout rhyme (Lupe he did it live as well). For me, up until now, Mural has reigned as flawless and unhinged.

but yeah - I guess I am WAY out of the ball park talking about rhyme skills on a hip hop site. comon' player... is the reference THAT abstract.


werd.

They’re clearly different showcases of skills

werd.

one of the only reasons I am happy I am going to be home for the holidays.

And no one even remembers that Eminem released an album

of that freestyle is how Thought sped his flow up at roughly the nine minute mark. What a breath control clinic.

He is so goddamn good. God bless him.

what on earth is this? best 3 'verses' of the year live in one take.

btw flex is mad obnoxious with the selfies haha

He had like 3 verse of the year candidates before today. LOL

UNCANNY...UNBELIEVABLE...GOAT

He’s the Lebron James of Hip-Hop...getting better as the years go on yet people still don’t want to just say he’s the best ever.

Not the greatest...but he damn sure is the best.

They need to put an official beat under this and put it as track 1 on End Game.

.

Dude gon sit there and shit on the current rap acts/state of hip hop

...like he wasn't instrumental in giving us said bullshit...

Maybe if his show featured more real MCs like BT, instead of taking payola to spin the same f'n wack ass songs 30X a day...we'd be in a different situation

FOH!

Took me a little bit to recognize, but BT is #1

What an incredible display of pure rapping.

Nobody has been able to touch Thought for a while now with these sessions.
Every time he sits down to do one of these it's a clinic.

The way he weaves his writtens with off the dome bars is so crazy too.
I remember a Tony Touch cipher with Sean P, dead prez, AG and some others
that he obliterated. NOBODY comes close even.

and people still wanna talk about Em or whatever, who just dropped a BET verse
and an atrocity of an album. We can talk technicals or even style... but when it
comes to just spitting bars upon bars BT is literally the greatest ever.




New Roots album can't come soon enough.
pick those damn songs out of the stack. That library must be incredible.

with no dropoff or telling signs. That's more difficylt than doing either alone.

...where the best mc ever is a local cat

best DJ too

...that this was timed this to coincide with the release of an album by a certain artist who many are foolishly quick to list as the GOAT.

Not the best, but one of:


Brain matter contain to much data
I tell a story like fingerprints and blood splatter

I ain't one of y'all peers, I'm the sum of all fears
Somebody stronger than me? Who dat? I'm all ears
Like Obama, I wish he had another four years

>I ain't one of y'all peers, I'm the sum of all fears
>Somebody stronger than me? Who dat? I'm all ears
>Like Obama, I wish he had another four years

Love that “ain’t one of y’all peers, I’m the sum of all fears” line because it perfectly represents him

I spoil rappers like they're my only offspring
Being His Excellency gets to be exhausting
You in the residency of the one they call
King Dada, Ali Baba, the talented Mr. Trotter
Inside of my right palm, the mark of the stigmata
Big Poppa, wig chopper, Emperor Jaffe Joffer, motherfucka
I'm stronger than the coffee out in Kafa

that and:

i'm more policed for my core beliefs
they tried to capture me and brand me on the cheek with a fleur-de-lys
that side of my heart'll be more discreet
international, my passport pages like "war and peace"

The mic I spray, resembling the sickle of death

I'm the hound, I'm a creep, I get down I'ma eat
I'ma keep something to put a naysayer to sleep
playing with heat, nobody and nothing fucking with 'Riq
yo these weaklings is claiming they cutting up in the streets
nigga peace, you ain't working with nothing but the police, listen

Took a golf cart to the Baccarat from the Waldorf
What was on the walls? That depend on what you call art
I'ma say 300k ain't even in the ballpark
I charge more just for awkward small talk
So yes, who's fucking with it if it's not the best?
I get the lobby painted fresh upon my request
It's Kafka-esque, His Holiness, stop the press
That Cobalt blue, reminiscent of Makkaresh
Lord, we got Padma Lakshmi for you
Let her massage your back with black seed oil


My mother was a working class, very loving woman
Who struggled, every dinner could've been the last summer
I come home, chasing good-for-nothing half-cousins
And then walk in the crib to the smell of crack cooking
She was introduced to that substance abuse
On some of the strongest drugs that the government produced
Look, I even got excused by the principal
My story is out of the dub dub interview
I've seen some ice cold summers, hot winters too
I never thought I'd win Grammy Awards with The Roots
I never thought I would be getting long in the tooth
My OGs told me, ''Boy you better go and live your truth''
I am a walking affirmation, that imagination
And focus and patience gets you closer to your aspiration
And just 'cause they give you shit don't mean you have to take it
My words capture greatness
Sworn affidavits


All y'all niggas vagina hop, remind me of Icona Pop
I step in the booth
I'm a bull inside a china shop
Mollywop, watch another cotton pickin' body drop
Every time we rock, yo, they acting like it's Mardi Gras
'Til the party stop, skirt off like "see that Ferrari drop?"
Soul Cycle pumping that Earth, Wind and Fire bod-y-ya
Coolin' 'pon the dock, à la marina, hard body yacht
You seen another rapper cleaner, mami? Probably not

_______________________________
gamblers and masturbators.

Own No Loops: A podcast about rap.
http://ownnoloops.com

http://twitter.com/urkelmoedee

>
>All y'all niggas vagina hop, remind me of Icona Pop
>I step in the booth
>I'm a bull inside a china shop
>Mollywop, watch another cotton pickin' body drop
>Every time we rock, yo, they acting like it's Mardi Gras
>'Til the party stop, skirt off like "see that Ferrari drop?"
>Soul Cycle pumping that Earth, Wind and Fire bod-y-ya
>Coolin' 'pon the dock, à la marina, hard body yacht
>You seen another rapper cleaner, mami? Probably not
>

Got my crown tilted, my gown quilted, silk with cashmere
Burning Rome down in a minute, built it last year
Newsflash, I dodged the bullet that killed the cashier
My homie told me to come with him to the masjid
Them brothers said, "Don't go from written bars filled with rage
To primetime television and your gilded cage
Then forget it's people in the world still enslaved"
I barbwired my wrist, and let it fill the page


_______________________________
gamblers and masturbators.

Own No Loops: A podcast about rap.
http://ownnoloops.com

http://twitter.com/urkelmoedee

I love cb4 references lol

and Flex man, how you gonna complain about people doing multiple takes then put em on air like they did it in one take? You fake just like them then, anyways,

best lyricist and crowned king taking hip-hop out underground. . .

I forgot the rest of the acronym lol

Black Thought = GOAT

In some form.

I got everyone from non-rap heads to youngins
hyped over this.

Trending on twitter, YouTube, etc.


The Roots would be foolish not to capitalize


Not to mention I need a cdq version.


Dude is unreal.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Vrkv3pj9Tdw

Dude has been doing this for YEARS. Illadelph Halflife is still a rap pinnacle to me. If I put that on in the ride and I don't get the proper reaction when I meet you then we will become acquaintances and that's it.

Here on okp we know. It's the rest of the world that were asleep that now see.


>Dude has been doing this for YEARS. Illadelph Halflife is
>still a rap pinnacle to me. If I put that on in the ride and
>I don't get the proper reaction when I meet you then we will
>become acquaintances and that's it.

https://genius.com/Black-thought-hot-97-freestyle-lyrics


Uh, I'm sorry for your loss
It's a body dead in the car and it's probably one of yours
The writing all across the window and the walls
Whether it was true or false, we shouldn't have got involved
Remember, we walked past the teacher, take the chalk and laugh
We wrote punishments: "I will not talk in class"
Now it's pistols punishing people for talking fast
And all these innocent bystanders is hauling ass
I hate to say I told y'all, but I told y'all
Things fall apart when the center too weak to hold ya'll
I'm just collecting what you owed to my old jawn
You 'bout to get swooped down on and stoled on
Fools swear they wise, wise men know they foolish
Well, we was headed for the web even before computers
I never thought you'd give me a reason to do this
Cain and Abel, Jesus and Judas
Caesar and Brutus, I see intruders, avert your eyes
I told you keep out of the hood, circumcise
How could you sleep? I thought you always was the first to rise
Ay, yo, you heard the line, "Everybody plays the fool"?
Well, I'll be that exception to the rule
The principal that hand-deliver lessons to the school
I was making major moves, my dollar déjà vu
My mission was my ambition was brandishing a tool
To be a' icon, wearing slippers made of python
Get mine quicker 'cause I'm slick as a pipeline
Transportin' the oil, tribulation and toil
Hit the operation, but I'm back in the soil
Got my crown tilted, my gown quilted, silk with cashmere
Burn the room down in a minute, built it last year
Newsflash, I dodged the bullet that killed the cashier
My homie told me to come with him to the masjid
Them brothers said, "Don't go from written bars filled with rage
To primetime television and your gilded cage
Then forget it's people in the world still enslaved"
I barbwired my wrist, and let it fill the page
Gun fire n' flares, sirens glare
I'm in a iron chair where people who care
Don't get the lion's share
When I don't give a fuck, then I ain't fair
I'm on a higher tier with people gettin' money like the financier
Cash the herald
I'm fresh chopped, A Bevel
Rap on a doctorate level, so F. Scott Fitzgerald
Maybe I'm the new Rakim, maybe I'm fat Pharaoh
Undergarments or armor be my intimate apparel
Pre-Kardashian Kanye, my rhymeplay immaculate
Same cadence as D.O.C. pre-accident
Maybe, my acumen's on par with Kool G. Rap and them
Give me the proper respect, mothafucka', we back again
For a couple things we lost in a fire
The drive, the desire to perform on a higher plateau
I'm at that show, lost in a mire
Wondering how we got so far from inspired
Look, when photos were sepia-toned
And record players were somethin' you would keep in your home
Yo, the traveler, the meaning of Tariq, he was known
For the exemplary performance, uniquely his own
I made the twenty-one pound for some a newfound religion
Where money's put down, it's only one sound that make
OGs and young lions equally proud to listen
The secret amalgamism, a algorithm
Coming from where only kings and crowns permitted the darkness
Where archaeologists found my image in parchment
Rolled into a scroll, holding a message for you
It said, "The only thing for sure is taxes, death, and trouble"
The anomaly sworn solemnly, high snobbidy
Freakonomics and war policy, dichotomy
That's Heaven and Hades, Tigris and Euphrates
His highness, the apple of the Iris to you ladies
As babies, we went from Similac and Enfamil
To the internet and Fentanyl
When all consent was still against the will
I got that detox for y'all
The microphone doctor, black Deepak Chopra
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 the heat out the car
Yo, I'm K-Dot Lamar meets 2Pac Shakur
Got profiled by a few cops, too hot to charge
Listen, somebody said a price tag was on a rapper's head
So we gon' see a nice bag when the rapper dead
The mask black, the flag green, black, and red
They'll probably wave a white flag after plasma shed
No doubt, yo, the game went they own route
I can't explain what these lame kids is talkin' 'bout
Or how they fit they whole foot into they own mouth
I put a couple bodies in a brown bag, then I'm on route
I'm sneaker shoppin' with my son, a size 8
Prior to they release, 'cause why wait?
Look, in my estate I got electrified gates
For these blasé guys hating at a high rate
'Cause I dodged fate then got great, the fly's straight
If we ain't family or friends, then we don't vibrate
And I'm that gun in y'all face, none of y'all safe
If I catch you at the right time in the wrong place, slippin'
Sippin' on something with a strong taste
Like Whiskey or bootleg Bourbon with a corn base
My Levante resemble a vehicular threat
The mic I spray, resemblin' the sickle of death
It ain't strenuous to come from a continuous breath
I set fire to the venue, I'ma spin you and step
Rinse, repeat
You checkin' for the sound of the beast
I'm the hound, I'ma creep, I get down, I'ma eat
I'ma keep somethin' to lay a naysayer to sleep
Playin' with heat, nobody and nothin' fucking with 'Riq
Yo, these weaklings is claiming they cutting up in the street
Nigga, peace, you ain't working with nothin' but the police
Listen, you ain't finna be nothing but the deceased
Listen, you in a tournament with a permanent crease
I strike fear in the hearts of rap figures
Who mind bare the stigmas of time, no black privilege
From boom brr-ap niggas to trap niggas
You in the trap with us, when the lines is as
Vivid as the walls on the graph
Autographed by the Lord of Wrath
I reside between the seconds on the chronograph
How much more CB4 can we afford?
It's like a Shariah Law on "My Cherie Amour"
How much hypocrisy can people possibly endure?
But ain't nobody working on a cure, my young bol
Y'all just regular, I'm a apex predator
Brim stay fresh, feathered up, etcetera
Nevertheless, I got a message and left
One dead messenger, yep
My pen is Henry Kissinger, Buzz Bissinger
Look, my capo regime is to no redeem
And my oldest son I made Saleem out of New Orleans
Took a golf cart to the Baccarat from the Waldorf
What was on the wall? That depend on what you call art
I'ma say 300k ain't even in the ballpark
I charge more just for awkward small talk
So yes, who's fucking with it if it's not the best?
I get the lobby painted fresh upon my request
It's Kafka-esque, His Holiness, stop the press
That Cobalt blue, reminiscent of Makkaresh
Lord, we got Padma Lakshmi for you
Let her massage your back with black seed oil
The foundation is firm, the flags need soil
Me? I need Royal Tea because I bleed royal
Go through the vein to the brain, fabulous and strange
My journalistic range is a catalyst for change
It got anybody that listen pissin' flame
And 'cause the Hall of Fame got so many missing names
I'll acknowledge the original People's not Oliver
Y'all will get the next challenger for Excalibur
I'm more policed for my core beliefs
They tried to capture me and brand me on the cheek
With a fleur-de-lis
The side of my heart'll be more discreet
I'm international, my passport page is like War and Peace
I've always played my part from the start
Back in Philly where the triggers is mandatory to spark
With a slightest inflammatory remark
I have you enter living a category apart
Listen, a grain of salt'll tip the scales, it never fails
Walk on egg shells, sleep on a bed of nails
Criminal records like record sales
Making heads or tails
We like Henrietta Lacks up in the cells
My mother was a working class, very loving woman
Who struggled, every dinner could've been the last supper
I come home, chasing good-for-nothing half-cousins
And then walk in the crib to the smell of crack cooking
She was introduced to that substance abuse
On some of the strongest drugs that the government produced
Look, I even got excused by the principal
My story is out of the dub dub interview
I've seen some ice cold summers, hot winters too
I never thought I'd win Grammy Awards with The Roots
I never thought I would be getting long in the tooth
My OGs told me, ''Boy you better go and live your truth''
I am a walking affirmation, that imagination
And focus and patience gets you closer to your aspiration
And just 'cause they give you shit don't mean you have to take it
My words capture greatness, sworn affidavits
Yours truly, the celestial being
You stay seeing pulling up in the fresh European
High-stepping out of it, dressed to a T
And not another got more soul, 'less you Korean
I’ve been having visions of Nat Turner holding his master’s head Like Yorick and Horatio in Hamlet
Smacking it like a tennis racket, underhanded
Send a message through the Gram: ''The Eagle has landed''
Dressed in a military jacket made of canvas
I am no gorilla, I just make 'em go bananas
Outstanding, red, black, and green bandanas
Cocked hammers, hairs on my chin is outstandin'
Can't manage the weight of war, they're just out ballin'
Look, I'll fall up from the sky to see my calling
I'm not crawling, I'm a free man like Morgan
Seeing manhood in the hood is a damn good bargain
If a black man don't tap dance
And every girl that got a fat booty don't lapdance
Well, I guess it's somethin' wrong, huh?
Niggas completely uninformed
I don't burn bridges, yo, I keep the haters' runnin' for em'
I ain't one of y'all peers, I'm the sum of all fears
Somebody stronger than me? Who that? I'm all ears
Like Obama, I wish he had another four years
Y'all some jolly good Hollywood Squares
I'm like, ahem, approach the altar with your offering
I spoil rappers rotten like my only offspring
Being His Excellency gets to be exhausting
You in the residency of the one they call
King Dada, Ali Baba, the talented Mr. Trotter
Inside of my right palm, the mark of the stigmata
Big Poppa, wig chopper, emperor Jaffe Joffer, mufucka'
I'm stronger than the coffee out in Kafa
All y'all niggas vagina hop, remind me of Icona Pop
I step in the booth, I'm a bull inside a china shop, mollywhoppin'
Watch another cotton pickin' body drop
Every time we rock, yo, they acting like it's Mardi Gras
'Til the party stop, skirt off like she that Ferrari drop
Soul Cycle pumping that Earth, Wind and Fire body ya
Coolin' 'pon the dock, à la marina, hard body yacht
You seen another rapper cleaner, mami? Probably not
How it feel to be the best that did it, I admit it
I'm visiting from planet Bring-These-Niggas-Death-In-Minutes
And y'all know I'm exquisite, wicked as Wilson Pickett
The sickness I exhibit, I'm too legit to quit it
I don't fake it 'til I make it, I take it to the limit and break it
Never tinted, what I'm about, I represent it
Infinite just like Chace is, been a million places
Conversation is how beautiful my face is
People hated on how sophisticated my taste is
Then I pulled up on these mothafuckas in a spaceship
Panther mind, I'm made of elements you can't combine
I'm at a level of intelligence you can't define
Einstein, Shakespeare, Voltaire, Tesla
Recording artist slash psychology professor
I preach for the East, never fold under pressure
The beast from the East and I glide like Clyde Drexler
Ay, yo, my new name is eighty five X's
'Cause I'm the rap game certified specialist
When I was reckless I was worried 'bout the guest list
I'm helping rappers everywhere fulfill a death wish
Yo Flex, I'm glad we made contact
My nigga also know this shit for combat
Brain matter contain too much data
I tell a story like fingerprints and blood splatta'

I think they have a few lyrics wrong, but yeah that's dope. Took a lot of time to type out I'm sure. Also, they should capitalize Combat, pretty sure that was a shout out.

Right?!

Gotta be.

"I'm twenty-two, catch
In the prime of my life,
I don't have time to be a wife"

https://twitter.com/MeeshUniVerSoul
https://instagram.com/soul.con.fusion/

"She was on that tip about stoppin' the violence
About my people she was teachin' me..."

...

I've watched this too many times, crazy

I been reading and watching YT vids of the reactions to the freestyle and the sad thing about it is how much people are missing. Like I keep seeing people only react to the more obvious "punchlines" like the seoul/Korean line, or they just talking about how long the thing is, but damn if they ain't missing 99.9% of what Black Thought is saying AND doing. Meaning they aren't giving enough credit to the lyrics and wordplay that is flying over their heads. Small subtle lines like "OGs and young lions equally proud to listen" (pride of lions, get it?) get missed cuz they are coming so rapid fire and a lot of people nowadays I feel just aren't used to these mcs with these more intricate lyrics. AND he not getting enough credit for the rhymes schemes he's flippin'!!

Its all about "damn he rapped for 10 minutes straight!!" BUT it's also about what he did in that 10 minutes.

These younger kids (mostly) just don't know how REALLY great this shit was. Greater than they ALREADY think it is I mean.

Anyone else agree?

but the same comment sections on YT aren't catching lots of lines on an Illmatic or Reasonable Doubt.

that OGs and lions line is hard as fuck.
hopefully as young listeners grow, shute... even by a year...
they remember this freestyle, go back to it... and catch something new.

I hope people do keep coming back to this and will continue to give BT the respect he deserves.

I watched this today and wanted to smack this kid at the end, haha. Talking about he thought he was hip to all music and couldn't figure out how he hadn't heard of BT before. Man, he been killing this game more than twice as long as you been alive!
https://youtu.be/35JTdk_j8wY


>but the same comment sections on YT aren't catching lots of
>lines on an Illmatic or Reasonable Doubt.
>
>that OGs and lions line is hard as fuck.
>hopefully as young listeners grow, shute... even by a year...
>they remember this freestyle, go back to it... and catch
>something new.
>
>

I get what you're saying, the whole cultural ignorance thing, but I couldn't care less

those same kids probably don't know Siegel or Monch, hell, probably not even DOOM

there's a clip of Famous Dex going around about respecting the pioneers/OG's and that's what I care about, the young artists knowing and respecting the history, but some average White kid on the street, nah.

not to sound too defeatist but that ish will always be tied to Black music.

I'd dip into my representation bag but nah, I just laugh at the "you mean the guy on Jimmy Fallon can rap?" jokes

And that he's getting some heavy love like he's always deserved.

And as always, the folks like us who have been there for 15-20 years can appreciate the lyrical brilliance and nuance.

we just gotta be happy for him in the end. honestly seeing the positive reactions from people to this, no matter who they are, has me filling up with this sense of pride for real.

>And that he's getting some heavy love like he's always
>deserved.
>
>And as always, the folks like us who have been there for 15-20
>years can appreciate the lyrical brilliance and nuance.

>we just gotta be happy for him in the end. honestly seeing
>the positive reactions from people to this, no matter who they
>are, has me filling up with this sense of pride for real.

https://youtu.be/gpeh--lxFCs

i read his reactions but just came across this vid today.

Flex is in a position where he can capitalize on his old headedness & sort of double down on his persona - it would be amazing if Flex starting bringing on some vets relatively newer cats who are known for bars to these segments. Pharoahe Monch would be ill. Mos Def? Elzhi? Phonte?