[junkie-dropcap]T[/junkie-dropcap]he year 2018 was a packed year for music and featured many highlights. A personal favorite of mine was seeing one of my all-time favorite rappers, The Roots’ Black Thought, release not one but two solo EPs. Both of which easily rank among the best music to come out of that year. Thanks to high-quality production and Thought’s immaculate gift for rapping.
After a quiet 2019, the “Streams Of Thought” series finally continues with its third installment. I had no reason to expect less than greatness. So let’s dive in.
Black Thought has never lost his touch for rapping. He’s had one of the most consistent careers in hip-hop, and every verse just feels like another tally. Songs on this album like “State Prisoner”, “Magnificent”, or “Thought Vs Everybody” are master-crafts in flow and rhyme schemes. As good as Thought is at being topical, I can’t deny that his bar-fests are when he’s at his most enjoyable for me. His energy and verse structures just seem otherworldly. It’s impossible to not let its entrancement capture you.
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Which is a very important quality to have and maintain when he does approach storytelling. Songs like “Quiet Storm” or “We Could Be Good” focus more on setting a scene than directly telling events. Black Thought is an intelligent MC who trusts he has an intelligent audience. He doesn’t so much tell stories as he lets the listener pick up on events through context. It makes the music engaging and adds replay value.
But it’s his impassioned rapping that adds so much emotion and intrigue to his songs. Which is why “Nature Of The Beast” is easily the album’s weakest point for me. (Not counting the oddly distorted intro and outro tracks) Lyrically, the song is an observation about our perception of ourselves and trying to find acceptance. Self love and what have you. It’s a positive and agreeable message. But sonically, the song is overly poppy for my taste and it’s sung rather than rapped. Black Thought is a decent vocalist, but he’s not a singer I want to hear for 3 minutes. Especially when he can rap for well over 10 without missing a beat. I don’t mean to sound like a purist who wants to put Thought in a box. That would negate the message of the song itself. “Nature Of The Beast” just sounds like the product of an already saturated market. One that Black Thought often claims to be the opposite of.
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Because I rank Thought so highly among my favorite rappers, there’s very few I see as capable of holding their own in a song with him. Even if I’m a fan otherwise. But the features on this album are few and don’t disappoint. Pusha T and Killer Mike both shine on “Good Morning”. One of my favorite rappers on a song is one thing, but three? It elated me. Especially because none of them felt too far behind the others. I’m happy to say the same about ScHoolboy Q on “Steak Um”. He seems like a feature chosen more for his energy than his bars. But he’s strong on both fronts. Black Thought on the song is at his most aggressive and if there’s one thing Q can compliment well, it’s aggression. His nasty delivery is perfectly placed on the beat.
Overall, “Streams Of Thought 3” delivers everything I wanted it to and brings with it some surprises. Mostly positive ones but it’s not perfect. Even at it’s brief 35 minute runtime, the extra tracks make it feel longer than its predecessors. The first 2 EPs were just so swift and concise. I notoriously gave both perfect 10/10 scores. While the third installment is great, it’s not nearly as impactful. Everything needed for it to be is present. There’s a bit of unnecessary weight dragging along with it. Nevertheless, the songs I like, I love. I’ll be returning to them frequently as Black Thought’s rapping never loses its hold over me.
