Black Thought of The Roots released his new audiobook titled 7 Years on Thursday, July 8, 2021. The book debuted exclusively in the U.S. as part of the Words + Music series covering the intimate journeys of music artists such as Sheryl Crow, Smokey Robinson and more on Amazon’s Audible platform. In 7 Years, Black Thought examines his life and career in dynamic seven-year increments.
“This has been almost two years in the making…and I’m honored and excited to announce that my new @audible original piece ‘7 Years’ comes out today,” The Roots rapper explained in a post on Instagram. “It’s inspired by one of my life theories that every 7 years I should be actively working to become better creatively, emotionally, personally, and mentally as my body also changes and new cells replace the old. So in this piece of words and music I’m sharing some of these key important periods that have made me into the man I am today — with an original musical score that highlights the very first freestyle I ever wrote to our @theroots classics to performances of some of my more recent pieces.”
Featuring a powerful and personal musical score, the “You Got Me” rapper 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. The project also mixes complex rhymes with searing insight from the emcee born Tariq Trotter.
Black Thought’s right-hand man in The Roots, Questlove, also released his directorial debut last week with Summer of Soul (… Or When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised). The documentary film takes an in-depth look at the Harlem Cultural Festival, which has been described as a pre-Coachella music gathering and referred to as the Black Woodstock.
The Harlem Cultural Festival was a series of free concerts held in 1969 over six weekends that drew more than 300,000 people. Some of the musical guests in the concert footage included Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, Gladys Knight, The Fifth Dimension, and Sly and the Family Stone. Summer of Soul is currently in theatres and streaming on Hulu.
You can listen to Black Thought’s 7 Years audiobook at www.audible.com. Also, peep a clip from Summer of Soul below.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slFiJpAxZyQ[/embedyt]
