It was largely inspired by a friend of mine,
who came out here and left everything to come
work with me and we just had a conversation
one day and he was talking to me about just
crippling debt and it being school cause you
know the crazy thing about school, you have
that forever.
Like what you owe.
You can’t file for bankruptcy.
Like you have to pay your student loans and
that sucks.
That’s so crazy.
It’s almost like slavery in a way.
And I’m like, “Yo, here he is in mid-20s,
owes a 100,000 in debt, can’t pay his rent,
his in the middle of getting evicted, comes
from a place where they hustle, made his way
out of that but is being pushed back to that
lifestyle and all he wants to do is just live
his life and use his degree to better himself
but how can he use his degree when he applies
to these places and these work places, they
say, you need four years of experience.
How the fuck is he supposed to get experience
if he’s fresh out of college?
It’s just a horrible cycle.
Especially for a man of color which is very
harsh and scary.
Black Thought is the shit.
He’s my favorite rapper.
He’s amazing.
I did that before he even got on the album,
before I reached out.
And to me that was really cool that it ended
up happening.
Very full circle.
That was also the first album I ever bought,
was a Roots album.
Gotta love the
Geto Boys.
That’s my shit.
That’s one thing I love and I think other
people will continue to just respect, especially
in this album, it’s the references to my
predecessors and those before me.
I really love this shit.
I’m not just doing it for the bread.
The bread is great but I’m doing it cause
I love it and I want to educate this newer
generation that may have no idea who a Chuck
D is.
And it’s crazy to even think about this
but to think that they think The Roots, they
think Jimmy Fallon.
And it’s like, “Well you know, they’ve
been doing this for 20 years before this.”
But just of this new generation.
When my homie had heard it, the dude I wrote
it about it, he was pretty honored because
it’s not like I was putting his business
out here, he’s a bit anonymous.
I’m sure he wouldn’t give a shit if I
said it but it’s less about him and it’s
more about the power of the character he helped
me create and portray on
the record.
I remember J. Cole had a line, I think it
might have been on ‘The Warm-Up’ but he
said some shit about T-Pain.
What he say?
He said, “I feel the pain in my voice…”
Some shit.
I don’t know.
I always thought that was dope.
And I always wanted to do a really cool line
like that.
Just a play off T-Pain’s name and there
it is.
And then you, “Operate the drive in ya mind
like
a keychain,” that shit just came dope.
I don’t know.
It’s just fun.
This ain’t that deep.
Just super fun.
“Mos Definitely” is an homage to Mos Def
because at the very end of the song, “Black
people.”
And once again, whatever I’ve been told
my whole life that I can’t be proud to be
black or this or that.
Fuck that.
Black is beautiful.
Goddamnit.
Right now, right now at this part of the song
and in life and in general, what I need, “Black
people: to just fight, fight for ya right
fight, for ya life.”
Yeah, I’m fucking getting up there and I’m
saying it, man.
Once again, I’m not just going to hashtag
this shit.
I’m going to say it.
Getting everybody a live show to chant that
was like the goal.
Like of course because black is beautiful.
But we’re all beautiful.
That’s what I’m saying.
Everybody’s beautiful but right now, right
now, this is about black people.
People should feel great.
People should feel honored and happy to be
able to kind of be involved in pushing a race
forward.
Just a certain race because I know if we push
them up, then they’re going to push us up
and we’re all going to push each other up.
