Black Thought net worth: Fortune explored as rapper states he cannot connect with Kanye West's new music

Ahead of his 50th birthday, Tarik Luqmaan Trotter, who goes by the name Black Thought, spoke to Pitchfork and shed light on artists who have influenced him throughout his life. The rapper found his way to music at an early age and has amassed a net worth of $12 million with his music career, as per Celebrity Net Worth.

In the interview last Tuesday, Black dissected several albums and songs that impacted him at different stages of his life. One of them was Kanye West's album 808s & Heartbreak, which the artist mentioned resonated with him when he was in his late 30s.

However, he mentioned that he now feels detached from West's current music and said:

"I connect with Kanye’s music less now. Maybe it’s because of the rate at which he’s been putting out art and having to keep up."

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Black Thought and The Roots perform for The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon

Black Thought rose to fame after he debuted with the Philadelphia-based hip-hop group The Roots in 1987. According to Celebrity Net Worth, Thought garnered a net worth of $12 million dollars during his successful career as a rapper.

The star initially started making music with Ahmir K. Thompson aka Questlove in 1987. Thompson is also the drummer of The Roots and has won an Oscar for Best Documentary Feature, as per Billboard. The group was initially called The Square Roots in college while the two friends were adding more artists to the group.

In 1993, the group released its first album Organix, and soon, their second album, Do You Want Me launched on January 17, 1995. They performed at Lollapalooza, the Montreux Jazz Festival, and Woodstock 99 the same year, and wowed the audience with their work.

Black Thought has also featured on tracks like Hard Hitters by Dilated Peoples, My Favorite Mutiny by the Coup, Rafiki by Zap Mama, and many more. He also released his album Cheat Codes in 2022 with Danger Mouse.

Black Thought and The Roots perform as the in-house band for The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. They began performing in the show when it was called Late Night with Jimmy Fallon from 2009 to 2014, as per Hip Hop Dx. The rapper also gained a lot of fame with his freestyle rap on Funk Flex's Hot 97 radio show, which now has 17 million views on YouTube.

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"Kanye is less Kanye now" - Black Thought sheds light on Ye's latest music

In the interview with Pitchfork, Black Thought spoke about several legendary artists like Funkadelic, Whodini, A Tribe Called Quest, A$AP Rocky, and others, highlighting how every 5-10 years of his 50 years of life were influenced by different personalities.

One of the artists he mentioned was Kanye West. He said that his album 808s & Heartbreak, which released in 2008, impacted his late 30s. Black Thought praised the Paranoid rapper and said:

"The level of bravery to destroy and build in the way Kanye did with that project, it’s admirable."

However, while speaking about Kanye's current music, Tarik Luqmaan Trotter said that he wasn't into his latest releases.

"I think his process has become more assembly-line, which in many ways is the Motown model," he added.

He also said that West's personality is sometimes compromised as other writers, and producers contribute to his music. The Seed rapper mentioned:

"Kanye is less Kanye now than he was when I was a bigger Kanye fan."

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Black Thought is currently gearing up for the release of his memoir titled The Upcycled Self, which will release on November 14, 2023.