Black Thought announces collaborative album with El Michels Affair, releases new single ‘Grateful’

Black Thought and El Michels Affair have teamed up for a collaborative album and have today dropped its lead single, ‘Grateful’.

The album is titled ‘Glorious Game’ and is due to arrive on April 14 via Big Crown. According to Pitchfork, Black Thought – who is also The Roots‘ lead MC – began working with El Michels Affair founder Leon Michels on the record during the COVID-19 pandemic.

• READ MORE: Danger Mouse & Black Thought on ‘Cheat Codes’ – “You can’t name a classic song that isn’t sad.”

The pair have also shared their joint album’s lead single, ‘Grateful’, where they trade off verses over a backing of thudding percussion and a whistling flute.

Check it out and see the tracklist of ‘Glorious Game’ below.

The tracklist of ‘Glorious Game’ is as follows:

1. ‘Grateful’
2. ‘Glorious Game’ (feat. Kirby)
3. ‘I’m Still Somehow’
4. ‘Hollow Way’
5. ‘Protocol’ (ft. Son Little)
6. ‘The Weather’
7. ‘That Girl’
8. ‘I Would Never’
9. ‘Alone’
10 ‘Miracle’
11 ‘Glorious Game (Reprise)’
12 ‘Alter Ego’ (ft. Brainstory)

‘Glorious Game’ arrives off the back of Black Thought’s collaborative album with Danger Mouse, titled ‘Cheat Codes’, which was released in August 2022. The pair had first met in 2006 and it had been anticipated for years that they would eventually collaborate.

Speaking to NME, the duo reflected upon whether they had felt an additional pressure on them to make music of a high standard given how long fans had been waiting for it. “Honestly, I don’t even feel like it’s pressure,” said Danger Mouse. “Tariq’s [Black Thought’s] who I’m trying to make excited about the music I’m doing, and I’m his first fan when he does what he’s doing. If it gets past him, then that’s good enough for me. You can’t really worry about the rest.”

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