A modest Tariq Trotter a.k.a. Black Thought needed little coaxing to pull out his air pen and burst into a rhyme during his Q&A at The Harvard Innovation Lab in conjunction of their Other Side Series. According to the faculty’s mission statement, the goal of the series is to “share the other side” of their journeys of creative visionaries and keynotes speakers in contrast “today’s complex world.”

The Roots frontman told the audience he began developing a little freestyle around lunchtime but pulled out a fleshed-out rhyme from underneath his fedora like it was second nature. Scratch that, part of his DNA.

Marvel at the mic controller skills of Black Thought’s Harvard freestyle in the video above.