After Black Thought murdered his Hot 97 Funkmaster Flex freestyle on Wednesday (December 13), The Roots legend found himself the #1 trending topic on Twitter. Reactions to his 10-minute lyrical slaughter poured in from fans and peers alike. Sean “Diddy” Combs even dubbed it the “greatest freestyle in Hip Hop history.”
On Friday (December 15), the Philly-bred MC — real name Tarik Trotter — sat down with Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon! where he was interviewed like any other A-lister. During the conversation, the longtime friends (and co-workers) discussed the freestyle and Black Thought confirmed it was off the top.
Fallon asks, “How in the heck do you do that? That was all freestyle?” to which Black Thought replies, “Yeah, yeah,” although he didn’t take the time expound on the details of how a freestyle works (some are often pre-meditated or pre-written).
The Hip Hop vet then explains what he was thinking going into it.
“I planned on doing 10 to 15 minutes,” he said. “Here’s the thing — Funkmaster Flex Hot 97 freestyles — it’s an iconic moment. It’s super meaningful for a rapper to get that platform. In recent weeks, recent months, I’ve been checking out videos and the bar has been set kind of high. People go on for six, eight, nine minutes or so.”
Fallon then gifts him with a printed out version of his freestyle lyrics before the conversation turned to how Black Thought met his Roots brethren Amir “Questlove” Thompson.
At the end of interview, he kicks a mini-freestyle, yielding thunderous applause from the audience and Fallon bowing down to the endlessly talented MC.
Watch the full clip above and check out Black Thought’s Hot 97 freestyle lyrics via Genius below.
Best MC out…still out. And ya’ll’s listening to Young Jefe??? This is how a real man does it, not little kids! Amazing freestyle. Best ever. Watch Lil Yachty’s miserable freestyle on Ebro’s show if you wanna good laugh and see some crappy millennial crap. Black Thought is king.
What’s Young Jefe?
He’s Shy Glizzy, wake up.
Yo fa real I’ve always given thought props but if tht was really a freestyle in the truest sense he’s top 10 all time and I had him nowhere near*wow*I’m a hip hop head and criminally slept on him all these years although I own many roots albums*when I’m wrong I say it*
Anyone who believes that this was a freestyle is an idiot.
I’m wit chu bruh*just watched the interview*tht was a freestyle*much slower pace*compared to funk flex*
Um. Y’all just salty your fav artists are incapable of this type of excellence. Accept his skills.
Black Thought is dope. He’s talented. One of the best to ever do it. And obviously a liar. Because that was NOT all off the top. I’ve listened to MC’s for years but to say that was entirely freestyled is a fallacy. And it’s sad he can’t admit that. Because if he was that good as a freestyling MC, then why the fuck is he a late night show host’s house band? Why is he not on the level on Jay-Z or Eminem? 2 cats who are also very well known for their true freestyling abilities. I’m sorry, it’s dishonesty like this that has held this man back from being the great that he could be. I’m sorry, that I’m not sorry, but this actually makes me lose a little respect for him.
Shut your dumb ass mouth. Neither Jay or Em are on the level they’re at because of their ability to freestyle. They’re lyrical skills are only a contributing factor to their success. Black Thought is better than either of them. And being in a Late Night house band is about as lucrative and successful as a musician could hope to be.
See thats the thing, hiphop is so far away from its truest form that you guys cant accept that was a freestyle, because it seems inhuman and impossible. But the truth is that what hiphop is or was, lil young youths spitting Shakespeare like complex off the the top of the dome, thats the beauty of it, thats why its special, put a beat on and they can make a record in 5 to 10 mins and have you debate whether or not it was pre-written…the funny thing is thats actually a compliment not a diss that you are so blatantly calling dude a liar.
So by years you mean since 8 mile?
You guys are all dumb. Of course he freestyles all of it. He’s not a mental halfwit like all you idiots
Dude will body any rapper period. Even EM 10 min str8 flame.
i for one believe him There’s gotta be someone from the 7 billion ppl that live that can freestyle fire for 10 minutes….why cant it be him?
How the F did his own employer misspell his name?
thought is the GOAT and has been for well over a decade
How stupid can you be? How is this website still in business when the writers know nothing about rap? You cant read that and tell its written verses? He didnt want to get into the fact with fucking jimmy fallon over whats considered freestyle and not so he just said yeah. What he did on jimmy fallon was written then he went off top at the end. As soon as you hear him change to off top he said like 5 lines and gave up. How can you not tell the difference
Thought is dope by 10 minutes of rapping without really sayin nothing Jaw dropping does not move me.
Guess you weren’t listening to the freestyle if you didn’t think he said anything.
The only reason he’s getting so much hate is bc rap has evolved to lazy catchy tunes that don’t necessarily require any skill. That in mind, the art of freestyling is no longer a focal point so when people see just how incredible it is, they refuse to accept it bc they’re so caught up with dumb drug riddled music and can’t believe there are actually artists with intelligence and quick with it that can still do it. I feel sorry for y’all and the retarded horses you rode on.
Dont underestimate societies consciousness. We all alert to the market and we not buyin into it.
Questioning the freestyle l, I get that. I understand the debate. But forgetting that, I don’t get why people would question his greatness as an MC. Listen to his verses and guest spots sincerely and there’s no doubting his greatness. The MCs you’re comparing him to think he is great yet some of you don’t??
Ahem… Tariq* Trotter.
There’s difference between a freestyle and off the top. A freestyle is pre written but all one take. It’s not how it used to be, but that’s how it is now. There’s no way he could spit them bars for 10 minutes off of the top. Regardless of what it was, spitting bars for 10 minutes without fuxking it up is a talent in itself. PROPS
Y’all should listen to Juice’s old freestyle where he’s highlighting how a lot of cats “freestyle” end up on their albums.
Juice is the best freestyler of all time.
Black’s entire 10 minutes was not off the top, but don’t get it twisted: Thought is one of the few who can spit off the top and still crush you.
Yup. Off the top of his iphone.
If you need an introduction to Black Thought’s freestyling ability, look no farther than Lyricist Lounge Vol. 1. Black does what a lot of freestyle rappers do…. He’ll give you some written but midverse go off the top. Or he’ll go off the top for the whole joint. He does spit a lot of written. But yo, please respect his off the top abilities, no doubt. One of the only rappers who can still go off the top. Think about this: Common can freestyle, but he kinda falls off when he does. Black Thought is very skilled, more than Com Sense, when he goes in.
Written or not he still bodied the whole rap game as usual. But that’s obvious. Black Thought the GOAT and an absolute biblical beast.
It was dope, but definitely a “pre meditated” freestyle. I’ve heard him spit some of those bars before. Still better than almost everyone IMO.
Where have you heard those bars before?
Since people who claim to know rap music dont understand how to tell the difference between written and not written, the whole hot 97 bullshit was written and the jimmy fallon was written until 8:04.
Nonbelievers this indeed was off top.
And he can do it again and true hip hop is magic. Mad Props to Black thought
Eminem, On Revival, Destroyed This Big Black Fool
Revival was garbage.
That’s Is not Freestyle, That’s is Hip hop, I am Old School, Run DMC, Sugar Hill Gang, Public Enemy,. Etc
No where did Thought say it was “off the top”.. Where do you your writers from DX??
This was 100% off top I’ve been watching this dude do this live every chance I get for the past 15 years. Go to a show and watch him go off top for 10-15 minutes about the colors of the room or the drink in my hand (This he did, destroyed any questions I had right there) thing is,these new dude’s don’t have that I reflect or ability so they just say naw its written. Rap is so watered down and terrible now that we,force ourselves to question greatness. Notice the lack of a phone in his hand like all these other “freestyles” even METH sitting next to him acknowledged he had to read cause thought to was to saw to compete with off top. And this METH!
Black Thought has BEEN doing this if you were a fan of the Roots. This shouldn’t be a surprise at all. He killed that and hip-hop is instantly better for it. Thanks Black Thought, and thanks to Jimmy Fallon for giving him segment to appreciate his greatness!
Don’t care…I have to move over Lux and Pap as hottest freestyle on Hot 97 this year.
The definition of “freestyle” these days is more flexible. All due respect, I believe at least PART of this was premeditated. Still, incredibly dope PERFORMANCE. Alot of rhymers jump in and out of prewritten raps they got floating in their head. Its still incredibly skillfull to bring those up spur of the moment. Big up Black Thought. One of the most underrated OGs.
Stop listening to Hip-Hop if you think that this was “off the top”..
The writer (kyle eustice) edited this article to add the part about freestyle “may or may not be off top”. He doesnt know shit about rap and is editing articles to pretend like he does. So called hip hop websites hiring these kind of people is how hip hop died
Worst contributing writer to this website.. Consistent poor quality articles with errors, misinformation, and a general non-knowledge of Hip-Hop.
Was not off the top. Still best free I’ve ever witnessed.