Black Thought & El Michels Affair announce collab album 'Glorious Game,' share "Grateful"

The Roots frontman Black Thought continues his prolific solo career with Glorious Game, a new 12-song collaborative album with El Michels Affair, the retro-soul group known for “reverse-engineering” Wu-Tang Clan songs on such albums as Enter The 37th Chamber and Return to the 37th Chamber, and also working closely with the group, and whose leader Leon Michels has played in Sharon Jones, Lee Fields, and Charles Bradley’s bands and produced music for Freddie Gibbs, Beyoncé & Jay-Z, and more. The album comes out April 14 via Leon’s label Big Crown Records. Pre-order it on “sky high blue” vinyl.

Black Thought and Leon Michels first met in the 2000s, when Black Thought was familiarizing himself with the contemporary soul scene. “Out of that whole world, Menahan Street Band was probably my favorite,” he said, referring to the group that Leon co-founded. (Since then, Menahan Street Band’s Dave Guy and Ian Hendrickson-Smith of Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings both joined The Roots.) “Before long, Black Thought was coming around the studio and would jam with us from time to time,” Leon adds. “Then, fast forward to 2020 and COVID lockdowns, he just hit me up out of the blue, wanting me to send him stuff to write to. We both were looking to stay busy.”

For Glorious Game, Leon would write and record entire soul songs, and then sample himself, chopping up and looping his own music to create boom bap-style instrumentals for Black Thought. The first taste is “Grateful,” and you can check that out below.

Tracklist
1. Grateful
2. Glorious Game (ft. 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)