Hip-Hop Artist and Creator Black Thought To Be Rutgers-Newark Commencement Speaker

Tariq Trotter—aka Black Thought, founder of The Roots and a critically acclaimed solo artist, actor, New York Times’ Best-Selling author, activist and creator––will be the keynote speaker at Rutgers University–Newark’s commencement ceremony, where he will also receive an Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree.

Renowned for his genius as a rapper and lyricist, Trotter has affirmed himself as one of the most important voices in hip-hop. Lyrically dexterous, and politically provocative, Trotter was described by The New York Times as “hip-hop’s Dostoyevsky,” who writes with “a refined literary fire from the soulful furnace of pain and suffering.’’

“One of the most influential and critically acclaimed popular culture creatives of our time, Tariq Luqmaan Trotter—a.k.a. Black Thought—has established himself as one of America’s most prolific, prescient, and powerful voices in music,’’ said Rutgers-Newark Chancellor Nancy Cantor.

Said Cantor, “He embodies the aspiration we have for our students to live into their life experiences—not running away from them or seeking to ‘rise above’ them, but owning their stories, building upon them, and using them to help cultivate new generations. That is what Tariq has done and it encapsulates why he is such an exquisite storyteller—and why we know he’ll be an exquisite commencement speaker.”

In a letter nominating him as commencement speaker, Salamishah Tillet, a Pulitzer Prize-winning Rutgers-Newark professor and director of Express Newark, described Trotter as an artist whose impact has been far-reaching. “He wholeheartedly embodies the ethos of art and social justice that has long defined the city of Newark, in general, and Rutgers University- Newark, in particular,’’ she wrote. 

“As we continue to honor the 50 years of hip-hop, a cultural movement that has redefined our country for half a century and expressed pride and justice for marginalized communities all over the world, I can think of no better commencement speaker than Tariq Trotter, an artist, activist, and intellectual who has used his voice to save himself, and in so doing, the world,’’ Tillet wrote.

Trotter, who was raised in Philadelphia and lives in Maplewood, co-founded The Roots in 1993 with drummer Questlove. They were one of the first successful rap groups to feature live instrumentation, breaking ground in a medium that has relied on samples and synthesized beats.  

Over the course of his career, Trotter, 51, has won three GRAMMY Awards and three NAACP Image Awards, in addition to garnering awards and critical praise as an actor, writer, and film producer. Not only has he delivered eleven critically acclaimed albums with The Roots, but the group also joined The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon as the house band and beloved mainstay of late-night television for over a decade.
 
Black Thought’s solo music career has continued with  Streams of Thought series, and in 2023, his BET single and music video Love Letter earned the emcee his eleventh GRAMMY nomination and first as a solo artist in the Best Rap Performance category.
 
In addition to his work as a recording artist, Trotter served at the main composer and lyricist of the 2022 Off-Broadway production Black No More. He was also the star, making his Off-Broadway debut. Black No More earned a nomination for “Best Musical” at the 2022 Lucile Lortell Awards. Trotter's stage presence has translated into roles in film and television such as HBO’s The Deuce, among other productions. He most recently appeared in Lin-Manuel Miranda’s feature directorial debut, Tick, Tick… Boom!.
 
Beyond collaborations with everyone from Eminem, John Legend, J Dilla, and Big Pun to Linkin Park, Logic, and Fall Out Boy, Trotter co-produced the multiplatinum GRAMMY Award-winning Original Broadway Cast Recording of Hamilton.
 
Alongside fellow The Roots co-founder Questlove, he launched the production company Two One Five Entertainment, executive producing the AMC documentary series, Hip-Hop: The Songs That Shook America. Together, in 2020, the pair announced a deal with Universal Television to develop scripted and non-scripted programming. 

Questlove and Black Thought, under Two One Five, executive produced Rise Up, Sing Out, a collection of animated musical shorts for Disney Junior, which earned a nomination for Outstanding Short Form Series for the 2023 NAACP Image Awards. 

Most recently, the company executive produced Descendant, a feature documentary on the historic discovery of The Clotilda—the last known slave ship to arrive in America illegally transporting enslaved Africans. The documentary, which made its world premiere at Sundance in 2022, was acquired by Netflix and Higher Ground—President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama’s production company. 

The film earned three nominations for Best Documentary Feature, Best Director and took home the award for Best Historical Documentary at the 2022 Critics Choice Documentary Awards. Descendant received a nomination for Outstanding Documentary for the 2023 NAACP Image Awards and was also named one of the Top 5 Documentaries of 2022 by the National Board of Review. It also received positive reviews from the New York Times, the LA Times, The Guardian, Variety and more.

In 2023, Two One Five Entertainment executive produced Sam Pollard’s The League, a documentary centered on the tumultuous journey of Negro league baseball. Once again in 2024, Two One Five was nominated for a NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Variety Showfor their production of A GRAMMY Salute to 50 Years of Hip Hop, a two-hour tribute special and live concert celebrating the 50th anniversary of hip-hop. This year, the company is releasing an A&E series on James Brown, alongside Mick Jagger and will executive produce a documentary on the legendary musician and producer Sly Stone which Onyx/Disney will distribute.
 
In 2023, Trotter debuted The Upcycled Self: A Memoir on the Art of Becoming Who We Are. The memoir, chronicling the emcee’s journey of creativity, discovery, and inspiration, landed on the New York Times’ best seller list. In addition to commercial success, the book received praise from The New Yorker, NPR, The Washington Post, CBS Mornings, and others.