Redman Reveals to Black Thought He ‘Was Actually Hurt’ When The Roots Rejected His Verse Once

Redman revealed to Black Thought that The Roots once hurt his feelings after rejecting a guest verse he submitted for an album.

As part of Rolling Stone‘s Musicians on Musicians interview series that published Tuesday (Oct. 21), Redman was candid with Black Thought about how he was upset when The Roots — of which Black Thought is a member — never included his verse on one of their albums.

“I did a verse for The Roots, and I ain’t never tell you this,” Redman said to kick off the interview. “I did a verse for The Roots, and I ain’t never heard back from you guys. I said, ‘Damn, you know what, I was cursing a little bit too much. I might have said ‘b—h’ or something derogatory that they probably didn’t like, and yo, I was actually hurt from that, bro.’”

Black Thought explained that the rejection was due to The Roots’ late manager Rich Nichols, who was known for being cutthroat about decisions regarding the band’s records.

“You know what happened? Rich, rest in peace, who was very much the brains of The Roots’ operation, ran such a tight ship,” Black Thought explained. “It was hard for me to place verses on The Roots’ albums. He would shoot down every submission, and there was something about that verse — something that Rich didn’t like about it. I can’t remember what it was. I’m gonna find that verse. I was over the moon! I loved that s—t.”

Thought then added that Redman would have a placement on Black Thought’s upcoming solo album, Streams of Thought Vol. 4.

“I mean, in many ways, I feel that it’s my opus,” Thought explained. “It’s got the most features, the most elaborate beats, crazy samples. A part of that is trying to get all this stuff cleared, but yeah, your verse on that song and on that record is definitely coming out.”

Check out the full conversation below.