Black Thought Recalls Biggie Smalls’ Reaction To The “What They Do” Video

Black Thought says that The Notorious B.I.G. thought The Roots dissed him after the release of the group’s “What They Do” music video. He discussed Biggie’s reaction to the visual during a recent interview on People’s Party With Talib Kweli, which they recorded at The Roots Picnic.

“Nah, we weren’t dissing, first of all, I mean gangsta rap, what is that?” Black Thought said on the show. “Capone-N-Noreaga, I wouldn’t consider that gangsta rap. But, everything that was taking place during that point in time in music, had become so predictable. We did that song, and then ultimately the video, just as a satire.”

From there, he explained that artists who were operating in that vein “probably felt a way,” but said it was intended as comedy. He continued: “We absolutely didn’t intend for anybody to take offense, but there was one scene in that video where the director dropped me into a duplicate of a scene from somebody else’s video and it was a B.I.G. joint. So B.I.G., he really was offended by what they do, like by the video. He was rocking with the song, and then he saw the video and was devastated because he was a huge Roots fan. ‘Silent Treatment’ was his shit.”

Black Thought Speaks With Talib Kweli

The Roots dropped “What They Do” on their third studio album, Illadelph Halflife. Check out Black Thought’s comments on the response to the video above.