Black Thought Says House Fire He Caused As A Child Lost Him ‘A Certain Innocence’
Black Thought is opening up about a time when things were not so pretty for him or his family.
Speaking with CBS Mornings, the Philly rapper discussed his new memoir, The Upcycled Self, published under his real name, Tariq Trotter, and one of the incidents of his childhood that stuck with him until now.
In the first chapter, Thought reflects on accidentally burning down his family home when he was six years old while playing with a lighter. “My mother was super forgiving about the fire,” he told the program on Monday (November 13). “There was something lost in the fire that, y’know, you would never be able to get back … I think a certain innocence, a certain level of security.”
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Later in the interview, the Roots member also discussed losing his mother to the crack epidemic. “To lose my mother in the way that I did at the time that I did was — it was my worst nightmare,” he recalled. “Young Tariq, y’know, came to understand that you can’t change everyone, you can’t save everyone.”
Earlier this month, Thought described how music was his “saving grace” and “salvation” and noted how his relationship with Questlove was extremely important to his stability and development. That said, he described how the two had bumped heads but have been able to remain brothers through it all.
Watch the full interview segment below.
