On Friday (April 14), Black Thought and Leon Michels’ El Michels Affair collective unveiled their highly anticipated joint LP, Glorious Game, a 12-song effort with assists from KIRBY, Son Little, and Brainstory. The project was led by “Grateful,” “That Girl,” “I’m Still Somehow,” and its groovy title track.

In an interview with Bandcamp, Michels opened up about how Glorious Game came to be, which began during the 2020 lockdown.

“The interesting part about the beginning of the process was there really wasn’t that much communication,” Michels revealed. “Thought hit me up. We’d talked about making music together… and we were just looking to do something. I’d send Thought beats, and the s**t would come back in two hours, fully formed. I’d send him three more. Two days later, all three came back. It really was that easy in the beginning. As restrictions lightened up, we got together in the studio and worked on stuff.”

For Thought, the joint album arrived after the December 2022 drop African Dreams, a three-song EP that the Philly lyricist and producer created with Seun Kuti. Months prior to that, he connected with Danger Mouse for the critically acclaimed Cheat Codes, a 12-track body of work with additional features from A$AP Rocky, Raekwon, Joey BADA$$, Russ, Run The Jewels, Conway the Machine, the late MF DOOM, and more.

It’s been almost a full decade since the Thought and Questlove-led The Roots liberated their 11th studio album …and then you shoot your cousin, an experimental effort that pulled from legendary artists like Nina Simone and Mary Lou Williams. Patty Crash, Richard Nichols, Greg Porn, Dice Raw, Jazzyfatnastees’ Mercedes Martinez, and Raheem DeVaughn also contributed to the overall release. Press play on El Michels Affair and Black Thought’s Glorious Game below.