Watch a Quarantined Black Thought Premiere Three Tracks on NPR's 'Tiny Desk Concert'

Black Thought hooked up with NPR to premiere three new songs, including a track from his Black No More play.

Just because we're all quarantined because of the coronavirus virus (COVID-19), doesn't mean we can't have some fun. The Roots have especially been productive, releasing a whole slate of programming.

Black Thought recently recorded an NPR Tiny Desk performance from his home (where he is quarantined.) NPR released the performance on Thursday, April 9th,  which features Black Thought performing three songs. This Tiny Desk performance is unique, however: there is no live band and, instead of performing songs from his deep catalog, Black Thought premiered three new tracks.

The first song he performed was a Sean Co-produced track called "Thought Vs. Everybody." The second track he performed was "Yellow," a song Black Though wrote and recorded for the upcoming off-Broadway play he's been working on Black No More. The play is based on a  George S. Schuyler novel from 1931in which a man discovers a way to turn black people white. On the track "Yellow," Thought raps from the perspective of a man sick of blackness and wanting things to be yellow (including his women.)

The last song Black Thought performed was "Nature of the Beast." The track is easily one of the most pop-oriented tracks Black Thought has ever recorded. It features an appearance from Portland-based pop band Portugal. The Man, who actually appear for the performance from their own remote, quarantined location. This song was also produced by Sean C.  ("Thought Vs. Everybody" and "Nature of the Beast" are both expected to be on the upcoming EP Streams of Thought Vol. 3.

Watch Black Thought’s NPR performance below. And stay tuned all week for more Roots streaming content — including sets from Questlove — on their YouTube channel.