Glorious Game

On January 11, 2023, Black Thought announced that a collaborative album with El Michels Affair titled Glorious Game would be releasing on April 14, 2023, and released the first single for the album "Grateful".[7] According to the press release, work for the album started in 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic. The album features Michels' close collaborators and artists from his record label Big Crown, including Lady Wray, Brainstory, and Paul Spring.

On February 14, the second single for the album, "That Girl", was released.[8] On March 6, the third single for the album, "Glorious Game", was released, featuring singer Kirby.[9] On March 29, the fourth single for the album, "I'm Still Somehow", was released.[10] The album was released on April 14.[11]

Black Thought has described Glorious Game as "one of my most personal projects to date", and has stated that his goal for the album was to have every song tell a story from or about his life.[12][13] Bandcamp characterizes Black Thought as "in an introspective mood" on the album.[13] The title Glorious Game is a term for "information passed down from... an elder statesman with a cautionary tale here and there".[12] The decision to include a reprise of the title track was inspired by musical theater.[13]

In producing the album, Leon Michels wrote several original songs and then, rather than using those songs directly, created hip hop beats that sampled them.[12][13]

Upon release, Glorious Game was met with critical acclaim. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from professional publications, the album received an average score of 81, based on seven reviews.[1]

Writing for Under the Radar, Chris Thiessen writes "Glorious Game pays homage to hip-hop's lineage of soul, funk, and boom-bap," and praises Black Thought's lyricism, saying "In both the familiar and the unexpected, Black Thought is perfectly at ease. He finds ample room and inspiration in Michels' thoughtful production to reflect on his life [...] Time and again, Black Thought finds that beautiful center, where soul marries technique rather than competes against it."[3] Robin Murray at Clash praised El Michels Affair's production writing, "A word, too, for the ever-resistant consistency that cinematic soul outfit El Michels Affair apply to their art – the group's third album in three years, they never once let standards slip."[2] Riley Wallace of HipHopDX commended Black Thought's storytelling, writing, "Playing out as a stage-worthy one-person show, Thought remains endearingly personal throughout the tightly curated 31-minute project, walking us through the sights, sounds, smells and sensibilities instilled coming up in the Point Breeze neighborhood of South Philadelphia."[5]

• Additional production on "Glorious Game" by Brainstory
• Additional production on "The Weather" by Paul Castelluzzo

Musicians

• Leon Michels – drums, bass, guitar, keys, flute, sax, percussion, vocals
• Nick Movshon – drums, bass
• Homer Steinweiss – drums
• Paul Spring – guitar
• Kevin Martin – vocals
• Tony Martin – bass
• Eric Hagstrom – drums
• Paul Castelluzzo – guitar, keys
• Lady Wray – vocals
• Big Tony Martin – vocals

Technical

• Jens Jungkurth – mixer, engineer
• Leon Michels – engineer
• Alex Deturk – mastering

• "Black Thought & Leon Michels Discuss the Deeply Personal “Glorious Game"" (Bandcamp, 2023).
• "How Friendship & Love of Music Brought Black Thought and El Michels Affair Together" (Billboard, 2023).
• "Black Thought plays the long game" (The Fader, 2023).