The Roots band member Black Thought has announced a joint album with El Michels Affair, called Glorious Game, will be released on April 14 under Big Crown Records. The 12-track album will feature Kirby, Son Little, and Brainstorm.

Yesterday (Jan. 11), they dropped their lead single titled “Grateful.” “New year, more music… Happy to announce “Grateful,” the first single from my joint project with @elmichelsaffair, is out NOW! Available on all platforms. Our album Glorious Game drops 4/14/23. Link in bio. @bigcrownrecords #Grateful #GloriousGame #NewMusic,” the “When We Move” rapper captioned the artwork to the new single on his Instagram page.

Black Thought, whose real name is Tariq Trotter, and El Michels Affair’s founder Leon Michels were friends for nearly 20 years. They started working together in the early 2000s on charity concerts in New York City and Philadelphia. According to a press release, the duo began working on their collaborative album during the COVID-19 pandemic, after Black Thought initially reached out to Michels for beats.

The leader of the cinematic soul group is also known to be a music producer, record executive, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and co-founder of Truth & Soul Records and Big Crown Records.

Glorious Game is a follow-up to Black Thought’s joint project with Danger Mouse Cheat Codes. The 12-track album was released in August of 2022 under BMG Rights Management and features Kid Sister, Raekwon, Dylan Cartlidge, Joey Bada$$, Russ, MF DOOM, Michael Kiwanuka, A$AP Rocky, Run The Jewels, and Conway The Machine. Cheat Codes peaked at No. 43 on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart and marked producer Danger Mouse’s first Hip Hop album since his 2005 The Mouse and the Mask with MF BOOM, who died in 2020.