Props go out to Thundercat on bringing home the Grammy last night for “Best Progressive R&B Album.” Thundercat has had a long career in the music business from his time with Suicidal Tendencies, his many collaborations with the game’s greats (Herbie Hancock, Mac Miller, Kendrick Lamar, Pharrell, etc.), and his steady work on the Bass right alongside his partner in music, Flying Lotus. If you didn’t know, Flying Lotus’ grandmother was a Motown hitmaker and you might know of her sister, aka Lotus’ grand-aunt, jazz great Alice Coltrane who was married to the jazz legend, John Coltrane. How is that for a family tree! Check out Thundercat and Flying Lotus celebrating the Grammy win last night. If this doesn’t make you smile then you have something wrong with you!
I first got into Thundercat for his work on Flying Lotus’ label, Brainfeeder which is a label that I’ve always relied on to provide me with dope music. Their roster was always stacked with heavy hitters that kept my ear drums happy for many years. I believe the first time I saw Thundercat’s name was on the tracklist for Flying Lotus’ 2010 album, Cosmogramma which I hold up there as one of the best instrumental albums of all time. The song from the album that featured Thundercat is “MmmHmm” which makes me feel like I’m flying through outer space without a damn care in the world. Such a beautiful work of art.
Thundercat dropped his debut album, The Golden Age of Apocalypse in 2011 and it was the video for “Walkin’” that showed me more of his personality. He just seemed like a good lighthearted dude having fun with his music. And cmon… he also had a baseball card related title of a song on his album with “Fleer Ultra?” And I’m already in my 3rd paragraph here and I haven’t given Thundercat any props for his work on the Bass Guitar. I am not a musician so I don’t know who the greats are but Thundercat has to be top 10 right? Somebody please enlighten me on this because if there a lot better than him I’d be astonished. Here’s the video for “Walkin’.”
Both Thundercat and Flying Lotus collaborated and have stayed active constantly for a minute so to go through their whole story from 2010 on might give me carpel tunnel syndrome. So let me pivot a bit… Outside of Thundercat’s solo albums and his work with Flying Lotus, his collaborations outside of Brainfeeder were really dope too. His collab with Mac Miller and Syd the Kid on “In the Morning” is just too damn dope.
And then his work with Kendrick on songs like “untitled 08 / 09.06.2014” were groovy too. Thundercat actually picked up a Grammy for his work with Kendrick on his To Pimp a Butterfly album on the track, “These Walls.” Flying Lotus and Thundercat stayed on that abstract jazz shit and Kendrick joining them was a perfect fit. Can’t drop that sentence without including current greats like Terrace Martin, Robert Glasper, and Kamasi Washington. Here is “untitled 08” which is a personal favorite for me.
I feel Thundercat really caught his solo stride The Beyond / Where the Giants Roam EP with the track “Them Changes” which will always remain my favorite Thundercat track. I even through it on my work rotation on the loud speakers and even saw Janet in Accounting nodding her head. That means it’s a banger right?
2017 saw Thundercat drop his Drunk album which was such a solid album. I mean, he got Michael McDonald and Kenny Loggins on a track together just a few years ago. So good.
Some of my favorite content on YouTube is Thundercat playing with Mac Miller on his Tiny Desk performance. Mac and Thundercat were very close friends and this Rolling Stone article is a good one to read if you had the time. Mac and Thundercat were getting ready to hit the road with Dreamville’s J.I.D. to support Mac’s Swimming album before Malcolm suddenly passed. But let’s focus on the good times here with this video from NPR.
Thundercat dropped his Grammy award winning It Is What It Is album on April 3rd of last year while we were all at home looking for things to do and listen to. He released several singles leading up to the album and it was the “Dragonball Durag” song which caught my attention with the funky tunes, exceptional vocals, and amazing video. The album itself was solid from top to bottom with collaborations from Steve Lacy, Childish Gambino, Ty Dolla $ign, and more.
To close this all out, I just want to give props to Thundercat, Flying Lotus, and the Brainfeeder record label. Such an accomplishment guys. You’ve all refused to conform to be “popular” and you’ve stayed in your weird lane for years making music for weird fans like myself. And when I say “weird,” I mean it as the highest compliment. Hope you guys are still celebrating right now because you deserve it!