The Alter Ego themed day for homecoming week brought Black Thought, one of the founders of legendary hip-hop band, The Roots, to Dillard University’s Cook Theatre, on Nov. 13. This event began with an introduction from Stu¬dent Government Association President, Ronnell Perry who spoke Black Thought’s on his life and career before introduc¬ing the much-anticipated guest. Black Thought answered questions regarding his feelings about Jay-Z, Hip-Hop as it is now, and much more.

Q: During your speech, you said “you are not one of Jay-Z’s biggest fans.” Why is that?A: “I remember Jay-Z from back in the day, and he had one of those styles that turned me off. He used to rap really fast, and I don’t like that. It became a gimmick. So I never really listened to him with an open mind.It was me, Kweli, and Jill Scott doing a Jay-Z melody. I didn’t know any of the songs so I was read¬ing off the teleprompter and the teleprompter went blank and I was stuck there. It was my first time performing Def Jam. That was a pretty embarrassing moment.” Q: What do you think of southern hip-hop?A: “I think its dope. There is an argument that southern hip-hop is not real hip-hop. When you really break it down, Hip-Hop coming form the Bronx was created for peo¬ple trying to make the most out of what they had-making something out of nothing. In that aspect, Southern hip-hop is the ultimate hip-hop going on right now. There was no market for it. There was really no demand for it. And now, it even supersedes what is going on up northeast and everywhere else. Southern hip-hop is the face; the sound of hip-hop.”Q: What do you think Hip-Hop is?A: “It’s the way I live my life. Everything I do is hip-hop. It is the way I order my food, the way I’m sitting right now doing this interview, the way my hat is-everything. It is an all encompassment culture. I am purest though. So I feel like everything I do is in some way shape or form hip-hop.”Q: Do you think there is a difference between Hip-Hop and Rap?A: “I don’t make a differentiation. That’s semantics [the study of language meaning]. I don’t think rap is a culture. There is the act of rapping and the art of rapping. But hip-hop, is more than just the musical aspect. Rap and Hip-Hop are one in the same to me.”Q. In the ‘Seed 2.0,’ [song from the Roots album, Phrenology] was there anything subliminal in that song or was it just all in good fun?A.”Both. We don’t have any records where there is not a message. The message in the ‘Seed,’ is to just do your thing to the world. Figuratively, do your thing, do it to death and making your mark on the world.