The Roots' Black Thought to open NFL draft telecast
The rapper and Roots frontman stars in the NFL Network promo spots.
When the NFL Network's TV coverage of the live-from-the-Ben Franklin Parkway NFL draft kicks off on Thursday night, it will come complete with a filmed intro to Philadelphia narrated by rapper Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter of the Roots.
The currently bearded rapper speaks of the city's grit and working-class character in the 75-second spot filmed — in Jersey City, N.J. — earlier this week. The network will open its coverage all three nights of the telecast with the clip, and push it out on their social media channel to hype their coverage.
Click here for more coverage of the 2017 NFL draft in Philadelphia. Our live blog will have updates from the event starting Thursday at noon.
"We'll get our hardcore audience for this," said Michael Mandt, executive producer of orignal content for the NFL. "But we're also speaking to a different crowd. We're also representing Phily, and Black Thought and the Roots represent Philly really well. They're the quintessential Philly band."
In the intro, Black Thought isn't rapping, but rather providing on camera narration in the style of the Scottie Pippen ads that are currently running to promote the NBA Playoffs and the Don Cheadle spots that have run during the NFL post-season in the past. Check out a snippet below.