Tunde Adebimpe

Tunde Adebimpe is one of this century’s most recognizable rock voices, with a tone that reflects the urgency of Bono and a range that mirrors that of Curtis Mayfield. Indeed, soon after Adebimpe co-founded TV on the Radio at the top of this millennium, the Brooklyn band emerged as an important and urgent act, their groundbreaking debut EP and LP combining post-9/11 anxiety with the adrenaline of being young and excitable in the city. Their mix of post-punk and soul, electronic abstraction and rock aggression, became a cornerstone of modern indie rock, a fork in the road that led to crossover success. But Adebimpe has never been content to just be a rock-band frontman. A longtime illustrator and animator, he also starred in the Star Wars franchise, became a voice actor, and worked with the likes of Mike Patton and Massive Attack, all signs of a healthy creative practice outside of his flagship act.

After turning 50 early in 2025, Adebimpe finally added another distinction—solo artist. Six years in the making, his debut, Thee Black Boltz, combines the vigor and worry of TV on the Radio’s most affecting work with the tender reflections of an empathetic artist entering a new phase of life. Where “Magnetic” and “Streetlight Nuevo” pulse with the radical edge of TV on the Radio, “ILY” is a heartbreaking and stately acoustic ballad written for his late sister. He saunters onto the dance floor during the massive “Somebody New” and even sidles up toward country during “God Knows,” where pedal steel moans beneath lovestruck defiance. Adebimpe remains one of this century’s most recognizable rock voices, but, after a quarter-century of already making anthems, he’s still finding new ways to use that instrument.