For the last 24 years, Tunde Adebimpe has largely been known as the co-founder, co-vocalist and principal songwriter for TV On The Radio. The mostly-black, art-rock band triumphed through two decades of volatile cultural change to become one of the most beloved, enduring and influential groups from New York City’s early-2000s rock scene. Though Tunde’s poetic songwriting and transparent, towering vocals are central to the band’s dissonant sound, TV On The Radio, has and always will be a collaboration between a group of singular musicians.

Tunde’s personal story exists on a parallel path, as a sort of creative polymath. He is a musician but also an illustrator and painter. He’s a former animator and one-time stop-motion filmmaker. He is a television and film actor. And now he is also a solo artist, with his first-ever formal solo album, Thee Black Boltz (Sub Pop, 2025).

Tunde initially conceived of the album in 2019, while TV On The Radio was on a break. Two years later, as the world was emerging out of the global Covid pandemic, he started to put ideas down on paper; specifically, a notebook, which captures a free-thinking mix of words, illustrations and ideas. It is how Tunde begins most of his projects. Included in this notebook was a list of musical references and visual sketches that constituted what he calls, “mixtape of emotions the music could evoke. A feeling map of sorts.” He started capturing those ideas in 2021 with the help of multi-instrumentalist Wilder Zoby (Run The Jewels), with whom he shares a studio with in Los Angeles.

A child of Nigerian immigrants who came to America for a better life, Tunde split his youth between Nigeria and Pittsburgh. His father was a medical professional who loved to doodle and draw, and in doing so, ignited a passion for visual art in his children. “I remember the first time I saw that he could draw, like really draw,” Tunde remembers, “it was like he revealed some superpower. From then on, I was always doodling and he was very encouraging.”

Tunde moved to New York to attend college and found himself amongst a group of friends immersed in indie rock, tape-trading and zine-making. He discovered that creative expression, often visual, was a language he felt most comfortable with; that art allowed him to best communicate his feelings and also to make sense of the world around him. NYU Film School followed (much to his parents’ chagrin), and it was there Tunde developed an interest in the world of stop-motion animation. It ultimately led to a job working on MTV’s cult hit, “Celebrity Deathmatch.”

Film school is also where Tunde was introduced to acting. “I thought I wanted to be a director, but I didn’t feel comfortable giving anyone real instruction,” he laughs. “But I took direction well, and being in front of the camera felt more collaborative, more my speed.” Tunde’s first official role in front of the camera was in a classmate’s film, 2001’s “Jump Tomorrow.” Subsequently, Tunde has appeared in several television and film projects, including critically acclaimed roles in “Rachel Getting Married” (2008), “Spider Man Homecoming” (2017), “Twisters” (2024) and “Star Wars: Skeleton Crew” (2024).

Around the same time as he was shooting his first movie, Tunde was also experimenting with making music. Making 4-track recordings in his bedroom and doing noise shows with his friends utilized the same creative muscles, he found, as making tapes and zines. “I don’t play an instrument. But it was one of the first times that I really got into just a punk ethos of like, if you have an idea, just get it out. It doesn’t need to be perfect. You don’t need a label or billboards. You can do everything yourself.” It was doing these 4-track songs and moving to Williamsburg in 2000 that led Tunde to meet Dave Sitek and his brother, and their collective lo-fi recordings became the genesis for TV On The Radio.

Thee Black Boltz is not a TV On The Radio album. But in a lot of ways, the excitement of doing something on his own for the first time ignited a similar spark in him as the early TV On The Radio days. The songwriting process is the same, he says, but with his TVOTR bandmates, Tunde knows he doesn’t always have to complete his ideas. “I’ve been doing this thing with this group of people for so long, that I can just have a vague sketch of a concept and I know Jaleel or Kyp will have five brilliant ideas on where it can go. But for Thee Black Boltz, I didn’t have that scaffolding to hang on. That was both terrifying and exhilarating.”

At the heart of the album is its title, a nod to Tunde’s propensity to write and sing about the human condition, in all its forms, under all its stressors, both big and small. It is his response to the macro unease of a post-pandemic world careening towards violent authoritarianism and the personal grief that has come from loss in recent years, specifically the sudden passing of his younger sister while making this album. Thee Black Boltz is Tunde’s desperate grasping of small moments of joy amidst the dissonance and sadness, any way he can. Making this album, he says, was his way of processing everything. “It was my way of building a rock or a platform for myself in the middle of this fucking ocean.”

And thus, Thee Black Boltz. As he writes in his notebook, “The sparks of inspiration/motivation/hope that flash up in the midst of (and sometimes as a result of) deep grief, depression or despair. Sort of like electrons building up in storm clouds clashing until they fire off lightning and illuminate a way out, if only for a second.” “Also,” he adds. “It’s a good name for a cool metal band, and I think that most people would describe me as akin to a very cool metal band.”