Photo by Hypland // Quin Dunziellas “Every day has been a mental … whatever you call this,” says Thundercat. “I saw Kamasi [Washington] a couple days ago, and he was like, ‘This is the longest I’ve gone without genuinely playing my instrument in the manner that we do.’ It’s weird, man! It’s messing with my brain function. I feel like I’m in slow-motion right now.” Thundercat has all the reason in the world to feel like he’s in slo-mo. A week into the tour celebrating his latest album and just days after a joyful March 9 appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, the coronavirus pandemic took him off the road. He was already home in North Hollywood when It Is What It Is officially dropped on April 3, garnering high praise and inspiring more than one reviewer to note that the album’s themes of loneliness and loss (“Lost in Space,” “Unrequited Love,” “Fair Chance,” “It Is What It Is”), nostalgia (“Interstellar Love,” “Funny Thing,” “Ov