?uestlove: The Roots 'redefine art of house band'


By Eliott C. McLaughlin
CNN

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- Yes, they signed with a mega-label and are cashing checks as a late-night show's house band, but sellouts? The Roots?

?uestlove said he doesn't appreciate a lot of the labels placed on the band -- underground, alternative -- but he conceded that some of The Roots' moves of late keep their fans curious and he doesn't mind making them say, "OK, I gotta see what happens next." Watch what defines a sellout »

Known as sticklers for remaining "independent" and bucking trends that drive many of their hip-hop counterparts, The Roots joined Island/Def Jam in 2005 and earlier this year walked on stage as the house band for NBC's "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon."

"I don't know if selling out is even a factor in 2009. There's being responsible, and there's being businessmen," he said. "My definition of selling out is when your products start sounding crappy and when you phone it in from home. But I don't think there's anything compromised or rushed or ill-timed or misthought about our career decision.

"As long as the music's funky and true, and our art is still represented, I don't see that at all," he said during a recent stop in Atlanta for the Hennessy Artistry Series that he and rapper Common are promoting. Meet The Roots »

Playing on a late-night show, ?uestlove said, is a nice fit for The Roots. The six-piece band, fronted by ?uestlove's childhood friend and band co-founder, Black Thought, has always placed a special emphasis on its performances.

They've performed with a slew of musicians, ranging from blues legends Robert Cray and Etta James to R&B's Erykah Badu and hip-hop's Jay-Z and Talib Kweli.

During Saturday's performance in Atlanta, Georgia, they backed up Common, singer Amerie, Canadian songstress Anjulie and '90s R&B sensations Boyz II Men. They also played a few songs from the 10-album catalog they've compiled since 1993. Their next album, "How I Got Over," is slated for release next month.

?uestlove said collaboration is one of the reasons the band enjoys the late-night circuit.

"The fact that we get to back up or play with or collaborate with Q-Tip, Paul Simon, Ghostface, Michael McDonald, a whole array of artists -- that's the coolest job in the world to me," he said.

?uestlove, whose real name is Ahmir Thompson and whose nom de stage is pronounced "Questlove," acknowledged that some of The Roots' fans didn't see the move as a "a glamorous or glorious thing."

"They sort of see it as a second-banana, 'minionized' position, and I think that slowly but surely we're really just trying to redefine the art of the house band," he said.

The key, ?uestlove said, is to keep doing what they're known for -- meshing thought-provoking rhymes with horns, keyboards, strings and percussion, and by showing off their "chops" backing up any artist you can throw at them.


In a musical genre known more for its synthesis and DJs than for its sousaphones and electric guitars, ?uestlove said he never saw The Roots as going "against the grain."

"Despite the fact that in the beginning we were marketed as alternative -- you know, no samples, no DJ, just a funky band -- I think at the end of the day we were six cats that loved hip-hop so much that we just knew how to duplicate the break beats that hip-hop was sampling," he said.

Often, DJs are influenced by their parents' record collections, he said. They'll take the albums and use them to make new beats and rhythms.

"We just took it a step further," ?uestlove said. "We took our parents' record collection and we just emulated it. We were musicians."

Hip-hop is not famed for the longevity of its luminaries, but ?uestlove and Black Thought, aka Tariq Trotter, have been performing for crowds since the late 1980s.

They've seen a handful of artists and MCs come and go since forming the band under the moniker The Square Roots in 1991 -- among them, the infamous human beatboxes Scratch and Rahzel as well as record producer Scott Storch, who used to play keyboards.

So, how does a band stay relevant in an era when hip-hop fans seem to prefer overproduction and auto-tune to substantive musical compositions?

"I don't know if there's a secret that I can say that makes us unique or that I can pinpoint to the magic. I just say that we're very, very disciplined, we're professional, we practice a lot and we show up on time," ?uestlove said, laughing. "That's it. That's all you need."





Black Thought and The Roots take a break from their late-night gig to perform at Atlanta's Velvet Room.

The Roots are just making money, lol

I don't see how they're sellouts for doing something different. They're showing that they're more than just a hip-hop band, but real fans of music and musicians themselves. They can sing, play, compose and cover songs. So many hip-hop and rap artists are seen as something other than musicians, when that's not always the case.

The last thing the Roots should be accused
of being is sellouts. They are doing what they've
always done. They just happen to have a good gig now
which should add to their repertoire.
Should Lil Wayne be a sellout for appearing on the View?

PLEEZE, they would have been insane to turn it down. Make the $$!

The Show Sucks.

the problem isn't what they are doing...it's who they are doing it for.

Fallon is tragic.

sosgemini said:

A....M....E....N....

Fenwick said:

I'm sure you'd turn the money down if tv offered you a spot backing a talk show host...
It doesn't matter WHO they are doing it for,they are doing their thing, which I applaud. And, this does not make them sellouts.

sosgemini said:

That IS true. But they still gettin' paid.
[Edited 9/25/09 17:32pm]

Timmy84 said:

Late Nite TV is dead and buried anyway, with Jay gone, Conan is getting stomped and his show is terrible, Dave is Dave and will mop the floor with them all, Craig Ferguson is cool but no one cares, Jimmy Kimmel is horrific, not funny, doesnt know how to host anything, Jimmy Fallon wasnt even funny on SNL, and Carson Daly just had some aninversary show and one person who came on to wish him well, said, i didnt even know this show was still on. So does it really matter who the fuck the band is on any of these shows?

Jimmy Fallon isn't even slightly entertaining and needs all the help he can get.

I ain't mad at Roots, it's good $$ and exposure for them even if the show ends up getting cancelled, which wouldn't surprise me.

Letterman is the only halfway decent late night show left.

Superstition said:

Say that shit one mo' time

sosgemini said:

Which is exactly why the gig is great for them. Once the shit gets cancelled they'll have made the $$ & can get on w/ everything else they wanna do