1987-Black ThoughtMC
?uestloveDrums
KamalKeyboards1995-
Frank KnucklesPercussion2002-
Cap 'n KirkGuitar2002-
Mark KelleyBass2011-
Malik B.MC1987-1999
Roots drummer ?uestlove was good friends with
Amy Winehouse, who died in 2011. The two used to Skype back and forth sharing tidbits about music. ?uestlove told MSN that he had "never met a woman that knowledgeable about music."
The group signed with Geffen Records in 1993 but left the label in 2005 on bad terms, with the band claiming they felt restricted. After leaving Geffen, The Roots took matters into their own hands and recorded themselves almost entirely using Apple's Garageband software. Game Theory, the resulting album, was released by their new label, Def Jam, in 2006. The album landed The Roots a Grammy nomination for Best Rap Album.
Unknown to many fans, the person in the photo on the cover of The Roots' 2004 album The Tipping Point is Malcolm X. The picture was taken when he was only 18 years old before his conversion to Islam in prison. The iTunes version of the album features The Roots' MC Black Thought in the same pose in place of Malcolm X.
Comedian Dave Chappelle makes a guest appearance on The Roots' sixth album, The Tipping Point. He's on a hidden track called "In Love with the Mic." Chappelle is not credited in the liner notes of the record.
The Roots' drummer ?uestlove is notorious for falling asleep during movies. When he was 6, he went to see Star Wars at the movie theater but fell asleep. He tried watching the re-release of the same movie in 1997 but fell asleep again. ?uestlove told The Believer magazine that "ever since Rain Main, I've realized that if I sit still for more than two hours, I'll fall asleep."
Drummer ?uestlove from The Roots used to work at a record store called Sam Goody. He admits that he stole a cassette copy of De La Soul's Three Feet High and Rising from the store and has loved the group ever since.
The Roots were in New York City during the terrorist attacks on 9/11 and almost stayed at a hotel just four blocks from Ground Zero. Strangely yet fortunately, the hotel lost their reservation and the band was left scrambling to find another place to stay at the last minute.
The Roots' drummer ?uestlove is a technology junkie with a collection of Apple computers. In the early years of Twitter (now X), he would Tweet up to 70 times a day, sometimes even during Roots live shows.
Why is Ahmir K. Thompson called ?uestlove? He explained to Mojo magazine: "The Roots went through a bunch of phrases. We started as Radioactivity - Tariq was T Metaphor, I was A Sample. That didn't last long. Tariq rechristened us Black to the Future - he was Hawk Smooth and I was Divine Technician. He named me that, and I didn't like it.
The day that De La Soul is Dead came out (in 1991), we said, 'We're going to take this seriously.' Tariq goes, 'I'm Black Thought,' and we changed our name to The Square Roots. He'd written down some other names for the group, and the last one was just a question mark. I took that. But when we did local press, everyone thoughts my name was Mark, or 'so brother question.'"
Now if you were old school, you were either a Rock, Ski or Love. I chose ?uestlove."
The Roots use live instruments, which distinguishes them from most hip-hop acts. Early on, they were trying to simulate the sound of samples, which created a challenge for their MCs, Black Thought and Malik B. "I felt like me and Malik almost had to rap harder," Black Thought told Rolling Stone. "We had to overcompensate as writers, as lyricists, as performers to make folks comfortable with the fact that we were paying with a big upright bass."
Redman gave them a shout-out in his verse on LL Cool J's 1997 track "
4-3-2-1," with the line, "I love to burn to The Roots." This was a big moment for the band, especially for Black Thought and Malik B., who were big fans of Redman.
The first tour they went on was with the Beastie Boys in 1995. It was a valuable experience for The Roots; the bands had a lot of mutual respect.
The Roots have been Jimmy Fallon's house band since 2009, starting when he took over
Late Night from Conan O'Brien and continuing when Fallon took over
The Tonight Show from Jay Leno in 2014. Fallon started petitioning The Roots to join his show in 2008. They didn't think he was serious, but Fallon kept showing up, pitching them the idea. Like many artists, The Roots were feeling a financial pinch as digital downloads were diminishing album sales and a recession was making touring less lucrative. By taking the gig, they were able to shore up their finances and continue on as The Roots with a lot more exposure. Fallon has a lot of fun with the bands and finds lot of ways to integrate them into segments, like having them join Metallica to
perform "Enter Sandman" on classroom instruments.
