Why The Roots Remain One of Hip-Hop’s Most Groundbreaking Acts: ‘The Curiosity Is Still There’
Categoria: Musica
Billboard’s 2026 Hip-Hop Hall of Fame honorees on the enduring success of the Roots Picnic, what they’ve learned playing for Jimmy Fallon and why Jay-Z is "a regular guy like us."
Por Billboard | 21/08/2026
“You can leave the lights off,” Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson says. It’s 9:45 a.m. in New York, and the seemingly tireless musical polymath — and cofounder, with Tariq “Black Thought” Trotter, of hip-hop collective The Roots — is in desperate need of a power nap. A whirlwind summer has finally drained his battery. This summer alone, The Roots hosted the 16th edition of their blockbuster Roots Picnic headlined by Erykah Badu and Jay-Z — in his first major solo performance in seven years, and his only one this year outside of his Yankee Stadium shows; Thompson premiered his critically acclaimed Earth, Wind & Fire documentary; the group returned to the Montreux Jazz Festival more than three decades after its debut there and performed for the opening of the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago — all on top of its 17-years-running gig as Jimmy Fallon’s late-night house band. “I’ll probably look at 2026 as our best bucket-list summer we’ve ever had,” says Thompson, 55. Related Phoebe Bridgers, KATSEYE Bag First No. 1s In Australia Kehlani Gets Candid With Longtime Pal Leon Thomas About R&B, ‘Changing the World’ & Her ‘Sinus Surgery From Hell’ R&B/Hip-Hop Power Players: Billboard’s 2026 List Revealed For more than three decades, Thompson and his longtime creative partner Trotter have inspired each other to keep the same childlike sense of discovery that took root when they first met as big-dreaming teenagers at the Philadelphia High School for the Creative and Performing Arts. Starting with their 1999 breakthrough, Things Fall Apart , The Roots have released a string of acclaimed albums and picked up three Grammy Awards — and while the group’s lineup has changed over the years, Thompson and Trotter have remained the constants that both anchor it and continually expand its reach. “The brand is greater than its parts,” adds Trotter, 52. “It’s a beautiful thing, and it’s something you’re only able to achieve over time.” The Roots have certainly mastered the art of longevity, enjoying a rare degree of creative freedom and commercial success along the way. They have also endured profound loss, including the death in 2014 of the group’s longtime producer and co-manager Richard Nichols. But in the years since, The Roots rediscovered the creative spark that first brought them together. With the guidance of longtime manager and Live Nation Urban president Shawn Gee, Thompson and Trotter tell Billboard they are preparing to release the long-awaited Endgame , The Roots’ first studio album in more than a decade. With the project nearing completion, Thompson and Trotter say that Endgame is a return to the free-flowing jam sessions that once defined The Roots’ creative process. The group is still chasing the feeling that captivated them as teenagers: pure curiosity. Thompson (left) and Trotter of The Roots photographed July 15, 2026 in New York. DeSean McClinton-Holland You guys have been together since 1989. In a genre where even