GRAMMY Artist From Philadelphia: The Roots
By Amanda Wicks, Radio.com
Contemporary audiences may know The Roots as the house band on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, a gig they first got when the comedian turned late-night TV host took over Conan O'Brien's chair on Late Night in 2009. But the group has a long history that pre-dates their foray into late night television.
The smooth and soulful hip-hop band from Philadelphia may look slightly different from when they first formed in the mid-1980s thanks to a couple of lineup changes, but the same live-instrumentation-based hip-hop sound that defined their sound is still their trademark now, powered by Amir "Questlove" Thompson's drums and Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter's deft rhyming (he's one of the most underrated MCs in hip-hop).
In a city known for brotherly love, Philadelphia has produced its fair share of talent, like Boyz II Men, Patti LaBelle and Jill Scott. But The Roots was something new: a hip-hop band - each instrumentalist was a full member, along with their MC. As a result, they feel more like a band that has a hip-hop bent rather than a more traditional hip-hop artist or group.
The Roots got their start when their two founding members, Questlove and Black Thought, met in high school. Both attended the Philadelphia High School for the Creative and Performing Arts, which provided them with ample space to develop their gifts for music. The two teenagers showed off those skills at local talent shows with Questlove drumming live to Black Thought's verses.
The rest of the lineup may have changed over the years, but Questlove and Black Thought are the band's backbone. The Roots' line-up also currently consists of guitarist Captain Kirk Douglas, keyboardist Kamal Gray, bassist Mark Kelley, percussionist F. Knuckles and sousaphone player Tuba Gooding, Jr.
In 1993, The Roots self-released their first album Organix, which helped them garner attention from a record label. Once signed to DGC Records, The Roots released Do You Want More?!!!??! (1995), and followed up that album with several others, including Illadelph Halflife (1996), Things Fall Apart (1999), Phrenology (2002), The Tipping Point (2004), Game Theory (2006), Rising Down (2008), How I Got Over (2010), Undun (2011) and ...And Then You Shoot Your Cousin (2014).
Despite how prolific the band has been, and how respected they are, they have yet to win a GRAMMY for Best Rap Album, though they've been nominated several times. Instead, it would be their song "You Got Me" from the album Things Fall Apart that would go on to win them their first GRAMMY for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group.
"You Got Me," which features Erykah Badu on vocals and rapper Eve contributing a verse, deals with a relationship feeling jealousy's green-eyed strain thanks to a musician's convoluted schedule. The low-key song shows off Questlove's steady rhythm over an R&B/jazz-influenced melody. Opening with Badu's warbling vocals, which reappear as the chorus, the song has a melancholy tone punctuated by Black Thought's verses.
Now three-time GRAMMY winners, it would be over 10 years before The Roots won another such award, this time for their collaboration with singer John Legend for the album Wake Up! That project earned them the GRAMMY for Best R&B Album and Best Traditional R&B Performance for the song "Hang On In There."
Whether entertaining audiences on TV or continuing to push the bounds of hip-hop through a socially conscious message that calls attention to race, class, gender and more, The Roots continue revealing their talents nearly 30 years after they first formed.
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