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Earlier this month Amir ‘Questlove’ Thompson released his biography ‘Mo Meta Blues’ which is all about Questlove’s work with some of the best rappers/rnb singers of our generation including run ins with random celebrities including OJ Simpson. The book is gaining a lot of plaudits and great reviews so I thought I would look through some video highlights of Questlove’s career from The Roots to film/TV appearances which highlight the drummers incredible talent and wide knowledge of music.
This track was from The Roots third album called ‘Illadelph Halflife’ and the track is called ‘What They Do’ featuring Raphael Saadiq, Questlove played drummed and co-produced this track, it was just at the start of the Roots journey but remains as one of their most classic tracks.
After the success of their third release The Roots released ‘Things Fall Apart’ which at the time was regarded as their most complete release, and it included their most successful hit in ‘You got me’ featuring Erykah Badu. This song really sent The Roots and Questlove into pop’s consciousness after winning the Grammy for best Rap performance by a duo or group in 2000.
Also featuring on ‘Things Fall Apart’ was a track with DJ Jazzy Jeff called ‘The Next Movement’ which is a throw-back hip-hop tune which some regard as one of the best singles of the 90’s, it also features a fantastic video which can be viewed above.
Probably The Roots most recognizable tune in The Seed 2.0 this track is a complete effort with every member of the band showing their genius with a great featuring spot from Cody ChesnuTT and fully produced by Questlove
Away from The Roots, Questlove did production on a lot of solo albums including D’angelo’s ‘Voodoo’ which featured the classic ‘Untilted (How Does it Feel).
Questlove would also appear on drums for a number of people in the live capacity and on track, one example of this is when he appeared on John Mayer’s track ‘Clarity’ in 2003 for his album ‘Heavier Things’ and the pair remain friends today.
Questlove also made an appearance with Lenny Kravitz on N.E.R.D’s album ‘Fly or Die’ with one of the best tracks off the album called ‘Maybe’
Questlove also became friends with comedians and actors making cameo’s in a number of films and TV episodes, my favourite is his brief appearance on The David Chappelle show with a skit about 2pac still being alive.
http://www.okayplayer.com/news/ice-cube-the-roots-good-day-late-night-with-jimmy-fallon-video.html
Questlove has gone from strength to strength over his long and illustrious career and is now part of The Roots live band on The Jimmy Fallon show as well as recording new material with John Legends, D’angelo and The Roots, the above video is of a performance the other week with Ice Cube’s comeback to music and below is a funny video of Freestylin’ The Roots.
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