Tag Archives: ?uestlove

NEW MUSIC: D’Angelo – Black Messiah

15 Dec

And on December 15 music lovers freaked out in the best way possible as D’Angelo released his first new album in nearly 15 years when he dropped Black Messiah. The album is up on Spotify (see below) and click HERE to read a post from NPR Music and one HERE from Pitchfork.

 

On a personal level, it well into the night between June 9 and 10, 2012 we were deep in the middle of nowhere Tennessee (Manchester to be exact) at Bonnaroo inside This Tent for ?uestlove’s Superjam when we heard one of the most amazing and yet familiar voices on vocals. It was in fact the voice of D’Angelo, gracing the stage for the first time in 12 years. At that moment my friends and I looked at each other in amazement and were captivated by the R&B crooner. I didn’t think it could get better. Today it has. Welcome back, D’Angelo!

Countdown to Bonnaroo: 6 Days – Artist of the Day: The Roots

31 May

The Roots Crew where you at?! If you’ve never seen The Roots live (and as much as I love them as the house band on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, that does not count), you will not want to miss this performance.  This show will push me into double digit Roots shows and I wish I could say I have been to more.  Each and every time I see The Roots, the shows get better. They are filled with sweet music, infinite energy and flat out what a dance party should be, nonstop from beginning to end.

While some members have come and gone (Scott Storch, Rahzel), ?uestlove and Black Thought have been at the forefront and continuously produce some of the best music around (just listen to their collaboration Betty Wright & The Roots which was nominated for a GRAMMY earlier this year).  And besides their original works, nobody does it better than The Roots when it comes to a marathon melody session running the gamut on songs from every genre.  Add in ?uestlove leading Superjam and whoa, it’s going to be a special one on the farm.  And since it’s Bonnaroo and traditionally there are some surprises, I personally would love to see Cody Chesnutt appear for “The Seed.”  Probably won’t happen but I can dream.

Saturday June 09, What Stage, 07:30 PM

Must See Video: Kenny Rogers ft. The Roots – “The Gambler”

16 Mar

This is by far one of the coolest music performances ever; last night on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, Kenny Rogers performed “The Gambler” with The Roots! Click HERE to watch this amazing performance.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Jimmy Fallon is the best evening talk show around. With The Roots as his house band, the most magical music performances occur.

 

What’s Not to (?uest)love

29 Nov

Just picked up the new issue of Rolling Stone and saw this picture of ?uestlove by Peter Yang.  Such a dope photo and damn, 70,000 albums in his collection.

Revisited: Bruce Springsteen – Late Night with Jimmy Fallon

22 Nov

Almost a week later and I am still thinking about Bruce Springsteen’s performance on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. I must admit, I only started watching his show because The Roots are the house band and now I absolutely love the show. The Boss was a great interview and gave an even better performance (which was pretty much a given).  While Fallon dressed as Neil Young and the two of them did a rendition of Willow Smith’s “Whip My Hair,” here is a clip of Springsteen and The Roots performing “Because of the Night.” I mean c’mon Bruce Springsteen and The Roots sharing the stage together, how rad is that?!

Also a couple days later, Rolling Stone caught up with ?uestlove and I found his comments pretty awesome.  Here’s an excerpt:

“During rehearsal, when the producer said, ‘Ladies and gentleman, ‘Because The Night’ with the Professor and Little Steven, here’s Bruce Springsteen and The Roots’ — I couldn’t move,” ?uestlove tells Rolling Stone. “And they were looking at me like, ‘Okay count the song off.’ And I was like, I said, ‘Holy shit. I heard that.'”

He adds: “I mean, I’ve done some intense playing on our show, but that was the most intense playing I’ve ever done. He completely surpassed any expectation I’ve ever had for any mythical god of rock figure.”


And click here to read Patrick Doyle’s full piece.

Duck Sauce (Armand Van Helden and A-Trak) – “Barbra Streisand” Video

16 Oct

The song which has been out for some months now is dope and the video which recently came out is a cameo music machine. If you haven’t seen this yet, take a few minutes and pay close attention to the below and see who you spot.