If you have been watching “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” over the years, you have probably become familiar with his house band – The Roots. But what you might not realize is that Black Thought, Questlove, and the rest of the band have been around long before joining the NBC studios.
The Hip-Hop Band
Traditionally speaking, rappers and Hip-Hop acts normally record their music using turntables, sampling, and music production systems. The idea of using an entire band, full of instruments to create Hip-Hop music, was pretty much unprecedented until The Roots came along.
Sure, there were rap-rock bands like Limp Bizkit and Linkin Park. But they very much fell on the rock spectrum. Any hardcore fan will tell you that The Roots are Hip-Hop – through and through, which makes them so darn unique.
Consisting of more than 25 members, lyricist Tariq “Black Thought” Trotter and drummer Ahmir K. “Questlove” Thompson have been the band’s two constant members since their founding more than three decades ago.
Godfathers of Conscious Rap
One of the things that make The Roots so iconic is their contribution to the conscious rap movement, which was at its peak during the ’90s. Along with acts like Common, A Tribe Called Quest, Mos Def, and Talib Kweli, among others, The Roots brought a style of Hip-Hop that proved to be a popular foil to gangster rap.
Social issues of the time, crime, black empowerment, and spiritualism, are just some of the topics that The Roots have covered in their large catalog of songs over the years.
Since the early ’90s, The Roots have released a whopping 11 albums. Interestingly, they have always used continuous track numbering in their records. So their first album “Organix,” had tracks labeled 1-17, while their most recent album “…And Then You Shoot Your Cousin,” has the tracks 171-181.
Loved By Fans and Critics
While they’ve never quite hit the mainstream, The Roots have always been successful, both commercially and critically
Their most successful album was 1999’s “Things Fall Apart,” which went Platinum and includes songs like “You Got Me,” featuring Erykah Badu. That song also went on to win a Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group.
And yet, after all of these years, most people still recognize The Roots mostly for their contributions to Jimmy Fallon’s talk show.