The Roots

Busking to London

The Roots were founded in 1987 by Tariq “Black Thought” Trotter and Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, who met at the Philadelphia High School for the Creative and Performing Arts. They began by busking on street corners, with Questlove playing bucket drums while Black Thought rapped. The group passed through the names Radio Activity, Black to the Future and The Square Roots before settling on The Roots in 1992. Unable to break through at home, they moved briefly to London, where they released their debut, “Organix,” in 1993.

DGC years

Signing with DGC/Geffen, the band released “Do You Want More?!!!??!” in 1995, mixing East Coast hip hop with jazz and leaning heavily on Scott Storch's Fender Rhodes. “Illadelph Halflife” (1996) became their first album to reach the Top 40 of the Billboard 200. “Things Fall Apart” (1999) reached No. 4, was certified gold and was eventually certified platinum in April 2013. Its single “You Got Me” won the Grammy for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group. The band was part of the Soulquarians circle and is tied to the Okayplayer website and brand.

Def Jam and late night

“Phrenology” (2002) reached No. 28 and was certified gold. The Roots moved to Def Jam for “Game Theory” (2006), and “Rising Down” (2008) drew a Metacritic score of 80. In 2009 they became the house band for “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon,” and they moved with Fallon to “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” in 2014. Their collaboration album with John Legend, “Wake Up!,” won Grammys for Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance and Best R&B Album. “...And Then You Shoot Your Cousin” followed on May 19, 2014.

Legacy

The Roots host the annual Roots Picnic festival in Philadelphia each June. Their albums use a continuous track-numbering system that runs across releases. As one of the few rap acts built around a full live band, they showed that hip hop could be performed without turntables or samples at its center, and their long run on network television has made them one of the most widely seen groups to come out of Philadelphia.