questlove

Black Thought And Questlove’s Disney Animated Series Premieres This Week On Disney+

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Disney Press

If you had told me 20 years ago that the two main members of The Roots would be executive producers on a Disney animated series, I’m not totally sure I would have believed you. But here we are in 2022, with Black Thought and Questlove working on “Rise Up, Sing Out,” a musical series looking to inspire and empower children with uplifting messages and cultural affirmations. Variety reports the series will be streaming starting today on Disney Plus with the first episode also airing on Disney Channel and Disney Junior.

Not only do Quest and Thought produce the series and the music in it (naturally), but they will also appear in it in adorable animated form offering themes of “diversity, inclusion, kindness, and self-expression.” Disney produced the show to address a growing demand for children’s entertainment that would help parents teach kids respect for each others’ differences in an increasingly diverse world. In a statement, The Roots’ frontmen tackled those issues head-on:

The ‘Rise Up, Sing Out’ shorts touch on a lot of real-world issues, especially for young Black kids, that just weren’t talked about when we were growing up. The beautiful thing about these shorts is that not only are they going to provide young kids the proper language to talk to their friends and family about some of the things that might be bothering them, but it’s also going to give parents the tools on how to respond.

We feel this is the perfect moment and the perfect time for us to put this project out into the world to plant a seed about kindness that will hopefully have a lasting impact for generations to come.

In addition, on Friday, February 4, Walt Disney Records will release the music from the series to streaming. It looks like the future is in good hands — who would’ve thought those hands would belong to The Roots?

Jay-Z Returns To Twitter After Questlove Tweeted About ‘In My Lifetime, Vol. 1’

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When Jay-Z tweets, you might as well buy a lottery ticket. After sending a total of zero tweets in both 2019 and 2020, Hov sent a meager five to the three million followers of his @sc account in 2021. Two were thank yous following his Rock And Roll Hall of Fame induction, and three were about Jack Dorsey/Square’s purchase of Tidal. There was also one reply to Jack Dorsey, who was bigging up Tidal’s algorithm. It’s not the most riveting stuff and Jay-Z (who won’t do a Verzuz battle) also follows exactly zero people on the platform. Suffice it to say, Twitter just isn’t his thing. That’s cool. But pardon us for getting excited when he does tweet out something revealing, which is exactly what happened Sunday in a brief exchange with Questlove.

Somehow, this all started when a Pro Wrestling podcast host sent an innocuous tweet about the polarizing 1997 single “Always Be My Sunshine.” “Hot take: ‘Sunshine’ by Jay-Z was fine and got an unnecessarily bad rap. Actually holds up better now than it did then,” tweeted Will Washington. This prompted a quoted retweet from Questlove, who had some feelings of his own about Jay-Z’s 1997 sophomore album, his first with Def Jam. “Our main argument is his hate for Vol 1. He is embarrassed for trying to make a monster & not putting numbers up. But ALOT of this lp contains his best moments. Fight me @sc,” Questo said.

And lo and behold, this got Mr. Carter out of hiding. At 8:45 am on January 16th in the year of our lord 2022, Jay-Z clapped back, writing, “Agreed . More so, I know what could have been, so it haunts me … streets is watching was the first song made !”

A Music Meme Asking People To ‘Pick A House’ Earns Responses From Artists Themselves

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On Tuesday, Twitter was taken over by a music meme that asked people to “pick a house” based on the bands or groups that would be in it. A total of nine houses appeared in the meme, with each featuring six acts. The list of musicians included Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Metallica, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, The Rolling Stones, Greta Van Fleet, NWA, Wu-Tang Clan, Blink-182, Rage Against The Machine, Nine Inch Nails, and more. While many everyday people shared their responses, some artists also chimed in, sometimes critiquing the prompt.

Rock band Eve 6 felt there was a pair of options missing from the houses altogether. “There’s no power pop or cocaine rock house i’ll die from exposure,” they wrote. Questlove was caught between two choices but was able to make a pick. “My blood is in house 5,” he wrote. “But for history sake I’ll see you at house 3.” Lastly, rapper Open Mike Eagle went with three picks in his response. “Sleep in 1, cook in 5, shower in 9,” he wrote.

Alex Skolnick, who is the lead guitarist of Testament, who appear in house No. 2, also shared his picks. “I’m already in 2 but I’d be happy in 3 or 9,” he wrote. “Or more recently, 5!”

Others who chimed in were rapper Soul Khan, who asked, “Uh is there a housing covenant in this neighborhood.” On the other hand, singer-songwriter Liz Phair wrote simply, “Burn the neighborhood down.”

You see more replies below.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

A Beatles Vs. Beach Boys Debate Is Taking Over Twitter, So Questlove And Justin Vernon Have Weighed In

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While The Beatles are widely considered to be the best and/or most important band of the ’60s, there are plenty of folks out there who would instead pledge their allegiance to The Beach Boys. Well, it was argued on Twitter that the former is a better group than the latter, which has prompted both bands to trend due to the discussion surrounding that claim.

Last night, journalist Emily Brooks tweeted, “My husband is out with a hot take: The Beach Boys are better than The Beatles. Immediately upon hearing this I was shook. He told me, ‘Put it out in the Twitterverse, I bet I get love.’”

That got a reply from beloved The Roots drummer Questlove, who wrote, “Welp: if it weren’t for Pet Sounds we woulda never had Sgt Peppers [shrugging emoji].” Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon responded to that tweet with an emoji of a hand pointing to the left, indicating support for Questlove’s view.

Beach Boys leader Brian Wilson has addressed that Pet Sounds/Sgt. Pepper’s point before. In a recent interview, for example, he was asked what his favorite album is, and he said, “I’d have to say Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Obviously, I love The Beatles and we have always had a mutual love and respect for each other. They say that it was birthed from hearing Pet Sounds… I don’t know… but I just love that album.”

Meanwhile, while it would be fair for Paul McCartney to choose The Beatles in this debate, he has nothing but love for the Beach Boys. In fact, in a 2007 interview, McCartney said of a Pet Sounds highlight, “‘God Only Knows’ is one of the few songs that reduces me to tears every time I hear it. It’s really just a love song, but it’s brilliantly done. It shows the genius of Brian. I’ve actually performed it with him and I’m afraid to say that during the sound check, I broke down. It was just too much to stand there singing this song that does my head in, and to stand there singing it with Brian.”

On a related note, in an interview with Uproxx earlier this month, It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia‘s Glenn Howerton said, “I don’t like the f*cking Beatles, man. […] I got a bit of a chip on my shoulder about The Beatles because I feel like they made a lot of really cool music, and they were obviously incredibly innovative and all that. But I think there were a lot of bands that were around that same time that just don’t get enough play. And I’m just f*cking sick of hearing about The Beatles. Like, Jesus Christ, just shut the f*ck up.”

Check out some more Beatles vs. Beach Boys tweets below.

The Questlove-Curated Soundtrack From ‘Summer Of Soul’ Is Coming To Streaming And Vinyl

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The only thing missing from Questlove‘s moving historical documentary Summer Of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) (aside from the hours of footage that had to be cut to make a watchable documentary in the first place) was a soundtrack that could be played outside of watching the film itself. After all, the doc covered the weeks-long 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival, which featured free live performances from Black music legends like Gladys Knight & The Pips, Nina Simone, and Sly & The Family Stone.

That changes today, with the announcement of the official soundtrack coming soon to streaming and physical media, including CDs and vinyl. Like the film, Questlove curated the once-lost audio documentation from several of the original performances, compiling 17 tracks including Sly & The Family Stone’s “Sing A Simple Song,” B.B. King’s “Why I Sing The Blues,” and The Operation Breadbasket Orchestra & Choir’s rendition of “Precious Lord Take My Hand” with Mahalia Jackson and Mavis Staples.

In the press release announcing the soundtrack, Questlove said, “It goes beyond saying that you can’t have a monster music journey on film without an equally awesome soundtrack. The people demanded ‘more!’. So for the people, we bring you musical manna that hopefully won’t be the last serving. These performances are lightning in a bottle. Pure artistry! Enjoy.”

The Summer Of Soul soundtrack is due on streaming and CD 1/28/2022 via Legacy Recordings. Pre-save it here. The vinyl release will be announced at a later date.

Finneas Confronts Questlove About Allegedly Flipping Him Off During His First ‘Tonight Show’ Appearance

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At this point in their careers, both Billie Eilish and her brother Finneas have been on The Tonight Show on numerous occasions. Their first time on the show, though, was back in March 2018, when Finneas joined Eilish to perform “Bellyache.” That was a major moment in both of their careers, but ever since then, something about it hasn’t sat right with Finneas: He’s pretty sure Questlove flipped him off during the show. On last night’s Tonight Show, Finneas went ahead and addressed that with Fallon and The Roots’ drummer.

At the end of the interview, Fallon set Finneas up to tell the story and Finneas noted, “I came for some answers tonight, if that’s OK.” Finneas went on to give some background about the performance and the lead-up to it. He spoke about how Fallon kindly greeted him and and Eilish backstage and about how despite his nerves, he felt the performance went well. He then described Fallon and The Roots sending the show to commercial after the performance, saying, “I’m clapping, I’m looking over, and you guys do your crescendo at the end. I’m just smiling and clapping and looking at Quest, and Quest put his sticks in one hand, and he pointed right at me, and he flipped me the bird.”

At this point, a shocked and confused Questlove chimed in with, “Wait, what?”

Finneas continued, “And then they all left. They all left and I was standing there clapping and Questlove, who I had never met, had just flipped me the bird, and everybody left.”

Questlove then flashed a peace sign and asked, “You sure I didn’t do this?” Finneas quipped, “It was not peace or love.” He continued, “So I’m shocked, and then your producer goes, ‘We’re going to just do the song one more time.’ I think they aired the second take and I look like I’ve seen a ghost.”

He then sought a response from Questlove by prompting, “I’m just curious.” Questlove had no clue what to say, so he just shrugged and made some confused grunts. Everybody was laughing throughout this whole story, though, so it seems some sort of friendly misunderstanding was at play here.

Watch Finneas’ interview above. He also performed “Only A Lifetime” on the show, so check that out below.

Questlove Chides Those Rushing To Call ‘Donda’ A Classic, Saying That ‘Can’t Be Claimed After 24 Hours’

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Questlove is one of the most respected music historians and scholars for a reason — he knows that perspective is essential for analysis. And that is exactly what he’s encouraging diehard Kanye fans to employ as they embrace the seething mass that is this final version of Donda. After a couple of years wandering the desert, producing severe missteps like Ye and Jesus Is King, the stans are thrilled that Kanye seems to have put something out that’s back on a Pablo level, and some have even gone so far as to dub it an instant classic.

Quest, and plenty of the rest of us, are not so sure. “Classics can’t be claimed 24 hours after some product comes out,” Quest wrote as part of a lengthy Twitter thread on the album today. “I’ve seen it backfire both ways. It’s like the timeline is tryna grab the rebound w :10 secs left in the game & y’all all hoping it’s your tweet that goes viral in declaring how amazing it is (or isn’t) time will tell.”

He also brings up how some early reviews led him astray with other albums, as part of his larger point that giving a record some room to breathe only helps improve the overall impression it leaves. Check out his thoughts below.

DaBaby Responds To Questlove’s Criticisms By Saying He Doesn’t Know Who He Is

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Over the past week, public opinion on DaBaby has, to borrow a phrase from one of his collaborators, done “a full 180“: He’s faced accusations of homophobia and the fallout from them following his controversial appearance at Rolling Loud last weekend. Questlove decided to speak out against DaBaby’s actions, which prompted DaBaby to fire back.

Questlove took to Instagram and shared a list of artists he would include in a modern Summer Of Soul festival lineup, and DaBaby’s name was on the list but crossed out. Questlove explained that he removed DaBaby from the roster in light of his recent goings-on and admitted that while he hesitated to speak out against him, the things DaBaby said were “not cool at all.” He wrote:

“I was hypothetically asked if I was curating an updated version of #SummerOfSoul who would be my acts?

I gave my dream list.

And now I’m updating my list —-because it’s 2021 & f*ck the bullshit. I’m especially not here for any savagery (if you’re lost: Google the idiocy of the crossed out). I’m not trine be all performative smurf & create a social flogging or start some click bait headlines. That’s missing the point. But right is right & his actions are wrong. Somebody Gotta say it: Homophobia/Transphobia/Xenophobia/Misogyny/Racism—-this should go w/o saying is morally wrong.

& not that fake hiding behind religion holier than thou morally wrong.

But ‘that was f*cked up’ & wrong. I had to say something. Again I’m not doing this for ‘what do you want a cookie bro w your ‘love ye one another’ posts?—–black people already have a code about publicly criticizing so I’ll admit i was slow to do this because I mean he don’t know me from Adam. So this will prolly get marked as ‘old hater’ territory. But man…..that sh*t was not cool at all.

I dunno man—maybe I’m turning into a grump: barely said anything about Rih in ’06 (lemme mind my business), looked the other way w ol bol & that MaGa Hat (he going thru thangs let him work it out)—-don’t even get me started on half of my rap heroes damn near becoming f*x news talking points w their russian bot reposts & misinformation on all things facts.

Huey Newton wisely stated in the early 70s that we as a people should NEVER go so low in life (with what we been through) that we start oppressing/terrorizing the next man in the way we been terrorized for centuries.

Y’all got my point. Sorry this came off awkward but y’all get the point. Y’all gonna learn that there are other human beings living in the space you are.”

DaBaby caught wind of the post and responded by insisting that he doesn’t know who Questlove is (despite performing with The Roots on The Tonight Show in 2019) and sharing messages for his detractors. He wrote on multiple Instagram Story posts:

“i ain’t even tryna be funny when i say …. i do NOT KNOW WHO DIS N**** IS DAWG [laughing emoji] [shrugging emoji] $ do not care bout loosing you as a fan my boy lol @questlove. You or any other n**** who wanna play follow the leader . This superstar you was a fan of is STAND UP n**** , Yeen never seen one of these huh? [laughing emoji]

These n****s really think they gone influence people to stop f*ckin w/ the INFLUENCE [laughing emoji]. They go crazy bout what I say not yall [laughing emoji]. I got da influence AND the nuts n****. Y’all n****s cheerleaders.

Y’all extra ass n****s tagging along playing on my top like I’m a n**** you can bully of sumn [laughing emojis] going out y’all way creating art work & sh*t tryna gain new fans off my situation cuz it’s QUIET for y’all n****s [crying emoji]. N****s better hit the studio of sumn.”

Check out Questlove and DaBaby’s posts below.

@dababy/Instagram
@dababy/Instagram
@dababy/Instagram