?uestlove Talks To Vibe About Being An Audio Nerd
June 22, 2010
Vibe.com caught up with ?uestlove to discuss the making of How I Got Over and he dropped some interesting nuggets:
Can the Roots be looked at as a hip-hop act in the era of Gucci Mane?
I know a lot of people are real confused about the evolution of the Roots. I just tell them my personal mission as one of the producers in the collective is I’m really overprotective of the perception of the group. You know that question of are we real hip-hop or not? So I was more or less obsessed with sonically trying to make sure we sounded just as aggressive as a RZA production or as a Ummah production or anybody that is basically killing the game today. As a result, I became more of an engineer than a producer.
An audio nerd, huh?
Well, to me it was more important using specific types of mics and how to make our stuff sound like it was a sample. I love that whole making people think, Ah man…y’all sampled this? Nah, motherfucker, we did this ourselves [laughs]! I played Jazzy Jeff the Joanna Newsome’s “Book of Right-On” his first question was, “Yo, how did you clear that sample???” And I was like, “No…that’s me! Don’t you hear all those drum fills?” That’s what I live for.
READ MORE Of HIS COVER STORY AT VIBE.COM
The Roots – Dilla Joints (Mixtape)
April 5, 2010
?uestlove debuted these remixes/replays at the last Donuts Are Forever in BK. I’m glad he decided to share with the world. (props to Hypebeast)
DOWNLOAD: Tony Touch J-Dilla & Pun Tributes
February 10, 2010
From Nahright
Tony Touch had a J Dilla and Big Pun tribute show last night on Toca Tuesdays. Hours 1 & 2 were the Dilla tribute and hours 3 & 4 were the Pun tribute.
Hour 2: Busta Rhymes calls in + Black Thought and Q-Tip Freestyle
EVENTS: Donuts Are Forever 4
January 25, 2010
Come honor the the spirit and the music of J Dilla at the 4th Anuual “Donuts are Forever” tribute show. The soundtrack will be provided by ?UESTLOVE (of the Legendary Roots Crew) with emcee Yahmeen Allworld also taking the stage. There will also be additional music by BRAINCHILD, DJ PARLER, LOW KEY and TARA. There will be video by TONE and live art by TATYANA FAZLALIZADEH. All proceeds to benefit the J Dilla Foundation.
Donuts are Forever -Annual NYC Tribute to James “J Dilla” Yancey
Saturday, February 6, 10 PM – Early Arrival Suggested
The Bell House – 149 7th St, Gowanus (Brooklyn)
$5 Minimum Donation
Parks And Recreation Is The Wu-Tang of Comedy
January 13, 2010
Roots drummer and television scholar Questlove proves the connection between Parks and Recreation and the Wu-Tang Clan with never-seen-before audition footage. (From FunnyorDie.com)
And Then What Happened…?uest Loves Santo Gold
November 21, 2009
Yeah, that’s Santo Gold on the cover of the “Silent Treatment” 12″ back in the day. I ran into ?uestlove at a luncheon for The Roots picnic and asked him about how they met while he was rushing out to Jimmy Kimmell Fallon rehearsal.
?uestlove On Santo Gold from Jerry Barrow on Vimeo.
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September 29, 2009
From Missinfo.tv
Bloggin 4 Beats: “Moment Of Clarity” Remix
September 4, 2009
I think in years to come people will be sampling ?uestlove. I know, you’re thinking “sampling another producer in hip-hop is blasphemy” but ?uest is not simply a producer. He’s one of the best drummers of our generation. And besides, even DJ Scratch has admitted to jacking those Little Feat drums from A Tribe Called Quest’s “Bonita Applebum” and sped them up to make the beat for “Funky Piano.” Anyway, I like to jack drums from 90s neo soul from time to time and it turns out that more often than not ?uestlove has done the drumming. So I’m just giving him a heads up/warning: If you leave open drums at the beginning of your songs, they’re getting snatched….
VIDEO: ?uestlove Multitasking
July 12, 2009
From Qoolquest:
i once lied to a someone about not being able to call her back cause i was “too busy working and you know i am not a good multi tasker”—she caught me in a lie. (apparently) cause she took this video (without my knowledge) of me eating lunch, texting and tweeting in the fallon rehearsal room WHILE cramming Mos Def’s EXTREMELY hard ” Casa Bey” during commercial breaks before we did the actual song on the show that night.
