Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson
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Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson is one of the foremost minds when it comes to music history and will lend his expertise to bring attention to one of the greatest bands to ever exist. The Roots drummer, among other honorifics, was announced to direct a new documentary centered on the career of the legendary Earth Wind & Fire band.
Cleverly mentioning the new gig on the 21st of September, a callback to Earth Wind & Fire’s track that mentions the month, Questlove shared the message on his Instagram post that we’ll share below.
From IG:
Coming in 2025…..the definitive story of the elements…..
The story of how a band led by a genius from Chicago changed our way of thinking, our minds and our hearts
Having been baptized in the afrocentric joy river of this powerhouse unit, I’ve learned about them, I’ve learned about us & more importantly I’ve learned about and rediscovered myself in the process
I’m so excited to be directing a documentary preserving their positive but VERY vulnerable and real story of Soul, Self & Struggle
This is the story of joy, persistence, love, pain, magic and self discovery
This is Earth, Wind & Fire
According to a report from Variety, Earth Wind & Fire’s Philip Bailey, Verdine White, and Ralph Johnson shared in a statement, “We look forward to this in-depth journey of our band, and are so excited to have Questlove directing the documentary.”
This isn’t Questlove’s first time directing as he made his debut with the Academy Award-winning Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) film which also won a BAFTA Award, and the Sundance Grand Jury Prize among other honors.
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Questlove opined on the ongoing beef between Drake and Kendrick Lamar but some fans called his statements dramatic after the war of words largely concluded. The veteran drummer from The Roots band believed that the battle between the two titans took nasty turns, thus signaling a death knell for Hip-Hop.
Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, 53, took to social media to issue one of the loudest detracting statements yet to emerge against what is one of the biggest Hip-Hop beef battles in the history of the genre.
“Nobody won the war,” Questlove opened his statement with. “This wasn’t about skill. This was a wrestling match level mudslinging and takedown by any means necessary — women & children (& actual facts) be damned.”
The statement continued with “Same audience wanting blood will soon put up ‘rip’ posts like they weren’t part of the problem. Hip Hop truly is dead.”
The caption of the Instagram post with the statement read “Here We Are Now…Entertain us?,” which seems to be aimed at Drake and Kendrick Lamar.
As it stands, K-Dot doesn’t seem to want any manner of reconciliation with Drizzy and said as much on the track “euphoria” where the Compton lyricist rapped, “Whoever that’s f*ckin’ with him, f*ck you n*ggas, and f*ck the industry too” and once more on “Not Like Us” with the lines, “The industry can hate me, f*ck ’em all and they mama.”
As far as responses go, Drake’s last missive was “The Heart Part 6” and the two have left it at that. The Canadian superstar is contending with other issues after a security guard was shot outside his home in a drive-by shooting along with another incident in which a man was arrested for trying to break into the the massive mansion.
On X, formerly Twitter, the comments from Questlove garnered some sharp responses. However, we’ve got reactions from all sides below.
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Musician, producer, author, filmmaker and founding member of The Legendary Roots Crew, Questlove, is set to gift the world with another book featuring his vast musical knowledge and unique insight. In honor of Hip-Hop’s 50th anniversary, Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson is following up the all-star tribute to Hip-Hop he led at the Grammys with a new book titled, Hip-Hop Is History.
According to Variety, the book will be released under Questlove’s publisher, Auwa Books, and is slated to drop during the first quarter of 2024.
From Variety:
“No one is else is writing it,” Questlove tells Variety from an unusually quiet NBC Studios in New York, where he and the Roots would normally busy themselves rehearsing for their nightly gig with “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” but are currently on hiatus due to the strike.
Like his previous titles — most notable “Mo’ Meta Blues” and “Music Is History” — the book will benefit from his near-total recall of music history: things he heard, read about or witnessed first-hand. Co-written again with Ben Greenman, the book will be the second title from AUWA, Questlove’s book line through MCD (formerly called Farrar, Straus and Giroux), following the Sly Stone memoir “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin),” which is due in October.
Between Questlove’s growing book catalog, his Hip-Hop tribute and his Summer of Soul documentary, (not to mention The Root’s entire discography), it’s safe to say Questlove is an authority on music and Hip-Hop culture the masses could only benefit from hearing from. A real-life documentarian he is indeed. And as far as musical knowledge and expertise go, Questlove is an apple that didn’t fall far from the tree or its roots. (See what I did there?)
More from Variety:
“I’m in the legacy business,” he tells Variety, noting that he’s the son of (and former drummer for) doo-wop legend Lee Andrews. “There was no nostalgia culture before the 1970s, so, my dad was the first generation of the oldies-doo wop crowd. I know everything about curating these types of events, working with everyone from Bowser from Sha Na Ha to Dick Clark.”
Still, being in the legacy business is stressful for Questlove, a man who is consciously changing his life “from having 19 jobs a year” to “maybe” four.
“I’m doing all this because somewhere out there, in 2031 or 2041, there will be a new Ahmir Thompson, or Ahmira Thompson – maybe my kids when I start having them – and all of my hard work won’t be for naught. Perhaps, I will have reached somebody the same way that I was reached.”
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And the world will be better for it. Hip-Hop, like all music created through Black culture, has a legacy that should be preserved and protected for future generations to learn from and be inspired by. Salute to Questlove for continuing to be one of the culture’s most prolific messengers.
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Disney is engaging the services of the award-winning musician and producer Questlove as a director for their upcoming film.
According to reports, Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson has been picked by Walt Disney Studios to be the director for the live-action hybrid reimagining of their animated classic from 1970, The Aristocats. Questlove will also oversee the musical score of the film and serve as an executive producer through his Two One Five production company. His bandmate and co-founder of The Roots, Tariq “Black Thought” Trotter will also be a producer of the film along with Shawn Gee and Zarah Zohlman.
The Aristocats follows a family of Parisian felines who learn that they’re about to inherit the fortune of their owner, a retired operatic diva. Her butler, who gets wind of the bequeathment, plots to get rid of the cats so he can get the fortune. The movie then follows the cats as they are befriended by an alley cat who works to help them get home. It would go on to be one of Disney’s more lucrative films at the time, earning $191 million at the box office.
This project will be the first feature film that Questlove will direct. The six-time Grammy Award-winner began his foray into film as a producer and director of the 2021 documentary Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised). The film, which unearthed the backstory of the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. It would go on a tear winning awards culminating in it winning the Academy Award for Best Documentary in 2022. The win placed Questlove in rarified air as one of a few Black directors to win an Oscar–all of them in the documentary field.
The news comes as fans are eagerly anticipating Disney’s latest edition of their series reimagining their classic animated features with The Little Mermaid, featuring singer & actress Halle Bailey in the iconic role of Ariel and Melissa McCarthy portraying the villain, Ursula. Will Gluck and his production company, Olive Bridge, will also produce on the film in addition to writing the script along with Keith Bunin.
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The Roots are best known these days for backing up Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show. But the Grammy-winning Hip-Hop band got there by touring nonstop and crafting hits like “What They Do” and “You Got Me.”
Now they’re taking their knowledge to PBS for the third episode of the PBS show Next at Kennedy Center. Their episode “The Roots Residency” airs Friday, Jan. 27 at 7 p.m. The Roots originated in their hometown of Philadelphia in the ‘90s. Like Stetsasonic before them, they combined Hip-Hop with a live band sound.
Frontman Tariq “Black Thought” Trotter, largely considered one of Hip-Hop’s greatest pure MCs and drummer Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, who won an Oscar for his 2021 documentary Summer of Soul, recalibrated Hip-Hop to make it accessible to a wider audience. The group is the inaugural artist-in-residence at the Kennedy Center’s Hip Hop Culture program.
The Kennedy Center’s Hip Hop Culture program
The new series combines the work of the Kennedy Center’s contemporary culture program with the artists and music that reflect its sensibilities. The program combines a performance by the Roots at the center’s concert hall with interviews and behind-the-scenes footage.
“The Roots Residency” episode includes performances by Ezy Truth, a Washington, D.C.-based Hip-Hop artist who is a member of Black Thought’s School of Thought, and Durrand Bernarr, an R&B artist who participated in the Road to The Roots Picnic initiative. Singer/songwriter India Shawn also performs. Interviews include Questlove and the Rev. Al Sharpton discussing Quest’s latest book, Black Thought and photographer David Allen.
“The Roots have existed at the forefront of culture for over three decades. They are deeply committed to ensuring that generations of artists and communities see themselves powerfully reflected through their work and at venerable institutions like the Kennedy Center,” said Simone Eccleston, the Kennedy Center’s director of hip hop culture and contemporary music.”
“The Roots Residency is a testament to their capacity to not only change the lives of individuals but also to transform institutions,” she added.
“The impact of our partnership is that we are forever changed as an organization. Through their residency, The Roots have created powerful platforms for the celebration of multihyphenates, cultural leaders, and emerging artists. We hope that viewers experience their genius as performers, curators and cultural catalysts.”
You can watch “The Roots Residency” on PBS.org and the PBS Video app.
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