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The lineup for The Roots Picnic’s 2024 edition is star-studded with feature performances by Lil Wayne, Nas, and more.
On Monday (February 19), The Roots and Live Nation Urban announced the full lineup for this year’s installment of their Roots Picnic festival in their hometown of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and it’s proving to be a blockbuster affair. Taking place on the weekend of June 1 & June 2, the lineup of artists spans generations of the listening public, kicking off with multiple Grammy Award-winning rapper Lil Wayne doing a headline set with The Roots featuring his greatest hits. Joining him on that set as special guests will be fellow New Orleans greats Trombone Shorty and PJ Morton.
Other artists appearing at The Roots Picnic this year will include Nas and Jill Scott as co-headliners. André 3000, fresh off of touring for his critically acclaimed instrumental album New Blue Sun, will perform the album live at the festival. In addition, recent Grammy Award-winner Victoria Monét will appear for the first time at The Roots Picnic. The rest of the lineup will feature the beloved J-Period Live Mixtape set starring Black Thought, Redman, and Method Man, a Backyard Go-Go Experience set with Hip-Hop legend Scarface and Amerie, Gunna, Sexyy Red, Tyla, Smino, Babyface, Robert Glasper with Yebba, Wale and more.
The 2024 Roots Picnic will be hosted at The Mann in Fairmount Park, and it will also bring back the Parkside Stage (formerly known as the Podcast Stage) where immersive experiences and live podcasts including Million Dollaz Worth of Game, the Juan Epstein Podcast, and World Series of Spades will take place in addition to others soon to be announced. There will also be a vendor village for attendees to partake in, in addition to a food court featuring restaurants that have been specially curated by The Roots for the festival.
Those who’ve attended The Roots Picnic in the past will have their chance to snag tickets on Tuesday (February 20) at 10 AM EST at a special presale. Tickets for the general public, including weekend tickets and VIP passes will be available on the festival’s website beginning on Friday (February 23).
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The Roots and Live Nation Urban have announced a new event for next year that will be one of the hottest tickets around. The inaugural Roots Picnic: Hip-Hop is the Love of My Life event will take place next summer in Los Angeles and tickets go on sale this week.
The Roots have annually hosted the Roots Picnic in the band’s hometown of Philadelphia for years and is typically a star-studded affair with some of music’s best and brightest acts joining the band in delighting fans from all over.
For the Roots Picnic: Hip-Hop is the Love of My Life event, they’ll be joined by other musical giants such as Queen Latifah, Common, Digable Planets, Arrested Development, and other acts. The event will be held next June at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, Calif.
Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, the drummer for The Roots, shared a statement about the upcoming Roots Picnic.
“The first time we played Hollywood Bowl was way back in 2011, and there was nothing like it. We came back to headline in 2019, and we’ve been talking about doing something there since. This idea for Hip-Hop is the Love of My Life came up, and we knew there was no better spot,” Questlove said.
This announcement comes just after many of the guest performers for the event showed up and rocked the house for the airing of the A GRAMMY Salute to 50 Years of Hip-Hop last Sunday.
Tickets for Roots Picnic: Hip-Hop is the Love of My Life go on sale this Thursday at 10 AM local time PST. You can purchase the tickets here.
The Roots Picnic: Hip-Hop is the Love of My Life Lineup is below:
The Roots
Queen Latifah
Common
Digable Planets
Arrested Development
The Pharcyde
Black Sheep (Dres from Black Sheep)
& more to be announced
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Photo: Getty
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The Rock The Bells Festival this year is getting more jam-packed with Hip-Hop’s greatest, as Run DMC and The Roots are now added to the lineup.
On Monday (July 17th), the festival announced the addition of the iconic group from Hollis, Queens, and the dynamic Hip-Hop band out of Philadelphia to the lineup. The Roots will back up LL Cool J and DJ Z-Trip during his set, akin to how they collaborated at the Grammy Awards earlier this year.
For Run DMC, their inclusion on the lineup brings them back to their home borough in celebration of the culture through the festival founded by fellow borough native LL Cool J. They also will be headliners at the “Hip Hop 50” concert event at Yankee Stadium on August 11th, considered to be their final show. The stellar lineup also features Rakim, Queen Latifah, Monie Love, De La Soul, MC Lyte, Yo-Yo, Redman & Method Man, Roxanne Shante’, Big Daddy Kane, Cold Crush Brothers, MC She Rock, Salt-N-Pepa and other special guests.
The news comes on the heels of Brooklyn’s own Boot Camp Clik announcing a partnership with Rock The Bells, led off by the group’s new single and video “Wotcha Call Strength”. It’s the first release by the collective in 16 years, done in honor of Hip-Hop’s 50th anniversary. There will also be an exclusive merch drop at the festival, and Boot Camp Clik will also be on the lineup of performers at Forest Hills Stadium in Queens on August 5th.
“In honor and celebration of Hip Hop 50, we felt that the BCC’s catalog of work, contributions, and legacy needed to be recognized properly,” Duck Down Records CEO Drew “Dru-Ha” Friedman said in a statement. “It’s too easy to sit back and say the Hip Hop community should verify you and painstaking to go out and have to remind people with words, so we felt there was no better way to make a statement than to drop a new record with all the original members (RIP to Sean Price).”
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A new concert event, The F.O.R.C.E Live tour is in effect with LL Cool J featured as a headliner along with The Roots and DJ Jazzy Jeff.
Source: General / Live Nation
The F.O.R.C.E (Frequencies of Real Creative Energy) Live Tour is the first that the Hip-Hop icon is headlining in 30 years. Each of the 24 dates across the U.S. (with a stop in Toronto) on the tour will feature the two-time Grammy Award winner with The Roots, DJ Jazzy Jeff, and DJ Z-Trip, the same powerful tandem at the heart of their celebration of 50 years of Hip-Hop at this year’s Grammys. Rock The Bells is the major organizer of the tour event. “I’m excited to be on my first Arena tour in 30 years. It’s proof that our culture is more viable than ever. Get ready for some non-stop beats and rhymes. See you this summer!”, the rapper said in a press release.
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The lineup for the tour is a hearty one, curated by LL Cool J himself. It features Salt-N-Pepa, Queen Latifah, Rakim, Common, MC Lyte, Method Man & Redman, Big Boi, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Ice T, Juvenile, Doug E. Fresh, Slick Rick, De La Soul, Goodie Mob, Jadakiss, Rick Ross, and more special guests. The F.O.R.C.E. Live tour, according to the press release will feature the lineup “unlike the traditional “opening act – headliner” format, the show will be a nonstop musical mash-up with artist performances interwoven within one continuous musical set backed by The Roots.” These same artists will also perform at the Rock The Bells Cruise slated for November.
The tour kicks off on June 25th at the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts, and ends its run at the Kia Forum in Los Angeles, California on September 3rd. A ticket pre-sale for fans will be held by Live Nation on Thursday (April 27th) beginning at 10 A.M., with the general sale taking place on Friday (April 28th) through Ticketmaster. Tickets will also be available through StubHub once the general sale begins. To find out more, visit the website.
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The wife of the late great Leonard “Hub” Hubbard believes The Roots are not men of their word. She is suing Questlove and Black Thought for fraud.
As spotted on The Philly Voice Stephanie Hubbard is alleging that the legendary band is withholding monies that she believes are due to the bassist. On December 16, 2021, Leonard Hubbard passed due to blood cancer. Prior to his death, he had claimed that the group was shortchanging him based on a contract he signed stating he was a co-owner of the band. Years later, it seems Mrs. Hubbard has continued to fight his fight.
On Thursday, March 23 she filed a lawsuit to the US District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. The documentation states that Ahmir Thompson (Questlove), Tarik Trotter (Black Thought), Shawn Gee (The Roots manager), and Munir Nuriddin (Roots employee) have been violating RICO laws since 2013 with regard to Hub’s earnings.
Specifically, by “forgery, wire fraud, bank fraud, mail fraud, and criminal copyright infringement”. Furthermore, she says all the original members founded Grand Negaz, Inc.; a corporate entity they all started to funnel all their music-related ventures. Additionally, she states Leonard also had a 25% stake in a company that handled The Roots’ publishing and a 33% stake in a company that deals with their touring bookings.
The estate’s lawyer Luke Lucas gave a statement to The Philadelphia Business Journal regarding the lawsuit. “I would hope that these guys would have enough respect and compassion for their former band member… to make sure that he receives compensation for what may have not been given to him in the past, and so that his widow can live a reasonable life,” he said.
The Roots have yet to formally comment on the allegations.
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Photo: EVA HAMBACH
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Source: Live Nation / Live Nation Urban
The Roots and Live Nation Urban announced the dates on Monday (Feb. 20) and it is jam-packed with events. The two-day festival proper will once again be held at the Mann in Fairmount Park in Philadelphia, PA on Saturday and Sunday, June 3 and 4).
Arguably the first guest name to grab your attention is Lauryn Hill, who will be celebrating the 25th anniversary of her landmark album, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill. Ms. Hill will be performing the album in its entirety. Also at the top of the bill are Diddy & The Roots, Lil Uzi Vert and Dave Chappelle, who will be performing a stand-up set on Friday, June 2. Chappelle’s comedy set, with the Roots, will kick off the weekend at the Wells Fargo Center.
Other notable acts on deck include Eve returning to the stage during Black Thought’s Live Mixtape set and a State Property Reunion as well as Little Brother, Glorilla, City Girls and DJ Drama. There will also be a “Podcast Stage” that will feature live podcasts from Charlamagne Tha God, Off The Record with DJ Akademiks, Lip Service with Angela Yee, People’s Party with Talib Kweli, Questlove Supreme, and more.
If you’re getting tickets, a fan club presale launches starts Tuesday, February 21 at 12PM ET, while general on-sale ticketing starts on Wednesday, February 22 at 10AM ET. Weekend tickets and VIP packages can be found right here.
Check out the full lineup, so far, below.
Diddy w/ The Roots
Ms. Lauryn Hill
Lil Uzi Vert
Dave Chappelle w/ The Roots
Soulquarians Set featuring Roy Ayers & The Isley Bros
Black Thought Live Mixtape featuring Busta Rhymes & Eve
Ari Lennox
Lucky Daye
City Girls
Maverick City
Syd
Glorilla
DJ Drama
Uncle Waffles
Saucy Santana
DVSN
Kindred The Family Soul
Spinall
State Property Reunion (Freeway, Beanie Siegel, Young Gunz, Peedi Crakk, Oschino & Sparks)
Little Brother
Yussef Dayes Experience
Adam Blackstone w/ Coco Jones & Mary Mary
Baller Alert Presents Go Go: Backyard Band vs Rare Essence
Symba
Fridayy
Mike Phillips
Rocky
Dappa
Akin Inaj & Inutech
PODCAST STAGE:
Charlamagne Tha God
Off The Record with DJ Akademiks
Don’t Call Me White Girl
Lip Service with Angela Yee
Questlove Supreme
People’s Party with Talib Kweli
Pour Minds
Trap Nerds
The Office XIV
Love + Grit
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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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