The Roots' ?uestlove Speaks About Headlining Playboy Jazz Festival, Odd Future's Breakthrough TV Appearance

?uesto speaks about the significance of rocking alongside Bob James, and says that all credit for making OFWGKTA's groundbreaking February TV performance happen is owed to Jimmy Fallon.

Last week, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania drummer/deejay and producer ?uestlove spoke to HipHopDX. As a founding member of The Roots, ?uestlove is known for bringing Hip Hop back to its own roots that lie within organic percussion and an emphasis on performing before an audience. He and the band will be one of the headlining acts in the 33rd annual Playboy Jazz Festival on June 11 and 12 at Los Angeles, California's Hollywood Bowl.

With Bill Cosby slated to master the ceremonies, Hugh Hefner's long-running event will also feature important Hip Hop sample sources and trailblazers like Bob James, Harvey Mason and Fred Wesley.
The Roots Went From Fooling Jazz Promoters To Headlining Jazz Events

Asked about the importance of the Hip Hop band headlining a staple Jazz event, ?uestlove said that it marked a full-circle for the 20-plus year-old group, who once had to pretend to be a Jazz act for bookings. "The Roots' disposition has always been a fusion of many genres. Our survival has sort of depended on appealing to a mass demographic of different audiences. We don't have like a Jazz presentation - as opposed to a [Hip Hop show]. Back in the day, we used to have to do that: kind of lie to promoters and say, 'Oh yeah, they're a Jazz combo and they do some Spoken Word stuff. We kind of had to dumb-waiter ourselves into the building." Today, as a Grammy Award-winning act on Def Jam Records, the Jazz community is embracing the crew, who will perform alongside trumpeter Terence Blanchard of Art Blakey & The Jazz Messengers and Lionel Hampton fame. "There was a period when to be a 'Hip Hop' act, you had to prove yourself beyond, so in some places, we had to lie to get ourselves those type of gigs. Now, we're pretty much the default go-to group for that type of thing."





Sharing the stage with acts like Bob James, whose Two album possessed sounds that made hits for LL Cool J, Run-DMC and Ghostface Killah or Fred Wesley, who did the same with Eric B. & Rakim, ?uestlove is himself in awe. "I'm happier to see [the other artists]."