Drummer Ahmir Thompson, also known as Questlove, and rapper Tariq Trotter, aka Black Thought, started The Roots when they were in high school in Philadelphia in 1987. Over the last thirty years, the band has released 17 albums. They’ve received a bunch Grammy nominations including three wins. They’re also the house band for The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. In this episode, Questlove tells the story of how they made the song "It Ain’t Fair." It was created for the film Detroit, directed by oscar-winner Kathryn Bigelow, who also made the films The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty. Detroit is about the 1967 Detroit riots, centered around the events at the Algiers Motel, where police killed three young black men and beat and tortured nine others. The Roots recruited the singer Bilal to contribute vocals to the song, and they worked with The Dap-Kings, the backing band for the late soul singer Sharon Jones, to create a sound that evoked the music of 1967.
songexploder.net/the-roots
Death Cab for Cutie - El Dorado
Sylvan Esso - Coffee
U2 - Cedarwood Road
Will Butler - Anna
Ramin Djawadi - Game of Thrones
Brian Tyler - Avengers: Age of Ultron
tUnE-yArDs - Water Fountain
My Morning Jacket - Spring (Among the Living)
Toro y Moi - Half Dome
RJD2 - Games You Can Win (feat. Kenna)
How to Dress Well - Pour Cyril
White Hinterland - Ring the Bell
Warpaint - Love Is to Die
Jeremy Zuckerman - The Legend of Korra
The Long Winters - The Commander Thinks Aloud
Blonde Redhead - Penultimo
Ghostface Killah - The Battlefield
The National - Sea of Love
Tycho - Awake
Stars - No One Is Lost
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