Roots rapper Black Thought looks back on 10 years of ‘The Tonight Show’ — and three decades of hip-hop impact: ‘We changed the game’
nypost.comFor the Roots rapper Black Thought, the pastoral pleasure of playing SummerStage in Central Park is a no-brainer. “It’s classic New York — or old New York, as people sort of refer to it — in its energy and the vibe,” the 50-year-old frontman told The Post about the Rumsey Playfield concert series that the Roots will headline on Friday night as part of their Hip-Hop Is the Love of My Life Tour (with openers Jungle Brothers and Digable Planets).“Every time I’ve played SummerStage — even as a young person earlier in my career — it’s always felt just phenomenal,” he said. “It felt like performing from the heart of the city, quite literally.” And it’s only about 20 blocks uptown from the Rockefeller Center studios where the Roots have served as the house band on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” for 10 years.
The legendary hip-hop crew followed the host over from “Late Night With Jimmy Fallon” when the former “SNL” player took over for Jay Leno in the earlier time slot in February 2014.With the expanded exposure from “The Tonight Show” — where Black Thought goes by his real name, Tariq Trotter — the band he co-founded with drummer Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson has gone bigger with the Roots Picnic, a festival in their native Philadelphia.
Nas, Jill Scott, André 3000, Babyface and Shaboozey — the country upstart behind the summer smash “A Bar Song (Tipsy)” — were among the loaded lineup at the two-day affair over the first weekend of June.“We were definitely influenced by SummerStage,” said Black Thought of the Roots Picnic, which began in 2008. “We wanted it to happen in Fairmount Park, which is Philadelphia’s Central Park.”And the festival keeps them rooted in where they came from — even as they are playing to homes.
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