Questlove recently dropped by The Jennifer Hudson Show, sharing his reaction to finding out that Kendrick Lamar paid homage to the Roots in a music video for his monumental GNX album, which released last year.
When discussing his influence on other artists, Hudson pointed out the scene from Lamar’s “Squabble Up” video that recreates the set for the Roots’ 1999 track “The Next Movement,” with both visuals sharing the same moss-green wall molding.
“I was so shocked because the way that people told me — I woke up to 30 K. Dot texts,” Questlove recalled. “I thought, ‘Oh no.’ He just dissed us. I thought it was something else. And they were like, ‘No, he paid tribute to y’all in this video.’”
The Roots drummer said that he was surprised because the Philly band is “ubiquitous,” but “not super mainstream, but we’re niche, but we’re not overexposed popular.” He continued, “It’s hard to tell where we fit in the scheme of things. It’s an honor but it’s also a surprise when you see people acknowledging you after all this time.”
In reply, Hudson reminded the musician that his critically acclaimed band has been a “blueprint to all artists and the music industry.”
“The Next Movement” featured on the Roots’ breakthrough album, Things Fall Apart, a record that Rolling Stone listed as one of the 200 greatest hip-hop albums of all time. A review hailed the Nineties LP as “a socially observant, profoundly musical thesis statement from the Philadelphia band that dared to play their own instruments,” while noting that the “timeless” tracks “are full of virtuosic verses from Black Thought and Malik B, along with fellow travelers like Mos Def and Common, and varied grooves from drummer Questlove, bassist Leonard Hubbard.”
More than 25 years later, Lamar would release his sixth album, GNX, capping a historic year that packed in a cataclysmic feud with Drake, the announcement of Lamar’s Super Bowl performance, and a swath of Number One singles including “Not Like Us”, SZA-collab “Luther,” and “Squabble Up.”
In an Instagram post looking back at his work with the Roots and following the news of Lamar’s homage, Questlove posted back in November an Instagram photo of a side-by-side screenshot from “The Next Movement” and “Squabble Up” videos. “My number one love is the music I create in @TheRoots —that is the fuel to my fire & sometimes if you love something you must set it free. Then if it returns to you it’s real,” Questlove wrote in the caption. “That said I wanna thank @kendricklamar for acknowledging something I thought noone saw or cared about. Feeling seen is a great feeling and I dont take it for granted.”