Questlove can still remember seeing Billy Preston perform on the first Saturday Night Live on Oct. 11, 1975. Technically, he wasn’t allowed to watch TV, but his parents were Soul Train devotees who wanted their son, then four, to absorb “anything musical,” he says. To get him ready for its …
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Fred Armisen recalls how Saturday Night Live helped shape his musical taste and led him to create one of his own great sketches — “Band Reunion at the Wedding” — in a new exclusive clip from Questlove’s upcoming documentary, Ladies & Gentlemen… 50 Years of SNL Music. “SNL was such …
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The song titles alone evoke a sense of joy, excitement, community: “Dance to the Music,” “Stand!”, “Everyday People,” “Sing a Simple Song,” “I Want to Take You Higher,” “Hot Fun in the Summertime,” “Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin),” “Everybody Is a Star.” (That last one was also the …
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Live from New York, it’s Ladies & Gentlemen… 50 Years of SNL Music. The first trailer for the upcoming Questlove-directed documentary is a two-minute celebration of one of television’s most iconic stages. In the clip, featured hosts from throughout Saturday Night Live‘s 50 seasons introduce musical guests Charli XCX, Prince, …
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Next October, Saturday Night Live will officially reach the 50th anniversary of its very first episode. But celebrations of the milestone started months ago with the premiere of season 50 and the release of Saturday Night in September. They’ll continue into the new year with the four-part docuseries SNL50: Beyond …
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As roughly 100 musicians dine on pasta, ramen, and cannabis-infused bento boxes under a massive tent in DJ Jazzy Jeff’s backyard, the hip-hop pioneer announces that the night’s main event is about to begin. He had invited artists across music mediums and generations – including De La Soul’s Posdnous and …
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Questlove’s documentary about Sly Stone hasn’t hit screens yet, but the Roots drummer knows which artist he will next fix his cameras on: Earth, Wind & Fire. Fittingly, on the 21st of September, Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson announced his next project on social media Saturday, and revealed that “the definitive story …
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Missy Elliott, Ciara, Questlove, and Ludacris are among the artists paying tribute to New York rapper Fatman Scoop (given name Isaac Freeman III), who died on Saturday after suffering a medical emergency while onstage during an August 30 concert in Hamden, Connecticut.He was 56. Elliott, who tapped the “Be Faithful” …
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When a publisher suggested that Questlove write a book about the history of hip-hop, he was reticent at first. Not because of any fear of writing — the Roots drummer is an accomplished author, with a back catalog that includes an acclaimed 2013 memoir, along with volumes like 2021’s Music …
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The Roots Picnic, held yearly in Philadelphia since 2008, is a special kind of music festival. The lineup this year covered a wide spectrum of hip-hop and R&B, plus country, go-go, and more, with the Roots’ own omnivorous musicality as the guiding force. Daily crowds of 30,000 made the pilgrimage …
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