Questlove has thanked Kendrick Lamar for referencing the Roots in the music video for ‘Squabble Up’, while teasing a new album from the group.
- Read More: Kendrick Lamar – ‘GNX’ review: turning hatred into a teachable moment
Lamar dropped his sixth album ‘GNX‘ without warning on Friday (November 22), his first release since 2022’s ‘Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers’. It features production from Jack Antonoff, Kamasi Washington, Mustard, Terrace Martin and Sounwave and also includes uncredited guest vocals from SZA.
Then, earlier this week, he shared the visuals for ‘Squabble Up’ directed by Calmatic, as opposed to Lamar’s frequent creative partner Dave Free. It is set in a mostly empty ballroom with a rotation of cast members dancing, including Lamar himself.
Fans quickly noticed the video’s set heavily resembled the one used in The Roots’ 1999 single ‘The Next Movement’ and now, Questlove has come forward to acknowledge the homage.
Writing on Instagram, he thanked Kendrick for highlighting a moment in the group’s history that he believed “no one saw or cared about”.
“I once joked I live a life in which someone knows Jordan JUST for the Hanes commercials only,” he continued. “I own that I (was) the king of hiding in plain sight for decades & we live the reality we set for ourselves.”
“HOWEVER… 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. 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.”
He then added: “Yup, new album still coming lol.”
Earlier this summer, during Kendrick’s public feud with Drake, Quest weighed in and criticised the rappers bringing their partners’ names and children into the fold: “This was a wrestling match level mudslinging and takedown by any means necessary – women & children (& actual facts) be damned. Same audience wanting blood will soon put up “rip” posts like they weren’t part of the problem. Hip-hop is truly dead.”
Some fans are interpreting Kendrick’s Roots reference as an acknowledgement of Quest’s comments and a sign there’s no bad blood between the two, after Quest came under fire from Lamar’s fans for sharing his opinion.
In a five-star review of ‘GNX’, NME wrote: “In a way, ‘Gloria’ is symbolic: ‘GNX’ starts off with such an ominous tone that doesn’t necessarily leave. But Lamar channels what could be interpreted as hate and negativity into a teachable moment, leading you to draw upon the purest emotion known to man: love. In a year that started with so much venom, Kendrick Lamar shares the antidote on ‘GNX’.”
Meanwhile, the last The Roots album ‘…And Then You Shoot Your Cousin’ came out in 2014. Since then, they’ve kept busy as the house band on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. and in 2021, they reissued their 1995 studio album ‘Do You Want More?!!!??!’.
Quest is also on board to direct a documentary film about Earth, Wind & Fire, to be released in 2025.
Writing on Instagram, he shared that the film would tell “the story of how a band led by a genius from Chicago changed our way of thinking, our minds and our hearts”.
