An Open Letter To Questlove From A Fan

When I initially heard about the concept behind Undun, I was really excited.  It sounded like I was about to get some of that grit that I have been begging for from The Roots.  With such a grim subject, I figured that I would get more than one or two songs with the heart of a Lost Desire, 75 Bars, Here I Come or Water.  Tracks like these are when Black Thought gets to shine most.

Questlove Paiinting By Tatyana Fazlalizadeh

You can watch the artist at work after the jump.

The Roots - Undun (Cover Art, Track Listing & Interview)

Track Listing:

Just Listen: Aisha Tyler Interviews Questlove

Aisha Tyler started her own weekly podcast in July called Girl On Guy.  I love Aisha, but the podcast really didn't do too much for me in the first eleven weeks.  The guests weren't all that interesting and were all white men.  Nonetheless I kept my subscription to her RSS feed hoping to see someone eye catching cross my Google Reader.  Thankfully, ?uestlove of The Roots to the rescue!  The interview is incredible.  It's less comedy and more of a story of the origin of The Roots as well as some details about their upcoming album, Undun.  It's a long listen, but it's definitely worth it.

The Legendary: A Film About The Roots

J.Period, John Legend & The Roots - Wake Up! Radio Mixtape

Click Here To Download

Truck North On The Genesis Of Money Making Jam Boys

J.Period & ?uestlove Bury The Hatchet

In the wake of "The Last Laugh (J.Period Didn't Do It! Remix)," a hilarious new track by Skillz about a wager with Questlove gone awry, J.Period visits the Jimmy Fallon set with a peace offering for the legendary Roots drummer, in hopes of smoothing things over...

Dice Raw - Dice Dilla Pregunta Mixtape

I guess Dice Raw felt inspired by The Roots Tribute to J Dilla and decided to jump on the instrumentals.  This mixtape is the result.  What do you think?

Click Here To Download

01 Long Time Coming

02 Pregunta

03 Hello World

04 Full

05 Doot Doo Dah Da

06 Players Play

07 Welcome Home

08 The Greatest Rapper Never

09 Offbeat Onbeat

10 Get Ready

11 Turn It Up (Led it Bang)

12 Pour Me A Drink

13 Allworlderlude

14 The End Of The Road

The Music Community Reflects On Guru’s Passing

By Jonah Bayer for Myspace Music

Ever since people found out that Gang Starr’s co-founder Guru passed away, the Internet has been buzzing with condolences from his collaborators, peers… and even one member of Good Charlotte. Here we’ve compiled some of the more notable Tweets and parting words about this extremely gifted and innovative musician, who met his time far too soon.

*DJ Premier: “The man has found his peace, far way from the devil. R.I.P. GURU / GANG STARR”

RZA (Wu-Tang Clan): RIP Guru – this is total sad news for hip-hop. You were a good friend and an inspiration. A true legend, you will be missed.

MC Hammer: Gangstarr’s Guru Gone Too Soon (RIP): http://bit.ly/9fLuuD

DJ Tony Touch: “Today is one of the saddest days for me.I lost a real friend/brother/teacher etc.He believed in me.supported.Took me on my first tour in 96″

Dres (Black Sheep): “Guru and I didnt always see eye to eye… but we shared 2 things sincerely.. the mic.. and respect … peace good brother”

Questlove (The Roots): “in my 10 greatest voices in hip hop. Guru was easily top 5 imo. smooth. velvet. will be missed. RIP Guru” http://bit.ly/d86nKK

DJ Jazzy Jeff: “Rest in Peace Guru…Pls send Prayers go out to his Family!”

Q-Tip: “From Allah we come to Allah we return. R.I.P. Keith GURU. A great man, poet, and I’m proud to say friend… 23 yrs. Damn!”

Talib Kweli: “Todays overtweeting dedicated to Guru. U don’t like it unfollow rather lose u then not pay tribute to my man. 2 many don’t know what’s real.”

Snoop Dogg: “420 gonna be in honor of the big homie Guru.. respect the foundation… light one up for the legend

Joel Madden: “Rest in Peace GURU’

Fat Joe: “R.I.P GURU LOVE YOU MY BROTHER the World Will Miss You!!!! WE LOST A Great Man and a Big Part OF HIP HOP History!!!”

Lil Jon: “#RIPGURU http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFQQeUNaZtc“JUST TO GET A REP” GANGSTARR #CLASSICCCCCC MY SHIT!!”

Joell Ortiz: “bout to be in the bentley bumping that Gangstarr! feeling very retro brooklyn right now.”

P.Diddy: “RIP Guru! Hip-Hop lost an icon today-but u’ll always be w/ us b/c Legends live on 4ever. Donate in his memory http://www.eachonecounts.org/”

In addition, longtime MySpace Music editorial team member Roslynn Cobarrubias has shared some of her thoughts and memories of the man.

Guru has been a friend of Ros’ for years and was one of the first members of the hip-hop community to join this site of ours. For these, and many reasons far more significant, he will be forever missed.


Image courtesy of Mattboy
*Note: The twitter account noted is for a fan operated DJ Premier Blog and not DJ Premier himself.

Melanie Fiona & ?uestlove Mixtape

Click Here To Download

Crate Diggin' With ?uestlove

Dub MD Presents Hip Hop Renatus

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J Dilla - Pay Jay

Click Here To Download

01. Diamonds
02. We F’ed Up (Prod. Kanye West)
03. Fuck The Police (Prod. J Dilla)
04. Remember (Prod. Pete Rock)
05. Fight Club (Prod. Waajeed)
06. Creepin’ On You
07. Trucks
08. No One Knows (Prod. Supa Dave West)
09. Drive Me Wild (Prod. ?uestlove & Kareem Riggins)
10. Unknown Track (Prod. Bink Dawg)
11. Remember Remix

Can She Kick It?/I Know She Got Sole

Basically this blog is for me to write about shit I like and to hopefully turn you on to it as well and hopefully for you to pass the word. I don't know her. Hell, I don't even know her gubment (yeah, I wrote it!). But, anyway I first came across Kromey on Last.fm. She seemed to be a huge Nas fan and she was one of the few women on the site who actually had a high to super compatibility rating with me, plus her avitars always caught my eye. So, I did my normal e-team thing and hit her up with an invite to my group on Last.fm. Well, fast forward to last week. I always saw the link to her site on her last.fm page, but I never bothered to click for whatever reason. Lately I have been looking for new wallpaper for my laptop and I hadn't been able to find anything hot in ages. So I happened to stumble upon her last.fm page recently and decide to click on Kromey.com and I found out that her shit is ridiculous! Everything is insane! The site layout is crazy and the photos and faux oil paintings are pure fire! If you don't like her shit then I don't like you! lol Just kidding, but check out some of her work (note - her first pic is my current wallpaper):















If you like what you see, and how could you not, hit up her site. If you need artwork for a project or a website done, I'm pretty sure she can make your shit tighter.

?uestlove & Black Thought on their new release and a live performance.

Live In Sirius Satellite Radio Studios on 4/28/08

Tracklisting:

01 Jam Boyz (Featuring Dice Raw)
02 I Will Not Apologize
03 Star
04 Long Time
05 R.I.P. Jay Dee
06 Proceed
07 Get Busy (Featuring Dice Raw)
08 Like A Pimp (Featuring David Banner)
09 Rising Up
10 75 Bars
11 Rising Up (Featuring Chrisette Michele & Wale) [Live On Letterman]

Rising Down