Black Thought of the Roots (Extended Cut)

no more shall in a bowl bags and blows trees guess so unless yesterday we have black door little rules come on you know Lutz go run it down for you you know it is legendary hip hop MC all the way live from the two or five also plays Reggie love on HBO's deduce shout out to Black Dog wanted to be on the show from early on like my we was like on episode maybe in between what he was like yeah let's make this happen yeah I'm with day one I'm a real fan I was the show season spews like you owe me my wife he watching so for real you're one of the Ella's lyricist ever no hyperbole as Bronx people you have a classic soil with Big Pun yeah who's that like I'm it was dope you know plantain I mean he always big me up as as his favorite and she you know so um I mean that really like that guarded me a lot of validation at that time you know I'm saying it was uh earlier on in the roots career we only had a couple records out people had made up their mind yet like whether or not they were gonna rock with you know yes and I'm saying so um that that cosign you know once once plunge started saying like yo throw this on my favorite um dudes you know she had a lot of other people kind of follow suit you know so we would speak often and he told me you know when he put the joint together by he got that beeping rock violet he wrote his verses based on D being on the record honey so it wasn't like there's a punch in kind of in a no not at all so it was it was it was it was tailored to fit so though no email versus no neutral I was in school now yeah we was there and then um like in turn like we was trading a verse for verse and he was gonna be on a Scott Storch beat or not on the roots album for this song called the adrenaline yeah and on his way pun was on his way to the studio that night at the now-defunct battery studios not classic hits came out of there and we were in there and he stopped at the tunnel on his way to the studio and got arrested like on some Scout floor yeah like tickets or something yeah so he got arrested he never made it to studio we had crazy deadlines so I wanted I'm not being able to put him on the record and that wound up being be nice Eagles first really yeah that's how beans wanna that's the most Bronx way to miss an appointment is like I could make I gotta risk something a total got bad you rep Philly hard from day one yeah what about your experience growing up in Philly just makes it come through in the music cuz when you listen the only reason I know the area code for Philly all the way live for the two or five you were painting a picture of Philly before Philly was really on the mainstream there what what growing up there like what what made you just like oh like what in Philly comes out in your personality um I mean I feel like the soulfulness of the city kind of comes out and everything that we do as a wheelchair and everything that I do you know just all things Black Thought brand it's always you know to 15 21 pounds - 1 5 I just you know coming up I saw a lot of people especially in the hip-hop industry come from someplace else and you know kind of stop reppin where they grew up to rep where they moved after they was already on and it's like you're never gonna be respected as much you know I'm saying by the people where you come from or by the people where you are now you know saying you guys they say it's not where you from is where you at but I really feel like you have to rap with your from yeah yeah absolutely and you know um I grew up in an Islamic household it really in an Islamic community both my parents are murder victims I lost my father like that day before I turned to and I lost my mom's when I was like 15 or 16 years old so I feel like all of that you know I'm saying it wasn't easy I didn't have an easy upbringing and I feel like all of that kind of comes through and uh in the art would your favorite root album of them cuz you had joined our organics you got organics was our demo you know I'm saying and it wound up you know helping us get our deal and you know people consider it of an album because it was pressed up on the on the CD but you know for us that was our demo tape you know so here do you want more was our first official record that was double Geffen and yesterday and I mean my favorite um is between things fall apart and illa dump half life that was when we still you know just had had something to prove and I feel like you know you you could feel it like there was much at stake I'm saying yeah yeah the whole crews had like crazy longevity be like a hip hop will come and go it's like football like my three-year career yeah around from like well you said the demo and like 93 to now being like on TV every night yeah ever see that on the trajectory we use it like yo ah never never I mean you know when I was a young person I couldn't imagine you know living past like you know certainly even like yo you see yourself in 40 you know that's just the environment that I came from you know I'm saying people didn't necessarily make it that far so um yeah you I didn't foresee any of this and you you if you ask me in the late 90s even in there in the early 2000s you know why I saw myself at this point in my career it definitely wouldn't have been on primetime TV hey you want to shows now you got you okay you know how did you get into the afternoon they just act the foot for quite some time just you know you were in arm him was I'm blanking on you were on another movie right yeah a couple movies well we want our dams I'm Brooklyn Babylon go yup yes yeah Brooklyn Babel I know that was my first film mm-hmm but I mean since then I've done you know also suggest I did yelling to the sky means zoe kravitz we shot that up in Queens and uh the set got shot up like in real life like while we were filming I did like yeah yeah that was crazy me and Anthony Mackie playing the brothers and he movie called the night catches us yeah you know I've done quite a few decent Indies but but this this HBO thing that deuce it was my first you know stab at they were acting on a TV show mmm-hmm say was dope Alexa LexA foe who was the casting director for the deuce and who was the casting director for you know like the why Aaron Jame and all those shows she's like a fellow Philadelphians you in the area she's always kind of looked out for the cookout yeah yeah you know I was she saw me in that particular role and it was just a blessing did you audition was it just like definitely audition yeah I definitely audition but I'm young I got the audition from I was there I was in the office to audition for something else okay and she just kind of saw me and just assumed that I was there for that production so I went in and you know I'm sitting in front of cameras and she shot me the first line and I'm like what sighs I got she's like wait a minute what are you here to read for and it was sudden totally different you know she hadn't come back and read and I want to read you know once again for her and then for the director and producers and stuff and it just worked out go all right you guys we house band for Fallon yeah yeah you guys put a lot of work into it like people all music has Hatchett the amount of effort you put into the walk-on music for each person yeah it's a lot deeper than most people realize yeah how much like you guys have to go over this ahead of time or is it safe absolutely yeah we have to go over everything ahead of time it has to be cleared I'm saying like would Jimmy has to be an immigrant sometimes you know guess who come on multiple times they have a quest right you know I mean unless y'all want to come on to this or you know whatever you guys think up for my walk one it can't be this let you know so um yeah uh very much thought goes into that no into that little eighteen to twenty second walk out you know me but I think that's what that's what makes the show different yeah what does that feel like what's it like preparing a song just to play it for eighteen seconds versus doing an actual roots concert I mean yeah we don't rehearse for rules concerts right we just go out there just rock out but uh you know what we've learned working on The Tonight Show for all these years is you know that people don't rehearse for nothing and you know when you do practice it elevates the performance you know like for years we just like you know we do so many shows I don't want to see y'all would be I'm definitely it makes a huge difference and you know just being in that room practicing and playing together there it's been great for for the roots when we when we leave how did y'all link up like quests and the rest of the crew is like how did that all come together I mean questing out like we go back we met in high school know in the High School for the Arts okay back in the days in Philly I was there I was a visual arts major and he was a instrumental major but in the school at that same time was Christian McBride who's arguably you know one of the best bassist of our generation Joey Francesco was one of the best you know pianists of our generation boys to men a mela room you see big theory yeah yeah it was crazy like just the amount of talent that I would pass in the hallways there so I started cutting my art classes and I would go and hang out in the music while deep hip-hop cut here you guys have beef with biggie big it was he said was it on the flavor in your ear remix he said invisible bully like the Gooch but people didn't get the reference there if Al Gore and they thought enough of over from I don't even know about people I could just speak you know on my speak for myself I swore he was saying the words invisible and redundant really makes sense invisible bullies like the roots they gave me but I ain't care I was I really thought that it was gonna be a thing like you know big it was gonna be a thing with the roots and big and I remember one day like just calling bad boys offices mad times til I got through and I was like yo I need some I verified it on me and um you know they thought it was hilarious and he went verified [ __ ] and came back like no I'm sorry he actually said and I just felt like you know an idiot but um no big he was a huge huge fan yeah his favorite song was a silent treatment every time I was not with its running a big he would you'll be singing that joint every time I would see no any other Junior MAFIA locais many of them they you know always would you know show me love big like rockin with the roots so when we did this video what they do what they do all the cliches of the era um there was one set in that video that was big it was a replica of the world yeah yeah and I had no idea at the time but you know big you know noticing he was like damn you know man I didn't support it all this time like why not gonna like my general statement and digit come come straight at me yeah I mean so I it wasn't like the kind of thing where I was looking over my shoulders like yo Bey gonna [ __ ] us up at night but he did it and one interview he said yo I love the roots it's no love lost you know I'm saying I'm not gonna say like oh you know when I when I see you it's on site or nothing like that but I can't speak for the rest of Brooke it was what it was you know saying but I felt like um you know bye bye bye big untimely passing by that time it had been resolved yeah I remember losers did you have like bars on dick for him like anybody I heard that you were a graffiti artist that's why you a visual talk about Philly graffiti because really graffiti is very distinct like with the tall hairstyles and stuff like you know growing up that was like that's my [ __ ] right there [ __ ] that yeah man I mean what it was this crew for South Philly called the equal team T et and uh you know I just wanted to be down with them you know I had a cousin that was down with them the leader of this crew was this guy named lover and you know he just he had this little hand where he would like put the L inside of the oh you do did some crazy [ __ ] but yeah that whole you know mad long and I'm saying drawing it out like that yeah yeah the whole wicked style just something some fairly [ __ ] but I mean I really live that that life like Beach Street and all that like we took that to heart I remember when I was 9 10 11 years old I was all up and down like all in the turnaround [ __ ] yeah you know hopping the turnstiles taking keys from you know the subway workers and you I'm 11 year old kid but we were just about that life but yo you know gotta get rap gotta get Matt rap you know I'm sayin but y'all was always a visual artist and and the graffiti was just like a little a side hobby you know gotta get it in time for the beard report how many times a day are you complimented on your beard is you love it or hate it my wife hates scratchy top give us one hint what it's like yeah yeah what's the secret to your beard coconut oil can you sense your oils of Philly Philly barbers Sam's a bit experts Haley Barbour's how many barbers do you have because I know you got it you have to have the main one I got out the back you gonna have to back up I have three I have three bars okay I got my man [ __ ] hmm who has a shop called to15 that's in LA okay I'm saying that's my Los Angeles dude but he's some soft West Philly okay then I got for him where's the shop in Philly car has a precision whoo you know we we grew up the government was my barber for you know 15 20 years and then I have a relatively new barber that I've been rocking with this guy named Dee who has a shopping for the car made but he learned from fighting okay so it's just covered yeah that's good not worry the roots in say I'm the first thing I would do to joint is bring this neckline is that what I gotta do bring it down I mean but then I mean you in New York dude and that is it that's a New York stop yeah I just walk in the barber shops they do what you're gonna do who your stylist like they chopped you join yeah but like from the fried my fish I got my brush yeah like from the fight it looks really how you feel about that because I know you're growing up in Philly you know like the legal system over there they'd be jamming people wonderful things like have you seen people in a similar situation to what meek knows going through is it like familiar to you um I've seen lots of people in the similar situation people who have been railroaded and I'm saying but you know whose cases are just far less high-profile right then I'm saying meek I've no mixes he was a little kitty I'm saying he used to rap hang out in front of it in front of 500 barbershop and I pull up and I toss him a little but like I mean meat he was he's my young boy yeah you know so I feel like was right his right was wrong as wrong you know I mean um there's much that he's done that I feel like you know he's gonna help himself in the situation I'm in here he's gonna help me somebody this much I feel like he's needed to answer for mm-hmm you know I'm saying but that being said I feel like there's a you know after a certain level it becomes exploitation and I feel like you know that the system in Philly is definitely jacked up in those judges and I'm saying it's crazy so yeah yeah I'm Audi he has been made in so you know it is what it is um yeah I mean it is it's a struggle that that definitely continues Philly without the Philly cos they came out as a city like United brought us more Hammond like the rallies in front of the courthouse on the left like yeah you feel you can rally together for good things I can ride together for bad things Eagles how you feel about are you a fan I mean you know I'm an Eagles fan because I'm alright the roots first of all I don't call them the hip hop band they're more than that you don't say even though they killed it on what do you remember from the jay-z unplugged performance because y'all body that um yeah you know super ones beat during take over take over like I remember that being you know like a super pivotal point in our career I'm saying I felt like again it goes back to that validation of you know I mean all these dudes official even with you know taking into consideration that they're a lot bad and I feel like at that point in time it was like I did work there would be no more doubt no more discussion yeah um also what I remember from that performance is there was initially a segment in there where it was like jay-z me Eminem like we were all gonna it was like a freestyle we were gonna you do some freestyle and that you know mysteriously got cut out I mean it was like not like a flame yo it's not like we did it and then it was cut out of what aired it was like we just we just got last minute yeah they called the audible when we just you know so yeah boys my dick though of course yes so yeah man like the the band really like the you stop dope on a record the like the live show is really where it's like yo this is ill yeah because there any particular concert that you were like yo this was a highlight first oh man like just a few weeks ago we played in Dallas with the Dallas pop Orchestra oh wow a 50-piece Orchestra the roots Dallas pops Chaka Khan Erykah Badu Robert Glasper it was crazy I felt like that in the middle of that particular performance I felt like you know it was it was the performance that our longtime manager who's now passed away it was like all it was what he was working on was like his whole life and I'm saying if he always wanted to see it's just on that larger stage the more orchestral more theatrical and you know all the stuff that we're doing now kind of speaks to that so yeah that that was huge that was huge but I mean we were the first hip-hop act the play at Lincoln Center saying we brought out Pharoahe Monch jay-z Kool G Rap like that was huge the first time I played at Radio City Music Hall and we brought out again jay-z NAS like you know all these performances are super monumental for us because it's something that you know we had to work towards I remember when Erykah Badu was playing Radio City for the first time and she wanted us to as a support act and they fronted I mean like they you know they didn't want the roots to perform so I mean now when it's like I walk in the building and they like hey what's up sorry [Laughter] pocket all right you guys Roots Picnic 10 years listen I be there I'll go to the one in Philly I go someone in New York saying only only concert you go to watch the locks perform while out and the next person is Erykah Badu doing green eyes [ __ ] the crowd but you know you make it work did you guys when you started you really like oh we got something here we got longevity here was it just like yo let's see what this goes I mean when we when we started like we just wanted to bring something to Philly that remotely resembled what we had experienced you know out in the world I'm saying we traveled all over Europe all over Asia like doing all these and even in the States and I'm saying doing all these huge festivals but there was nothing like that in the city and we wanted to bring it to Philly like we couldn't really find any support so we had to do it from the muscle yeah and then the support came you know later like after we kind of proven ourselves so out the box nah no we didn't feel like you know this is something that was gonna be huge it was something that we just kind of had to get out yeah you know and it was something that it grew organically it was a organic evolution uh what's next for what's next for you what else you got going on um you know just lots of new music lots of new music coming 2018 yeah relatively soon more acting yeah I'm saying yeah I insecure we got a set for everybody yeah I mean I would be on insecure in a heartbeat this is I got like five black guys it was good what's up next with the roots um new album was that dropping new album won't have a date but title got title yeah end game and game yeah we got some heat like that into the catalog absolutely what would you like you're able to say go [Music] [Applause] you're watching the deesis and Miro YouTube channel so subscribe it's like the buttons all the buttons right here this is a real YouTube [ __ ] you know saying out here geng geng soir

Channel: Desus & Mero

Views: 150,025

Keywords: Desus & Mero, Desus, Desus Nice, Mero, The Kid Mero, VICELAND, VICE, Late Night, Talk Show, Late Night Talk Show, Action Bronson, Eddie Huang, Bodega Boys, podcast, Bodega Boys podcast, Comedy, Funny, Humor, TV, television, TV show, sports, politics, music, hip hop, the Bronx, Bodega Hive, The Brand is Strong, The Art, BX, the roots, roots, biggie, notorious b.i.g., black thought, questlove, beards, acting, philly, the deuce

Id: 65Z9x6-i9L4

Length: 22min 49sec (1369 seconds)

Published: Tue Nov 28 2017