The Roots
In 1987 two young black men named Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter and Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson planted a seed in the world that would grow into The Roots of hip hop. The Roots is a classic hip hop group started by rapper Black Thought and drummer ?uestlove in 1987. They started up with four members and were initially known as The Square Roots. Since then they have changed their name to simply The Roots. The Roots have dropped 11 albums and received 6 Grammy nominations, of which they’ve won one for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group for "You Got Me" a collaboration with Black Thought featuring Erykah Badu and Eve. 
The group has had more than 15 members including big time hip hop producer Scott Storch who’s work is found on the The Roots second album “Do You Want More”. They released their breakthrough album in 1999 titled “Things Fall Apart”, things definitely didn’t fall apart with this album. “Things Fall Apart” was the group’s fourth album and their first to make it into the top ten on the Billboard 200 and going to sell 500 000 copies. The group’s popularity led them to teaming up with Jay-z for his MTV Unplugged concert and his farewell concert in Madison Square Garden.
In the period 2002-2005 The Roots released two critically acclaimed albums “Phrenology” and “The Tipping Point”, which together earned the group three Grammy nominations including Best Rap Album for “Phrenology”. On the 29 August 2006, they released the album “Game Theory” through Def Jam records. The album’s first single “Don’t Feel Right” was nominated a Grammy for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group, but didn’t win. The group thou won an award at the 2007 NAACP Image Awards for Outstanding Duo or Group.
Their next album “Rising Up” was released on 29 April 2008, the 16-year anniversary of the Rodney King riots of 1992. The album’s first single “Rising Up” featured rnb singer Chrisette Michele and D.C rapper Wale, which was a preview of the many guest artists the album featured from artists like Common, Talib Kweli, DJ Jazzy Jeff, Styles P, to mention a few.
On 2 March 2009, The Roots became the house band on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon show, that’s were they debuted the first and title single off their 9th album “How I Got Over”. Black Thought spoke about the record, describing it as a positive album, as opposed to their last two records, “How I Got Over” mirrors the relief the group feels at the end of the Bush administration and the beginning of the Obama presidency. The album which was released on the 22 June 2010 sees The Roots working with Chrisette Michele for a second time along with Beanie Sigel.
Later on in the year on 21 September 2010, The Roots released “Wake Up!” a collaborated album with John Legend. The album debuted at no.8 on the Billboard 200 charts and sold 63 000 copies in its first week. The album mostly covers soul music tracks from the 60s and 70s. Black Thought is featured on a few tracks while the rest of the songs have the group adding on to John Legend’s singing, with live instrumentation.
Every year on the night before the Grammy Awards, The Roots hold a much anticipated Jam Session, which has been attended to by Tom Cruise, Prince, Don Cheadle, Beyonce and her husband Jay-Z to mention a few.
In the past two decades The Roots have planted themselves in the music industry even going on to be named by Rolling Stone magazine as one of the “Twenty greatest live acts in the world”. This group most definitely deserves its star on the the hip hop walk of fame and in the title of this month’s hip hop classic.
-Hip Hop
