The Roots

**The Roots** is an American hip hop band. It was formed in 1987 by Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter and Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In 2014, the Roots became the house band on NBC's _The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon_. They were also the house band on _Late Night with Jimmy Fallon_ from 2009 to 2014.

The band is one of the few hip hop groups to use mostly live instruments instead of sampling and to produce electronically. They have released several albums that are very popular within the genre. _Things Fall Apart_ is considered by many to be their best.

## Band members

**Current members**
- Black Thought – rap and singing vocals (1987–present)
- Questlove – drums, backing rap vocals, beatboxing (1987–present)
- Kamal Gray – keyboards, backing rap vocals (1994–present)
- Captain Kirk Douglas – guitars, singing vocals (2003–present)
- Tuba Gooding, Jr. (Damon Bryson) – sousaphone, tuba (2007–present)
- James Poyser – keyboards (2009–present)
- Ray Angry – keyboards (2010–present)
- Mark Kelley – bass, synthesizer bass, moog (2011–present)
- Ian Hendrickson-Smith – flutes, saxophones (2015–present)
- Dave Guy – trumpet (2015–present)
- Stro Elliot – beatbox, percussion, sampling, tambourine, Ableton, HandSonic, SPD-SX, finger drumming, keyboards (2017–present)
- Jeremy Ellis – beatbox, sampling, Maschine, Arcade machine sampler, midi fighter, finger drumming (2014–present)

**Former members**
- Malik B. – rap vocals (1987–1999; died 2020)
- Josh 'Rubberband' Abrams – bass (1992–1994)
- Kenyatta 'Kid Crumbs' Warren – rap vocals (1993)
- Scott Storch – keyboards (1993–1995)
- Nikki Yeoh – keyboards (1994)
- Hub  – bass (1994–2007; died 2021)
- Rahzel – beatboxing (1995–2001)
- Dice Raw – rap vocals (1995–2001) <small>(frequent collaborator with the band)</small>
- Scratch – beatboxing (1996–2003)
- F. Knuckles – percussion (2001–2017)
- Ben Kenney – guitars, bass (2000–2003)
- Martin Luther – guitars, vocals (2003–2004)
- Owen Biddle – bass (2007–2011)

### Grammy Awards

|-
| rowspan="2" style="text-align:center;"|2000
|"You Got Me" <small>(with Erykah Badu)</small>
|Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group
|
|-
|_Things Fall Apart_
|rowspan="2"|Best Rap Album
|
|-
|align=center|2004
|_Phrenology_
|
|-
| rowspan="2" style="text-align:center;"|2005
|"Star"
|Best Urban/Alternative Performance
|
|-
|"Don't Say Nuthin'"
|rowspan="2"|Best Rap Performance By a Duo/Group
|
|-
| rowspan="2" style="text-align:center;"|2007
|"Don't Feel Right" (featuring Maimouna Youssef)
|
|-
|_Game Theory_
|Best Rap Album
|
|-
| rowspan="5" style="text-align:center;"|2011
|"Hang On in There" <small>(with John Legend)</small>
|Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance
|
|-
|_Wake Up!_ <small>(with John Legend)</small>
|Best R&B Album
|
|-
|"Shine" <small>(with John Legend)</small>
|Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals
|
|-
|"Wake Up Everybody" <small>(with John Legend, Melanie Fiona & Common)</small>
|Best Rap/Sung Collaboration
|
|-
|_How I Got Over_
|Best Rap Album
|
|-
|align=center|2012
|"Surrender" <small>(with Betty Wright)</small>
| Best Traditional R&B Performance
|
|-
|align=center|2013
|_Undun_
|Best Rap Album
|
|-

### MTV Video Music Awards

|-
|2003
|The Seed 2.0
|MTV2 Award
|
|-

### mtvU Woodie Awards

|-
|rowspan="2"|2004
|rowspan="2"|The Roots
|Road Woodie
|
|-
|Welcome Back Woodie
|
|-

### BET Awards

|-
|2005
|The Roots
|Best Group
|
|-
|2009
|The Roots
|Best Group
|
|-

### NAACP Image Awards

|-
|2005
|The Roots
|Outstanding Duo or Group
|
|-
|2007
|The Roots
|Outstanding Duo or Group
|
|-
|rowspan="2"|2011
|rowspan="2"|_Wake Up!_
|Outstanding Collaboration
|
|-
|Outstanding Album
|
|-

## Discography

**Studio albums**
- _Organix_ (1993)
- _Do You Want More?!!!??!_ (1995)
- _Illadelph Halflife_ (1996)
- _Things Fall Apart_ (1999)
- _Phrenology_ (2002)
- _The Tipping Point_ (2004)
- _Game Theory_ (2006)
- _Rising Down_ (2008)
- _How I Got Over_ (2010)
- _Undun_ (2011)
- _...And Then You Shoot Your Cousin_ (2014)

## Infobox (musical artist)

- **name**: The Roots
- **image**: The Roots 2016 Holiday Tour - Orlando (31139328734).jpg
- **landscape**: yes
- **caption**: The Roots performing in 2016
- **alias**: The Legendary Roots Crew
The Fifth Dynasty
The Square Roots
- **years active**: –present