The Roots

The Roots are an American hip hop band formed in 1987 by Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter and Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They serve as the house band on NBC's The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, where the current regular members are Captain Kirk Douglas, Mark Kelley, James Poyser, Ian Hendrickson-Smith, Damon "Tuba Gooding Jr." Bryson, Stro Elliot, Dave Guy, Kamal Gray, and Raymond Angry.
American rapper Lupe Fiasco gave them a shout-out on his 2006 song, "Outro," from his debut album. He was an opening act for their The Roots 2007 Tour, which was in support of the band's seventh studio album, Game Theory (2006). In the Details March 2011 issue, Fiasco mentioned one of the CDs he'd take with him on a desert island was The Roots' How I Got Over.Knafo, Saki (March 2011). "Lupe Fiasco Goes Mainstream—His Way". Details. Archived from the original on February 26, 2011. In February 2015, he performed his song "Little Death" on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon with the live band and Nikki Jean.Thompson, Paul (February 26, 2015). "Lupe Fiasco Performs 'Little Death' on 'The Tonight Show'". XXL.
== Lineup ==
=== Current ===
* 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)
* Raymond 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 ===
* 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) ; (2002-present) 
* 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)
== References ==
Category:Bands
Category:Musicians
Category:People
Category:Rappers