Roots Picnic has been a cornerstone of the Philadelphia live music calendar since 2008. This year, The Roots brought a curated version of their hip-hop-heavy gathering to the Hollywood Bowl as part of their Hip-Hop Is The Love Of My Life Tour, with support from legends such as Queen Latifah, Common, Black Sheep, The Pharcyde, and Arrested Development.
Like many of their industry peers, The Roots were already in Los Angeles for the 2024 BET Awards. The collective led by Tariq “Black Thought” Trotter, Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, and Captain Kirk Douglas performed alongside the likes of Cardi B, Gunna, and Queen Latifah at Crypto.com Arena on the Friday before Sunday’s awards ceremony at Peacock Theater in downtown L.A. In between, The Roots brought Queen Latifah and many more with them to the Bowl for a nostalgic showcase of 1990s hip-hop.
Much like their role on NBC’s The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon, The Roots served as the house band for the various acts that popped on and off the famous shell-covered stage. With that responsibility, along with helping to produce the event, they held sway over the setlist.
The Roots opened the proceedings promptly at 8:00 pm, as advertised, with an ode to C-Murder and M.O.P. sandwiched between “Respond/React” and “Clones”, from their 1996 album Illadelph Halflife. They dropped in “Think Twice” and “Lookin’ at the Front Door” before closing the first set with a tremendous rendition of “You Got Me” that featured Captain Kirk not only assuming the vocal role of Erykah Badu but also singing and plucking his way through a medley that included Dr. Dre’s “Xxplosive,” Sade’s “Sweet As Taboo,” Donna Summer’s “Love to Love You Baby”, and “My Favorite Things” from The Sound of Music.
After a short intermission set by The Beat Junkies, who had the crowd dancing to hip-hop classics (as well as Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us”), the hosts also took it upon themselves to get the Bowl back into the show’s groove. They opened the second set with support from Common on “Act Too (The Love of My Life)” before busting back into “So What You Sayin’”.
Though The Roots held it down throughout the two-plus=hour show, they were hardly alone. Common dropped “Used to Love H.E.R.”, “Go”, and “The Corner” during the first half, and later paired with Pete Rock on “Wise Up”. Arrested Development drew some of the loudest reactions from the crowd with “Ease My Mind”, “People Everyday”, and “Mr. Wendall”. The Pharcyde brought plenty of local flavor to bear on the event with fan favorites like “Drop”, “Runnin’”, “Passin’ Me By”, and “Otha Fish”.
The evening also featured fantastic cameos from Digable Planets and Jungle Brothers, along with prominent appearances by Black Sheep, who punctuated the first set with a run of “Butt in the Meantime”, “We Can All Share”, and “Flavor of the Month”.
The second set, though, belonged to Queen Latifah. With a throne at her back, the multi-hyphenate from New Jersey trotted out a slew of selections from her own catalog while reserving time and space for other legendary women of hip-hop.
She burst onto the stage with “Had It Up To Here” and kept the roll going with “Wrath of My Madness” and “Just Another Day” before welcoming The Lady of Rage onstage to perform “Afro Puffs”. As more support continued to trickle out, Queen Latifah continued on with “Living Single”, from the ‘90s sitcom in which she starred, and “Ladies First”.
She then took a backseat to Monie Love for “Monie in the Middle” and subsequently seized the spotlight for “I Wanna Be Down” and “Unity”. In between, Yolanda “Yo-Yo” Whitaker came out to rap “You Can’t Play With My Yoyo”, and MC Lyte got a turn at the front during “Paper Thin”.
The Queen Latifah portion of the proceedings gave way to more appearances from the night’s other guests, including an extended sit-in by Jungle Brothers and a welcomed appearance from Pete Rock.
The night closed with an epic run of rap hits from the 1990s and early 2000s. Common had the crowd singing to “The Light”, Digable Planets got them dancing to “Cool Like Dat”, and Arrested Development once again set the audience ablaze with “Tennessee.”
For the grand finale, all the night’s artists congregated onstage as Black Sheep led everyone through their iconic track “Choice Is Yours”. It was a fitting way to end an evening that served as a tribute to hip-hop’s glorious past.
But if The Roots’ latest assemblage of talent—and, perhaps more importantly, the sold-out crowd’s exuberant reactions to every artist who participated—is any indication, this era of hip-hop still has plenty left in the tank for fans to enjoy.
The Roots, for their part, will be busy with a handful of dates across North America later in July before taking off to Europe for a short overseas tour. Come mid-August, they’ll be back in the U.S. for a run of dates that stretches through early-October. For a full list of upcoming shows and to purchase tickets, visit the group’s website.
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The post The Roots Recruit Queen Latifah, Common, Other ’90s Legends For Hip-Hop Extravaganza At Hollywood Bowl [Recap/Photos/Videos] appeared first on L4LM.
