?uestlove (pronounced "Questlove") is the stage name of Ahmir Khalib Thompson, born 1971 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, an African-American musician, DJ, and record producer, best known as the drummer for hip-hop band The Roots. ?uestlove’s work with The Roots is regarded as being sonically innovative; he has also produced for artists such as Common and D'Angelo. 1971 (MCMLXXI) was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1971 calendar). ... Flag Seal Nickname: City of Brotherly Love, Philly, the Quaker City Motto: Philadelphia maneto (Let brotherly love continue) Location Location in Pennsylvania Coordinates , Government Country  State   County United States  Pennsylvania   Philadelphia Founded Incorporated October 27, 1682 October 25, 1701 Mayor John F. Street (D) Geographical characteristics Area     City 369. ... An African American is a United States citizen who is socially perceived as being at least part black, especially one with ancestors imported to America during slavery. ... A musician is a person who plays or composes music. ... DJ or dj may stand for Disc jockey, dinner jacket The DeadJournal website, or Djibouti. ... In the music industry, a record producer (or music producer) has many roles, among them controlling the recording sessions, coaching and guiding the performers, and supervising the recording, mixing and mastering processes. ... Hip-Hop music is a style of popular music. ... The Roots, also known as The Legend/The Legendary, The Fifth Dynasty and The Foundation, are an influential, Grammy winning Philadelphia-based hip hop group, famed for innovative lyrics and live instrumentation. ... Common (formerly Common Sense, born Rashid Lynn on March 13, 1972 in Chicago, Illinois) is a Chicago-based hip hop artist known for lyrics that focus on love and spirituality. ... DAngelo in his music video for Untitled (How Does It Feel) DAngelo (born Michael Eugene Archer on February 11, 1974 in Richmond, Virginia) is an American soul singer, pianist, guitarist, songwriter, and record producer. ...

?uestlove
Origin	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Years active	1993 - present
Genre(s)	Hip hop music

Image File history File links Uestlove. ... Flag Seal Nickname: City of Brotherly Love, Philly, the Quaker City Motto: Philadelphia maneto (Let brotherly love continue) Location Location in Pennsylvania Coordinates , Government Country  State   County United States  Pennsylvania   Philadelphia Founded Incorporated October 27, 1682 October 25, 1701 Mayor John F. Street (D) Geographical characteristics Area     City 369. ... A music genre is a category (or genre) of pieces of music that share a certain style or basic musical language (van der Merwe 1989, p. ... Hip hop music (also referred to as rap or rap music) is a style of popular music. ...

Biography

Early years

?uestlove's father was Lee Andrews of Lee Andrews & the Hearts, a 50s doo-wop group. His parents did not want to leave him with babysitters, and took ?uestlove on tour with them. He grew up in backstages of doo-wop shows, and began drumming at the age of two. By the age of seven, ?uestlove began drumming on stage at shows, and by 13, had become a musical director. 0ne of the finest R&B vocal groups of the50s, Lee Andrews and the Hearts would have been one of the best pop groups too if white radio had been more open to black vocalists in those days. ... Doo-wop is a style of vocal-based rhythm and blues music popular in the mid-1950s to the early 1960s in America. ...

As a teenager, ?uestlove's parents enrolled him at the Philadelphia High School for the Creative and Performing Arts. By the time he would graduate, he had founded a band called The Square Roots (later dropping the word "square") with his friend Tariq Trotter (Black Thought). ?uestlove's classmates at the Philadelphia High School for the Creative and Performing Arts included Boyz II Men, jazz bassist Christian McBride, and jazz organist Joey Defrancesco. Image of artist Black Thought (born Tariq Trotter) is the lead MC of the Philadelphia-based hip hop group The Roots. ... Boyz II Men is an American R&B/soul singing group from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. ... Christian McBride (born May 31, 1972, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is a jazz bassist. ...

?uestlove began performing on South Street (akin to Greenwich Village and Haight Ashbury) in Philadelphia using buckets, pans and pots for percussion instruments, while Tariq rhymed over his beats and rhythms. South Street during the daytime, looking west. ... The Washington Square Arch Greenwich Village (pronounced Grennich Village; also called simply the Village) is a largely residential area on the west side of downtown (southern) Manhattan in New York City. ... The corner of Haight and Ashbury in 2001 The Haight-Ashbury is a district of San Francisco, California, named after the intersection of Haight Street and Ashbury Street, commonly known as The Haight or, in recent years, The Upper Haight. ... Percussion may refer to: A family of musical instruments – see percussion instrument; A method of clinical examination – see percussion (medicine). ...

Professional music career

The Roots' roster was soon completed, with ?uestlove on percussion, Tariq Trotter and Malik B on vocals, Josh Abrams (Rubber Band) on bass (who was replaced by Leonard Hubbard in 1994), and Scott Storch on keyboards. While the group was performing a show in Germany, they recorded an album entitled Organix, released by Relativity Records in 1993. Storch was born Alden Brown on May 11, 1973. ... The first Roots album. ...

The group continued recording, releasing two critically acclaimed records in 1995 and 1996, Do You Want More?!!!??! and Illadelph Halflife, respectively. In 1999, The Roots entered mainstream pop cosciousness with "You Got Me" (featuring Erykah Badu); a song which would earn the band the Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group for 2000. ?uestlove shines in the final minute of this song as he unleashes a massive drum n' bass groove over the last chorus. The song helped fuel the success of their Things Fall Apart album which has since been hailed as a classic, eventually selling gold. The group went the experimental route and returned in 2002 with the rock-influenced Phrenology, which also went gold. Two years later, The Roots released The Tipping Point, which contained a more mainstream sound, due to demands from Geffen records. The album did not sell very well (400,000 copies), although ?uestlove shines in the bonus track remake of George Kranz's "Din Da Da." Illadelph Halflife, released in 1996, is the third full length album from The Roots. ... Erykah Badu Erykah Badu (born Erica Abi Wright on February 26, 1971 in Dallas, Texas) is one of the best US-American neo-soul, R&B/hip hop artist whose work crosses over into jazz. ... The Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group has been awarded since 1991, alongside the Grammy Award for Best Rap Solo Performance. ... This article is about the year 2000. ... Things Fall Apart released in 1999 is a hip hop album by the Philadelphia based group The Roots. ... For album titles with the same name, see 2002 (album). ... Phrenology (Released November 26, 2002) is the sixth album from The Roots. ... The Tipping Point (released July 13, 2004) is the seventh album from The Roots. ... George Kranz is a German dance music singer and percussionist. ...

Besides being the drummer for The Roots, ?uestlove has also lent his talents to other artists, projects, and productions.

He was the drummer for The Philadelphia Experiment, a collaborative album released on Rope-a-Dope Records in 2001 and the DJ of the compilation ?uestlove Presents: Babies Making Babies, released on Urban Theory Records in 2002. He also served as executive producer for D'Angelo's 2000 album Voodoo, Slum Village's album Fantastic, Vol. 2 and Common's albums Like Water for Chocolate and Electric Circus. Besides the aforementioned albums, he has also contributed as a drummer or producer to Erykah Badu's Baduizm and Mama's Gun, Dilated Peoples Expansion Team, Blackalicious' Blazing Arrow, Bilal's 1st Born Second, N.E.R.D.'s Fly Or Die, Joshua Redman's Momentum, and Zap Mama's Ancestry In Progress, among others. DJ or dj may stand for Disc jockey, dinner jacket The DeadJournal website, or Djibouti. ... For album titles with the same name, see 2002 (album). ... DAngelo in his music video for Untitled (How Does It Feel) DAngelo (born Michael Eugene Archer on February 11, 1974 in Richmond, Virginia) is an American soul singer, pianist, guitarist, songwriter, and record producer. ... This article is about the year 2000. ... Voodoo is a neo soul album by DAngelo, released on January 11, 2000 (see 2000 in music). ... Slum Village circa 2000 Slum Village is the name of a hip hop duo from Detroit, Michigan. ... Fantastic, Vol. ... Common (formerly Common Sense, born Rashid Lynn on March 13, 1972 in Chicago, Illinois) is a Chicago-based hip hop artist known for lyrics that focus on love and spirituality. ... Like Water for Chocolate is an album by rapper Common, released in March 2000. ... This article is about a music album. ... Erykah Badu Erykah Badu (born Erica Abi Wright on February 26, 1971 in Dallas, Texas) is one of the best US-American neo-soul, R&B/hip hop artist whose work crosses over into jazz. ... Baduizm is the debut album by American nu soul singer Erykah Badu, released in 1997 (see 1997 in music). ... Mamas Gun is the third album by American nu soul singer Erykah Badu, released in 2000 (see 2000 in music). ... Dilated Peoples Dilated Peoples are a hip hop group who have achieved great fame in the underground hip hop community, although they have had little mainstream success, with the exception of the song This Way, a collaboration with Kanye West, in 2004. ... An expansion team is a term used for a brand new team in a sports league. ... Blackalicious is an American alternative hip hop duo. ... Blazing Arrow is the second full-length album by Blackalicious. ... In Muslim tradition, Bilal ibn Rabah (died c. ... 1st Born Second is a 2001 album by singer Bilal. ... N*E*R*D or N.E.R.D is the name of a rock band consisting of Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo of The Neptunes and their friend Shay Haley. ... N*E*R*D or N.E.R.D is the name of a rock band consisting of Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo of The Neptunes and their friend Shay Haley. ... In classical mechanics momentum (pl. ... Zap Mama is a Belgian musical group headed by Marie Daulne. ...

In 2005, ?uestlove appeared, along with such luminaries as Madonna, Iggy Pop, Bootsy Collins, and Little Richard, in a television commercial for the Motorola ROKR phone. This is a list of television-related events in 2005. ... Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone (born August 16, 1958) is an American pop singer, dancer, songwriter, producer, actress, and author. ... James Newell Osterberg, Jr. ... Bootsy Collins on the cover of Bootsys Rubber Bands Live in Louisville 1978 William Bootsy Collins (born October 26, 1951 in Cincinnati, Ohio) is a pioneering funk bassist, singer, and songwriter. ... Little Richard on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine, (issue RS 58, May 28, 1970) Little Richard (born Richard Wayne Penniman, December 5, 1932 in Macon, Georgia) is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist, and an early African-American pioneer of rock and roll. ... Motorola ROKR E1 The Motorola ROKR E1 is the first mobile phone to be integrated with Apple Computers iTunes music player. ...

In 2006, ?uestlove appeared as himself in the film Dave Chappelle's Block Party. With the exception of The Fugees, ?uestlove served as the drummer for nearly every performer at the 2005 Brooklyn street concert. This is a list of film-related events in 2006. ... Dave Chappelles Block Party (aka Block Party) is a documentary film hosted and written by comedian Dave Chappelle, and directed by Michel Gondry. ... The Fugees are an American music group, popular during the mid-1990s, whose repertoire includes primarily hip hop, with elements of soul, and Caribbean music (particularly reggae). ... A map of New York City, highlighting Brooklyn. ...

?uestlove was given an Esky for Best Scribe in Esquire magazine's 2006 Esky Music Awards in the April issue. Cover of an issue of Esquire magazine. ...

External links

• ?uestlove discography
• ?uestlove at MySpace