We Philadelphians show love for our “homies,” all those celebrities, professional athletes, musicians, politicians, etc. that are grounded Philly style.
But, our homegrown hip-hop band The Roots won’t be showing love LIVE in Philly anymore, or anywhere else for that matter. Instead, they will be the house band for Jimmy Fallon’s late-night show set to debut in 2009, Island/Def Jam Music confirmed.
This takes one of the liveliest live bands right out of the music biz.
The Roots have battled the way for live rap-- rapping and rhyming to live beats and sounds at their concerts and in the recording studio.
And, not to mention, they’re underground esteem is rooted in Philly baby. Rapper Black Thought (Tariq Trotter) and drummer Questlove (Ahmir Khalib) first hooked up at the Philadelphia High School for Creative Performing Arts. Down the line, Hub (Leon Hubbard) and rapper Malik B were added to the mix (mtv.com).
This may be sad news to some locals (no more live concerts). But, look at it this way, you can take the roots out of Philly; you can’t take Philly out of The Roots.
