Questlove interview

BLVR: Why do you listen to things you don't like?

AT: I don't believe in good music and bad music anymore. I'm through with that phase of my life. Sometimes I just wanna feel good, so I put on a good record. But mostly I'm more of a businessman than a music fan, so I'm listening to music in terms of, is this effective or not effective? In other words, I can get Ashanti's new album and say, OK this is effective, I see how this is infectious, I see why this works. I mean, are we gonna hate the house nigger because he gets air conditioning? He's still a slave. Yeah, I get mosquito bites, but he didn't ask to come here, either. The thing is, we, the Roots, have mastered the groove element. We've mastered virtuoso lyricism. We've mastered the art element. But we haven't mastered the pop craftsmanship of writing songs. You like Prince because he wrote great songs. And what that leads to is, I walk past a couple. Guy stops in his tracks, girl keeps on walking. Guy looks back. He says, "Questlove?" I turn around. He says, "Ohmigod!" The girl keeps on walking. He's like, "Baby wait! It's Questlove from the Roots." She's like, "Who?"

BLVR: So, you're respected, but you want to be loved instead.

AT: Damn. You really hit it. I was trying to figure out what one sentence could sum up all these feelings, and that's it.