The Roots

Wednesday night I went with Rullsenberg to one of the best concerts ever. (I have a rule that if you come out of a gig and don't feel that it's the best gig ever then you've wasted your time. Okay tomorrow your judgement may change. But that's tomorrow.)

The Roots must be the best live hip hop band around. As ?uestLove says

?uestlove's hope is that other rappers will appreciate those moments and be inspired to expand their musical scope.

"People still don't know the infinite possibilities of a band," he said. "What's very unfortunate is the Roots are [one of] the only [groups] of black musicians on a major label. That could be seen as an honor, but it baffles me. I don't want to be a novelty. Twenty years ago, groups made records: the Commodores, War, Con Funk Shun, the J.B.'s, Brass Construction. Now if any band were to start, it'd be like, 'Man, they just biting the Roots.' And that's a problem."

There are "a million" other live hip-hop bands out there, ?uestlove said — you just have to know how to find them.

"It's one mouse click away — the Internet," he said. "If Ghostface knew what I knew, he'd be in L.A. looking for Breakestra. They are the only band that has caused me to lose sleep. They play those old funk records, and this is the kind of thing Ghostface has been wanting to do his whole life, but he don't know. And I know because I am on the Internet. Cats gotta stay informed. It's like reading the newspaper."

Good live hip hop is amazing. Give it a go.