One of the world's most innovative and progressive groups, The Roots are also among the most invigorating live bands touring today. Formed around the nucleus of drummer ?uestlove and rapper Black Thought, the Grammy® award-winning Philadelphia group bucked the conventions of mainstream hip-hop in the mid-’90s releasing albums like Do You Want More?!!!??! and Illadelph Halflife that were nearly sample-free, instead basing their sound on live instruments informed by jazz and rock rhythms. The group now shines as the house band for NBC's new show, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, and their latest Def Jam release is Rising Down.

"One of the twenty greatest live acts in the world." —Rolling Stone

"The free-flowing feel of an improv at a cool after-hours joint." —People

"The Roots have learned how to take hip-hop to the edge of creativity without going over it." —XXL

"Combining a jazzman's sense of swing, a funk master's propulsiveness and a feel for tone and timbre that is pure hip-hop." —Rolling Stone

"They helped enact the idea of hip-hop as intellectual pursuit." —New York Times