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10 Years Strong, Roots Picnic Remains a Singular All-Star Festival Experience [Recap]
10 Years Strong, Roots Picnic Remains a Singular All-Star Festival Experience [Recap]
Photo Credit: Averie Cole for Okayplayer.

Questlove & Black Thought Speak On Nipsey Hussle's Leadership, Being Inspired By De La Soul

10 Years Strong, Roots Picnic Remains a Singular All-Star Festival Experience [Recap] Photo Credit: Averie Cole for Okayplayer.

The pair recently spoke at this year's Coachella.

In two new interviews Questlove and Black Thought discussed hip-hop music, Nipsey Hussle's death and how his leadership is being remembered, being inspired by De La Soul and more.

WATCH: Nipsey Hussle's Memorial Service

In regards to hip-hop, Black Thought spoke on how the music genre has become "the pop music."

"For years, it has been some variation of rock & roll, and now I feel like it's evolved to Hip-Hop," The Roots MC said to The Source. "If you’re gonna embrace the most popular music like Coachella does, you just have to embrace Hip-Hop."

Elsewhere in the interview he also discussed how The Roots' live set is inspired by De La Soul, who they performed alongside at Coachella.

"There are so many elements of our show that are De La Soul-inspired or that I've jacked from their set [Laughs]. That in itself was also an evolution; to see De La [Soul], the foundation, and coming after them was dope, too. It made for a super special experience," Black Thought said. "I was watching them in the audience as we did certain shit that came from them, and for them to see what it has become is dope."

Then, in another interview with Vibe, both Black Thought and Quest spoke about Hussle and his impact as a leader in Los Angeles.

"I'm really glad he was a brother that definitely put his money where his mouth is and there's nothing pretentious about him, nothing performative woke, because that's also a dangerous thing in 2019 — to just preach it and tweet it but not really put it in motion," Quest said.

"To me I think leadership is activism. It's giving back to your community, it's investing in oneself, and you know women and children. It's giving back when the cameras aren't there. When it's going to be anonymous. When you're not necessarily going to get the credit for what you're doing right away. And I feel like that's the sort of activist that Nipsey was," Black Thought added.

H/T: Source / Vibe