Black Thought Roots Picnic 2019
Photo Credit: Vickey Ford of Sneakshot for Okayplayer
Photo Credit: Vickey Ford of Sneakshot for Okayplayer
An estimated 500,000 original song recordings perished in the 2008 fire.
Black Thought opened up about the 2008 Universal Studios fire that destroyed roughly 500,000 master recordings. Among those recordings were two of the Roots' classics— 1995's Do You Want More?!!!??! and 1996's Illadelph Halflife.
The New York Times Magazine published an article on Tuesday (June 11) detailing the fire and revealing that the company attempted to keep it quiet for fear of “public embarrassment.”
“We had a couple classics destroyed in the fire as well,” the rapper told HipHopDX. “In short, that was the most depressing article ever. Not ‘EVER,’ but it was pretty heavy. I remember when it went down.
“Our first two classics — Do You Want More?!!!??! and Illadelph Halflife — were lost in the blaze. But I also strangely feel like … though things are often beyond our comprehension, still they happen as they should.”
Following the story’s release, Questlove implied what Black Thought confirmed later on.
The fire destroyed original recordings from The Roots, Quincy Jones, Eric B. And Rakim, Tupac Shakur, Eminem, 50 Cent, Snoop Dogg, Queen Latifah, and more.
