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The Roots & Friends Play The Novo At L.A. Live For To Close Out The 2016 BET Experience.
The Roots & Friends Play The Novo At L.A. Live For BET Experience 2016.

The Roots Will Open The 2017 NBA All-Star Game

The Roots & Friends Play The Novo At L.A. Live For To Close Out The 2016 BET Experience.

The Roots are set to open up the 2017 NBA All-Star game, with the talented ensemble traveling to New Orleans in February to open up the proceedings for the event. The Roots are performing as part of the "Entertainment Series presented by JBL."

Prior to this it was announced that John Legend would be performing as well, serving as the entertainment for the halftime show.

The 2017 NBA All-Star game will take place in New Orleans on February 19, 2017. See a full list of scheduled events for the weekend via the NBA's official website.

This year marks the six year anniversary of The Roots and Legend's collaborative album Wake Up!, which we are selling limited vinyl editions of on our shop. The vinyl reissue (which is its first by the way) comes in two colors — orange and white, with only 1,500 of the former and 1,000 of the latter being sold.

Wake Up! was inspired by the 2008 presidential election, in which Barack Obama would inevitably win. "I was in the middle of campaigning for Barack Obama and feeling inspired by the atmosphere in the country at the time, so I wanted to do something musically that reflected that moment," Legend said in an interview with Billboard. "The original idea was to do some sort of covers EP, but the more I got into it with the Roots, it felt like something that should be heard and marketed on its own."

The project finds the two musical acts covering an array of 1960s and 1970s soul songs from the likes of: Marvin Gaye; Nina Simone; Donny Hathaway; the Teddy Pendergrass-led Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes; and more. Guest appearance on the album include Common; C.L. Smooth; Melanie Fiona; and Malik Yusef.

The vinyl is being sold for $31.98 (not including tax or shipping and handling). If you want both we are doing a packaged deal for $50, but only 100 of those bundles are going to be sold.