Ahmir K. Thompson, known professionally as Questlove, is an American drummer, record producer, disc jockey, filmmaker, music journalist, and actor. He is the drummer and joint frontman for the hip hop band the Roots. The Roots have been serving as the in-house band for The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon since 2014, after having fulfilled the same role on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. Questlove is also one of the producers of the 2018 cast album of the Broadway musical Hamilton. He has also co-founded of the websites Okayplayer and OkayAfrica. He joined Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music at New York University as an adjunct professor in 2016, and hosts the podcast Questlove Supreme.
Questlove in 2011
Questlove at a New York book signing, 2013
Aftershow party 1999, Germany
Questlove performing with the Roots at the 2011 Ottawa Bluesfest
Tariq Luqmaan Trotter, better known as Black Thought, is an American rapper, singer, actor and the lead MC of the Philadelphia-based hip hop group The Roots, which he co-founded with drummer Questlove. Regarded as "one of the most skilled, incisive, and prolific rappers of his time", he is widely lauded for his live performance skills, continuous multisyllabic rhyme schemes, complex lyricism, double entendres, and politically aware lyrics. He and The Roots are a part of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, frequently playing games with Fallon and his guests.
Black Thought performing in 2011
Black Thought with the Roots in Hamburg, Germany, in 1999