The Authority

Roots drummer Questlove provides some welcome perspective and context on A Tribe Called Quest in Beats, Rhymes, and Life. I wonder if we'd expect anything else from our most beloved late-night talk show musician? In trying to think of someone in another art from to compare Questlove to I could only come up with one of those writers whose work as an editor has as big or bigger a reach as their own work. William Maxwell, maybe? This interview is a micro-history of the Roots' last 15 years as well as that of the industry in general and I'm not sure I'd pick another tour guide. (Pitchfork)

Pitchfork: You recently wrote about how listening to Watch the Throne for the first time really stopped you in your tracks. Do you remember the first hip-hop album that made you feel that way?

?: Definitely [Public Enemy's] It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back. I quit my job the day that that came out. I was cutting onions and potatoes as a short-order cook for this 50s-style restaurant chain. I would walk 12 blocks to work everyday, from West Philadelphia to the University of Pennsylvania, where the restaurant was. Before Nation of Millions, I would usually show up five minutes late. I didn't care, I just had the job to earn extra money so I could buy records.

But when I bought that album, my entire walk changed. I wound up getting to work 20 minutes early, simply because you almost had to walk to the bpms of what you were listening to. And by the time that I got there, I just made it to "Show 'Em Whatcha Got" and, at work, I couldn't stop singing that sampled horn line from the Lafayette Afro Rock Band. I went on my lunch break and was just like, "Fuck it, I'm not going back to work." So I went to 7-Eleven, purchased about four Duracell batteries, and sat in a park from about 1 p.m. until about 6 p.m., just listening to that record.