Kendrick Lamar‘s music video for “squabble up” not only pays homage to The Roots, but has seemingly lit a fire under the group to finish their long-awaited new album.
Released on Monday (November 25), the Calmatic-directed clip references the Philly rap crew’s 1999 video for “The Next Movement,” along with a host of other Hip Hop iconography including Ice-T, Nate Dogg and Menace II Society.
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The tribute did not go unnoticed by Questlove, who reacted to the video on his Instagram Stories and fueled excitement that The Roots’ first album in over a decade is on the way.
Alongside a screenshot of a viral tweet highlighting the similarities between “squabble up” and “The Next Movement,” he wrote: “Damn now we GOTTA FINISH THIS LP huh? We back BABY!”
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Quest followed up with a separate Instagram post thanking Kendrick and further confirming that a new Roots project is happening.
After recounting a “surreal” encounter with a fan in Germany, the drummer wrote: “My number one love is the music I create in @TheRoots — that is the fuel to my fire & sometimes if you love something you must set it free. Then if it returns to you it’s real.
“That said I wanna thank @kendricklamar for acknowledging something I thought noone saw or cared about. Feeling seen is a great feeling and I dont take it for granted. Yup, new album still coming lol.”
Over the last decade, The Roots have been busy with their gig as the house band on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, while Black Thought has released several solo projects and Questlove has directed an Oscar-winning documentary and written several books.
However, Quest did recently reveal that the group are still working on their long-awaited 15th album and credited Common and Pete Rock‘s The Auditorium Vol. 1 with inspiring them to complete the project.
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Speaking on his Questlove Supreme podcast, the 53-year-old said: “Not to be outdone, my band has been sitting on the sidelines watching all this action happening and, you know, it’s made us… I will say that it’s made Tariq [Black Thought] into — the muthafucka wrote seven songs in one day! We have not done that since our second album.”
The Philadelphia native then offered an update on the album’s long-awaited release, saying: “I know the exact date when I want to release it, and it’s not 2024. But it’s a very seminal 2025 date that will make sense once it comes out.”
It’s possible that Quest was hinting at January 17, which marks the 30th anniversary of The Roots’ highly-celebrated second album Do You Want More?!!!??!
The legendary crew have long been teasing a new album, which is tentatively titled End Game.
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In late 2022, they treated fans to a first audio sample by letting Hot 97’s Funk Flex premiere a new song called “Misunderstood” featuring longtime collaborator Erykah Badu and fellow Philly native Tierra Whack, although the track has yet to receive an official release and it is not known if it will feature on the album.
