In addition to their annual Philadelphia music festival the Roots Picnic, the iconic hip-hop and Tonight Show house band the Roots will throw a show in Los Angeles on June 8. Named “A Roots Picnic Experience: The Class of ’95,” it will feature 1990s rap all-stars such as Lil’ Kim, Redman & Method Man, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, DJ Quik, Raekwon, E-40, Goodie Mob, Havoc (of Mobb Deep), the Roots themselves, and others to be announced. Tickets will go on sale on Wednesday, Dec. 11 at 10 a.m. PT.
Taking place at the Hollywood Bowl, The Class of ‘95 will be the second time the Roots Picnic takes L.A. following last summer’s show, Hip-Hop Is the Love of My Life. It featured Queen Latifah, Common, Digable Planets and more. In this year’s announcement, the hosting band promised that the L.A. show wasn’t replacing the traditional festival. “DON’T WORRY PHILLY, WE’LL BE BACK FOR YOU IN 2025,” they wrote on Instagram.
In a statement, drummer Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson said, “Well: 1995 was our true arrival. Nineteen eighty-seven was the Year of the Creative Adhesive, the year that tied together Tariq’s world and my world in high school, and 1991 was the Year of the Green Light, the year we gave ourselves permission to take our resources and passion and pursue our dream. But 1995? That was the Year It All Came Together, the year when our first major release, Do You Want More?!!!??! was sent into the world. Hip-hop was an entirely new ballgame back then, on an entirely new playing field. Those were the days when there were still things like mainstream terrestrial radio, bloated video budgets, and creativity at both the regional and the global levels. Those were the days that produced classic album after classic album, unleashing countless new ideas about art. Those were the days when the world was our oyster. This is the story of those days.”
In 2023, Rolling Stone named the Roots Picnic Hip-Hop’s Greatest Festival. “This is a family affair,” Tariq Trotter, a.k.a. the Roots’ MC Black Thought, said. “That’s the vibe. But you know what’s crazy? Some of the artists that we bring out — people who I would think tend to perform for predominantly Black audiences on a larger scale — when they come out to the Roots Picnic, they’re in awe. It’s breathtaking for them to see that many Black people together in the city of Philadelphia at one event.” Last year, the Roots Picnic in Philadelphia featured Lil Wayne, André 3000, Sexyy Red, and more.
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