Questlove Discusses “Stop & Frisk”, Hip Hop’s Forefathers, & Biggie Being Upset At The Roots

by Yohance Kyles

• Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson of the Roots sat down for an hour-long discussion with Democracy Now‘s host and executive producer Amy Goodman. The conversation covered many different topics like Quest’s experiences with racial profiling, his open letter about the George Zimmerman verdict, his upbringing in Philadelphia, Hip Hip’s founding fathers, and The Notorious B.I.G.’s issues with his band’s 1996 video for “What They Do.”

[ALSO READ: Questlove’s Open Letter About Trayvon Martin, Zimmerman Trial, & Discrimination]

“I wanted to do a video that pretty much showed that being an MC and being an artist isn’t about being a personality, but more or less, you know, a human being,” said Quest. “What I didn’t know was that we had taken a swipe at an actual Biggie video. I wasn’t aware that we had done something scene for scene… I can see how you think we’re mocking him, because this is exactly his video scene. So he wasn’t too happy about that.”
Questlove also reveals that he called into The Source on March 10th, 1997 to inform the magazine that he was faxing them a statement about the issue. He wanted to explain that the concept of the video was not meant to be a personal shot at Biggie, but their interpretation of the growing “Have’s versus Have Not’s” mentality happening in Hip Hop at the time.
Unfortunately, Quest was told that B.I.G. had died the night before. As a result, he was not able to settle the matter with Biggie before his death.
Watch the entire interview in the video below.