[REPLAY] Son of doo-wop singer Lee Andrews, and the greatest hip-hop drummer of all time: this is the story of the Roots co-founder, Ahmir Khalib Thompson, aka Questlove. (This conversation was recorded in 2020).

Before he was 10 years old, Ahmir was on wardrobe duty, knew how to run the tech for his parent's performances, and just two years later, filled in for his dad's drummer who'd broken an arm. When he transferred into a creative and performing arts school, a high stakes moment trying to impress a girl led him to spin a tale of being in a band with his classmate Tariq Trotter (a lie that became the truth eventually). After busking on bucket drums and then starting to find a trail into music careers, Tariq and Ahmir missed the train, but that wasn’t their train. Their train was bound for glory. Left in no man’s land, Questlove and Black Thought must find their roots. At the point in Ahmir's fight journey--when the jabs starts working, and you find the right hand--he.begins to define the pace. Questlove is about to find both hands working–and his footwork’s not bad either. There are new match ups, and new media, to conquer.

CREDITS

Executive Producers: Dave Chappelle, Radio Rahim, Noah Gersh, Jamie Schefman, Nick Panama, Kenzi Wilbur, Elliot O’Dea

Music & Sound Design: SALT Audio

Creative Producer: Alex Casnoff

Head of Production: Liz LeMay

Head of Engineering: Jordan Galvan

Production Manager: Allie Strobel

Post Coordinator: Alice Bearn

Edited by: Geoffrey Mutchnik

Mixed by: SALT Audio

Additional Editing & Sound Design: Jasper van Dijk & Noah Kowalski

Til This Day is a Luminary Original Podcast in partnership with Pilot Boy Productions and SALT Audio.