The Roots

The Roots
The Roots in 2010
Also known as	The Legendary Roots Crew, The Fifth Dynasty, The Square Roots, Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show Band
Origin	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Genres	Hip hop, alternative hip hop, jazz rap
Years active	1987-present
Labels	Def Jam, DGC, MCA, Interscope-Geffen-A&M
Associated acts	Bahamadia, Big K.R.I.T., Common, Dice Raw, DJ Jazzy Jeff, Eve, J Dilla, Joey Bada$$, Soulquarians, The Foreign Objects
Members	Black Thought Captain Kirk Douglas Kamal Gray Mark Kelley James Poyser Questlove Tuba Gooding, Jr. Stro Elliot
Past members	Josh "Rubberband" Abrams Owen Biddle Leonard "Hub" Hubbard Ben Kenney Kid Crumbs Malik B. Martin Luther McCoy Rahzel Scratch Scott Storch Frank "Knuckles" Walker

The Roots are an American hip hop band from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, formed in 1987 by Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter and Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson. The Roots are known for their jazzy and eclectic approach to hip hop and for the inclusion of live instrumentation.

Since its first independent album-length release, the band has released ten studio albums, two EPs, three collaboration albums with other artists, and also collaborated on recordings and in live shows with a wide variety of artists in many musical genres. The Roots served as the house band on NBC's Late Night with Jimmy Fallon from 2009 to 2014, and in the same role on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon since 2014. The Roots' work has been consistently met with critical acclaim.

Discography

Studio albums

• 1993: Organix
• 1995: Do You Want More?!!!??!
• 1996: Illadelph Halflife
• 1999: Things Fall Apart
• 2002: Phrenology
• 2004: The Tipping Point
• 2006: Game Theory
• 2008: Rising Down
• 2010: How I Got Over
• 2011: Undun
• 2014: ...And Then You Shoot Your Cousin