Who We Are: The Roots, From Philadelphia

We're The Roots, a hip-hop band from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This is where our merch lives, and this post is the short version of who we are.

Where did The Roots start?

We started in Philadelphia in 1987. Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter and Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson met as students at the Philadelphia High School for the Creative and Performing Arts. Back then we called ourselves the Square Roots, and we played on Philadelphia street corners.

What makes our sound different?

Live instruments. We play our music on a stage full of instruments rather than building it from samples. That gives our hip-hop a jazzy, eclectic feel, with room for alternative rap, conscious rap and progressive soul.

A long run of albums. From Organix in 1993 to ...And Then You Shoot Your Cousin in 2014, we've made eleven studio albums, plus collaborations with John Legend (Wake Up!, 2010) and Elvis Costello (Wise Up Ghost, 2013).

A band for late night. We became the house band on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon in March 2009, and moved with him to The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in February 2014, where we still play today.

Who is in the band?

Black Thought and Questlove are the two constants, from the street corners to the TV studio. Around them is a full band of players on guitar, keys, horns, sousaphone and more, the people you see in our stage and group photos.

What will you find in the shop?

Every design in the shop comes from our story: album covers like Do You Want More?!!!??! and Things Fall Apart, Roots Picnic posters, Blue Note anniversary lettering and a Questlove sketch. Each one comes on tees, long sleeves, crewnecks and hoodies.

Take a look around the shop and find the design that's yours.