Since hip-hop group the Roots launched its inaugural Roots Picnic in 2008, it’s mostly been confined to the collective’s hometown of Philadelphia. But next year, they plan on shifting it over to the West Coast.
The Roots have partnered with Live Nation Urban for “Roots Picnic: Hip-Hop is the Love of My Life,” set to take place at Los Angeles’ Hollywood Bowl on June 29, 2024. Of course, the band will headline the festival and will be joined by Queen Latifah, Common, Digable Planets, Arrested Development, the Pharcyde, Black Sheep’s Dres plus more to be announced.
“The first time we played Hollywood Bowl was way back in 2011, and there was nothing like it,” says The Roots’ Questlove. “We came back to headline in 2019, and we’ve been talking about doing something there since. This idea for Hip-Hop is the Love of My Life came up, and we knew there was no better spot.”
Over the years, the Roots Picnic has become a compendium of hip-hop and R&B acts taking the stage, supplemented by electronic, jazz and country musicians. While largely staged in Philadelphia, the event took a detour in 2016 with a weekend rendition in New York featuring D’Angelo with John Mayer, David Byrne with Nile Rodgers and Wu-Tang Clan, and Lil Uzi Vert.
Earlier this year, the festival descended on Philly once again in June. The event featured performances from Usher, the Isley Brothers and GloRilla, as well as a surprise mini-reunion between Lauryn Hill and her Fugees band mates Wyclef Jean and Pras.
Most recently, all of the 2024 Roots Picnic performers appeared in the CBS special “A Grammy Salute to 50 Years of Hip-Hop,” during which Questlove introduced the reunion between Will Smith (aka the Fresh Prince) and DJ Jazzy Jeff.