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?uestlove Teases Roots Picnic Lineup: Gary Clark Jr., Grimes, Solange Expected

?uestlove, gary clark jr., roots picnic

?uestlove teased the lineup to the sixth annual Roots Picnic festival through a series of cat-and-mouse tweets today (January 21), hinting at appearances from Gary Clark Jr., Grimes, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, Hit-Boy, Solange Knowles, Robert Glasper, Joey Bada$$, and Gaslamp Killer. While waiting for a flight to Shanghai to take off, the drummer posted that he wanted to spoil the roster for the annual Philly concert series and then proceeded to drop capital-letter references to all of the aforementioned artists.

Macklemore and Ryan Lewis: “Poppin'” may be a reference to the backpack-rap duo’s “Thrift Shop,” which opens with the line “I’m gonna pop some tags,” and soon after includes the phrase “fucking awesome” in the lyrics.

Grimes: The “Genesis” and “Oblivion” are allusions to the two singles from Visions, the third LP from 40 Best Songs of 2012 alumna Grimes.

Robert Glasper and Solange: He’s name-dropping jazz musician Glasper’s 2012 LP, Black Radio, along with “Twice,” a Glasper track that ?uestlove himself remixed to feature Solange, whose lovingly lens-flared “Losing You” is also mentioned.

Hit-Boy: A winking reference to HITstory, the West Coast rapper/producer’s 2012 mixtape.

Joey Bada$$: The conspicuously stylized reference is to  “Waves,” from Joey’s debut mixtape 1999.

Gary Clark Jr.: A hat-tip to festival warrior Gary Clark Jr. via several track titles off the bluesman’s Essential Blak and Blu (“Ain’t No Messin’ ‘Round,” “When the Train Pulls In,” and “Bright Lights”).

The Gaslamp Killer: The final clue is very easily spelled out: “gas… lampin… killer.”


Dates for this year’s Roots Picnic have not yet been set and a formal lineup announcement has not yet been made, but the pieces all seem to fit. Let’s just hope he was kidding about Macklemore and Ryan Lewis.