Kendrick Lamar is a student of the rap game, and Questlove was surprised to see the West Coast hip-hop savant pay homage to The Roots with his “Squabble Up” video.
The Roots drummer stopped by The Jennifer Hudson Show on Thursday (May 22), where he opened up about Lamar recreating the scene from the Philly band’s 1999 “The Next Movement” video with the olive open-room set of the GNX visual.
“I was so shocked because the way that people told me — I woke up to 30 K. Dot texts,” Questlove said. “I thought, ‘Oh no.’ He just dissed us. I thought it was something else. And they were like, ‘No, he paid tribute to y’all in this video.’”
He continued to salute Dot: “It’s an honor, but it’s also a surprise when you see people acknowledging you after all this time.”
While Hudson was surprised to see Quest’s humility when it comes to the band’s influence, he explained that it’s from The Roots being “not super mainstream, but we’re niche, but we’re not overexposed popular.”
Produced by Sounwave and Jack Antonoff, “Squabble Up” arrived as a standout on Kendrick Lamar’s GNX album in November. A Calmatic-directed visual paying homage to The Roots was released just a few days later on Nov. 25.
The Debbie Deb-sampling anthem debuted atop the Billboard Hot 100 to give Lamar his fifth No. 1 hit and third of 2024 at the time. GNX brought about a domination of the Hot 100, with Lamar occupying the entire top five. (“TV Off” featuring Lefty Gunplay, “Luther” with SZA, “Wacced Out Murals” and “Hey Now” featuring Dody6 came in at Nos. 2-5).
Watch Questlove’s full interview above, and revisit the “Squabble Up” video below:
