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Ryan Seacrest

Ryan Seacrest

Ryan is quite simply one of the most influential, well-regarded, and well-known names in Hollywood. He is the quintessential Hollywood insider who...Full Bio

 

Questlove & Black Thought Take Us Behind Hip Hop Series

Drumroll please! Questlove and Black Thought stopped by the studio on Thursday, October 24, and took us behind their AMC series Hip Hop: The Songs That Shook America as well as took a trip down memory lane, recalling how they landed with Jimmy Fallon at The Tonight Show.

Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson and Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter are behind Hip Hop: The Songs That Shook America, along with executive producers Shawn Gee and Alex Gibney, and in each episode they focus on a groundbreaking song pivotal to the evolution of American music and culture.

“The premise is iconic hip hop songs that shook America,” Quest and Black Thought dished. “It’s one song per episode and we talk about the affects on the culture and sort of the residual effects and the story behind the story behind the origin story. It’s a deep dive sort of into the making, like the DNA of these iconic records.”

“Often times,” they added. “It’s such a big business, but I think in terms of its culture, it’s rarely treated as a work of art. It’s often seen as a disposable art form. … So I think where we come in, it’s entertainment and education at the same time.”

Catch the series on AMC on Sundays.

Listen back to the audio above to hear more, including their journey to Jimmy Fallon’s Tonight Show and also Questlove’s epic celebrity-filled potlucks that turned into a cookbook.