The Roots Say Goodbye To Hub after 17 years
Let me end all speculation ladies and gentlemen and officially announce that yes indeed Hub played his last show as a member of The Roots on August 31st of this year.
One has to understand off the bat to be a member of this group is to sacrifice your life. If you look at it (and this is applies to most of the artists that you talk about on this site) there is nothing “normal” about our lives. Well at least my life. (Hold the violins please…. there is cool shit like 1am jams with Prince in his living room watching Joni Mitchel dance like a teenager…..but there is also a downside like being in your mid 30s and your dating life is still on some high school shit.)
Even as i write this i got 34 minutes to haul my ass to rehearsals for the VH-1 tour. (this is after sleeping for 5 hours fresh from working with the Score winner of the VH-1 Hip Hop Awards, which came after a 4:30am lobby call to the Las Vegas airport, which came after all the crazy MTV activity and gigs i had to do, which came after the morning flight and the 6am lobby call from Montreal which came after the 10 hour mission to get a lawyers affidavit to get me into Canada (a mere half hour before stagetime)—of course not before trashing my entire house looking for my lost passport.—that was just 48 hours.
try to make that 17 years.
This isn’t a pity party. Nor an explanation. Just a confirmation. I understand that most of you are a little miffed that you weren’t given the option to say “goodbye”. Truth is Hub really didn’t want to make a big deal about this. Which is probably why we defied him anyway and had a “moment” onstage which got quite emotional after his last solo. We got about 16 bottles of bubbly and tried to have a 2 fish/5 loafs of bread distribution to the crowd so that we could properly send him off.
So what of The Roots now? We’ve had the workload of about 7 groups and have been on the road since most of you were in high school (or even worse listening to your older siblings cassettes of our first couple of albums) and sometimes opportunity knocks. (in this case it’s in the form of film/tv scoring)….the show will go on (i have yet to go to those “what are we gonna do now?!?!” posts on the boards.) it went on after Rahzel, Scratch, and Ben. and it will go on.
I say we use this moment and opportunity to raise our cyber glass and toast Hub in his new endeavors.
(raises glass) -?uesto
Thank You Hub!, Introducing Owen Biddle, VMA Wrap Up, New From Hezekiah, Win A Limited Zune From Common.
Last week an audio recording of The Roots’ August 31st performance at this year’s moe.down surfaced where Black Thought, ?uestlove, band, and crew bid farewell to Hub after 17 years of recording and traveling the world as The Legendary’s bass-man. Fans wondered about an official statement from the band, which can now be read above. Okayplayer would also like to extend the warmest of thank yous to Leonard Hubbard for all the years of music and memories. THANK YOU! Best wishes moving forward.
In the mean time, holding down the bass on their non-stop world tour are Tuba Gooding Jr. on sousaphone and “Long Time” collaborator Owen Biddle. In addition to The Roots, a partial list of artists Owen has worked with includes: Jazmine Sullivan, The Jazzyfatnastees, Beanie Sigel, Taylor Dane, Vivian Green, Carol Riddick, Al Green, Baaba Maal, and Corinne Bailey-Rae.
Last night’s VMA format was pretty off the hook with much of the performance footage coming from parties upstairs in the artist’s suites. Britney’s performance was so laughable you wonder if she did that shit on purpose. Kanye murdered his sets including one along side Common for a version of “Drivin’ Me Wild” sans Lily Allen who apparently had Visa issues. Kanye may not have won any of the 5 awards he was nominated for but at least he didn’t lip sync.
Tomorrow’s the big day with the release of both the new Kanye and 50 albums. There isn’t anything more to be said as the topic has been beaten to death. Good news is, the early leaks of both records prove that each are worth buying. Support good hip-hop and DO THAT!
Speaking of good hip-hop, our boy Hezekiah is back with a I Predict A Riot which features Bilal, Freeway, Jaguar Wright, and more. This is another amazing offering from Hezekiah who produces much of the music, lays down vicious raps, and even directs and edits his own videos for a handful of songs off the album. Get everything here and be impressed like us.
Last week we teased it, now here is your chance to win a LTD Red Microsoft Zune player from Common. Simply fill out the form.
Good luck!
-okpdan