Watch Questlove talk about record collecting, ripping from YouTube and listening to Prince in secret

The Roots drummer admits he’s no vinyl snob.

At last count, Ahmir ‘Questlove’ Thompson had more than 70,000 records in his collection, so he knows a thing or two about crate digging – but it may come as a surprise to learn he’s not above ripping a song from YouTube.

In a column for Wired magazine’s music issue, Questlove reflects on the recent dramatic changes in the way we access and listen to music, suggesting that it’s getting “harder and harder to truly fall in love with a song or album.”

“Discovering new music was always an act of revolution for me,” he adds. “When I was 25, it was walking back to the van after opening for the Pharcyde but getting drawn back to the club by a woozy, witchy beat that turned out to be J Dilla. I turned around; that was another revolution.”

In three accompanying videos he talks about vinyl snobbery and J Dilla’s attitude to audio fidelity, and recalls having to hide Prince’s 1999 from his mother as a teenage fan. Watch all three clips below and read the column here.

After publishing a superlative memoir, Mo’ Meta Blues, last year, Questlove’s next writing project is a book on the groundbreaking US TV show Soul Train.
 

 

 

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