The Questlove Show - Questlove Reaches Into The Mailbag & Answers - January 24

Episode Date: January 24, 2026

In this mini episode, Questlove opens the floor to listener (and viewer) questions—digging into James Brown’s recording techniques, his current favorite stand-up comedians, and much more. From there, the conversation drifts into the emotional power of music, spotlighting Afro-futurist and meditative sounds that soothe, ground, and inspire. Listeners also get exclusive updates on what’s brewing next, including the progress of the highly anticipated Roots album and new developments on the Earth, Wind & Fire documentary. And, because it wouldn’t be Questlove without it, there’s a behind-the-scenes look at his one-of-a-kind birthday ritual: an all-day movie marathon with great snacks to match. Remember, submit your questions via QuestloveSupreme.com, or by following on social and messaging.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me. Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media.

Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifers Show. This is a place for raw, unfills of conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it. Listen to The Clivert Show on the I-Hard Radio app,

Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok podcast network on TikTok. This week on the Sports Slice podcast, it's all about the NFL draft. And we've got a special guest. The director of the NFL's East West Shrine Bowl, Eric Galco, joins the Sports Slice podcast to break down what really matters when evaluating draft prospects. From hidden traits teams look for to the biggest mistakes franchises make to the players flying under the radar. This is the insight you won't hear anywhere else. If you want to understand the draft like an insider, you don't want to miss this episode.

Listen to the Sports Slice Podcast on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slica Life 12 and TikTok podcast network on TikTok. In 2023, Bachelor star Clayton Eckerd was accused of fathering twins. But the pregnancy appeared to be a hoax. You doctored this particular test twice, Ms. Owens, correct? I doctored the test ones. It took an army of internet detectives to.

to uncover a disturbing pattern. Two more men who'd been through the same thing. Greg Gillespie and Michael Mancini. My mind was blown. I'm Stephanie Young. This is Love Trapped. Laura, Scottsdale Police. As the season continues, Laura Owens finally faces consequences.

Listen to Love Trapped podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. When a group of women discover they've all dated the same prolific con artist, They take matters into their own hands. I vowed. I will be his last target. He is not going to get away with this. He's going to get what he deserves.

We always say that trust your girlfriends. Listen to the girlfriends. Trust me, babe. On the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. The Questlove show is a production of IHeart Radio. What's up, good people? This is Questlove. in addition to our weekly interviews of the Questlove show.

I'm going to be doing some things periodically where I'll tell you a little bit more about a guest or what's going on in my life. I think they call this musings. You know, another thing we want to do is take your feedback, take your questions, and I will answer them to the best of my ability. So I'm giving you the listeners a chance to engage with me.

You can DM me to either the QLS account. Matter of fact, only DM. the QLS account. Don't DM my account because I barely check my own account, okay? Follow QLS on IG or go through questlove supreme.com. And, you know, we'll be recording these a few times a month where I'll basically, uh, you know, answer letters. All right, Alan Holmes asked, I have a question about how James Brown recorded in the studio based on the way he yells out changes in the song. Take him to the bridge. Where songs written in the studio. Did he chart songs ahead of time and improvise changes on the spot.

Did he just hum the melody of the band and let him figure it out? Hopefully someone from the J.B. Glory Days are still alive and I can ask them. Yes, I happen to know some of the methods to James Brown's madness. Some of the evidence is literally right there. You can find a lot of the answers. If you go to kind of the reissue versions of stuff, there was a period. in the late 90s early arts in which

kind of full extended versions of songs or maybe alternate versions of songs or whatnot. So I would say that for the most part, I believe that James Brown will go to each individual member of the band and hum out what they sing. I do have a real... I forget what song it is.

be super bad, but literally he's telling Jimmy Chink Nolan, Chang, bring out that da-da-dan-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d- and Chank gives it back to him. Yeah, but if you listen to the original, give it up or turn it to loose.

There's a part where the horn section's not catching James's cue. And James says, starting over again. And I often wondered, why didn't they just stop the tape and start over again. But then I realized that that's a waste of tape. So oftentimes mistakes were just left in there.

And actually, you know, James is one of the, probably the best examples of just freestyling. There are some examples of, like, lyrics. My good friend, Alan Weeds, you know, that name holds holy. he's managed DeAngelo in the P-Funk universe Prince got to start

managing both Kuhln Gang and James Brown in the early 70s he was with the artist during their peak period and I believe the night

that Sex Machine got recorded James asked Alan leads for a show poster and they pulled a poster off the wall and he grabbed the inkpin and on the back of the poster it says like shake your arms use it for him

stay on the scene like a sex machine got to have the feelings shows you born get it together right on right on like you see the handwritten lyrics for that so sometimes he would just write occasional idea out but for the most part you can tell that he's freestyle it's funk is a feeling and it's just as effective

I mean you know where a cat like Bob Dylan really sort of stretched a bounder of imagination on what an artist could and should talk about in songs. I believe that James Brown was just as effective and poetic, kind of just living in the moment and see

what happens, which to me, that's the key of life. Living in the movement, see what happens. So I hope that answers your question, Alan. Okay. Darren C. asked who my all-time favorite comedian is.

Comedy's so weird, man, because it's such a dated thing. Tell you who I love currently now. Right now, one of my favorite comedians is Fahim Anwar. Fahim Anwar, to me, is he knows the funny and everyday life situations. But for me, the funniest bit he ever does is, first of all, just go to his YouTube page and just fall down a rabbit hole. of comedy there. But Fahim's take on Michael Jackson's

the way you make me feel video. That's the one for the record books. I mean, I like a lot. I became friends with, when I found out this particular comedian was from Dayton, Ohio. I was like, wait, you're from the birthplace of Funk. Her name is Beth Stelling.

She's from Dayton, Ohio. A lot of her Netflix specials are up. she's funny I'm really sad that I kind of had a hope that Patrice O'Neill was going to pick up the baton where Chappelle left off

I felt like he was going to be next but I don't know I love hanging around comedians because I just love watching their madness of course being around the big hoonah especially now in his probably

his most dangerous controversial period. It's so weird because, like, for me, I love my entertainment dangerous. Like, I love the risk factor of it all. And one of the craziest nights in comedy I ever saw, I love observing Chappelle because I love watching people freestyle and figuring out how do they get out of this situation.

You know, when people come up to Tariq and ask him on the spot like, you know, find me a rhyme for brannosaurus. And within seconds, like Tariq's like instantly has something. I was at a club one night and one in the morning and Chappelle was just in rare form. And when I mean in rare form, I mean controversial rare form, this new Chappelle that we got. And it's like he said. says something and the audience turned on him and half the audience walked out and I sat there and I was like, oh, I never seen this before. And then he managed to dig himself out of the

hole four minutes later. And it was like, okay. Because again, to me, the joy of watching him is how he navigates himself out of a situation. And he got back on safe ground again. I was like, oh, to Dave and said, you know, funny stuff and ha-ha. And then I saw a look at his eye. And then he went somewhere else controversial. And the whole audience turned against him again. And I was like, Dave, I don't think you could say that, dog. And he got himself out of it. This happens like six times. And afterwards, I was like, yo, dude, like, are you purposely trying to, for him, that's the zone where he's in now, where it's almost like a psychological exercise. Look up

this documentary called the Aristocrats. And it's a bit that comedians do when they're about to bomb. Like if they're about to have a bad night, it's a smoke signal to let the other comedians know, I messed up, and I'm giving up.

And they do this joke, the aristocrats. And it's not a funny joke. But it's just a wink to the other comedians like, well, that was a bomb. So let me just ruin it. and that joke requires a kind of creativity that really requires you to use your brain. And I feel like he's taking it a step further where he's like silently telling me, Amir, check this out.

Now, most people will use the check this out moment to do something like crazy, like shoot a ball from half court or, uh, the way the jazzy Jeff cuts or like a crazy sax solo, not watch me lose the entire audience and get them back in four minutes. And he'll get him back and then he'll be comfortable and he'll press the button. I'm going to lose the audience again. And I see no one that takes more joy in this kind of newfound wizardry power right now than Dave. So I don't know.

I mean, it reminds me of listening to. NWA reminds me of like, listen to a dirty mind era prince. Like, I know it's weird to embrace that level of danger. Some I wouldn't personally do, but I am curious about daredevils who kind of do the look mono hands tricks with their craft.

So anyway, hope that answers your question, dare and see. Michelle Davis wrote, I'm listening to the Bonnie Raid episode. I forgot we did a Bonnie Raid episode. while running errands today, and we were talking about being human nature, to not be able to enjoy a moment for long before moving on from that feeling to something like worry, anxiety.

And for me, certain music can extend that moment. I'm not at all trained to music, so maybe it's easier for non-musicians to use music in that way. My question is, is it possible for you to enjoy music in that way? Are there some bands, performers, albums, etc., that extend. those positive feelings of joy for you. Just had this conversation with someone I'm seeing right now. She's rather curious about my choice of music that I listen to and my spare time when I sleep,

when I wake. Right now, my favorite music aren't songs. You know, there's Koshy Bell. So there's a musician, well, there's a collective called, doctor tones and float waves. And all they do is just this is very calming. Like, it's the kind of music you listen to if you go into a spa, if you get a massage, sort of ethereal music.

But that, to me, is pedestrian. I mean, anyone could do that. These are very specific sounds and patches, like sound bowls, koshy bells. To me, just the sound of a sound bowl. is the most comforting. That's what I learned in 2020. Sometimes I'll grab a few bowls.

Just, you know, while my lady friends taking a nap or whatever, I'll just start playing that. And you can't stop. Like, once you do it, it's like, ah, keep on. And then next year you know, you're, like, playing sound bowls for, like, two hours. Your arms are tired. But I often make playlists.

So it's not one particular album, but there are some songs like Alice Coltrane's music calms me. Some John Coltrane ballads do that to me. I mean, I could listen to Naima. I wish there was like an hour version of just Naima by John Coltrane. Don Cherry, the father of Eagle Eye and Nenna Cherry, have a, There's a meditative chant song that he has called North Brazilian Ceremonial Hymn. When I first wake up in the morning, I sing that song, and when I go to bed, I also sing that song. There's Farrow Sanders, his electric period in the early 70s, a song called Astral Traveling,

a song called Summer Nights by Lonnie Liston Smith and the Cosmic Echoes. So a lot of futuristic, like Afro-Futurist music is what I listen to. Sir Green Down by Janelle Monet is one of my favorites. Jimmy Hendrix's 1983, a Merman I Should Turn to Be, is also that way. So, yeah, there's a lot. Thank you for your question, Michelle. A commenter on Spotify said that they really appreciated me for sharing the 2026 lock-in with the roots. and forecasted a 10 from pitchwork after I was discussing an open mic eagles critical acclaim.

A weekend to the year, how's it going? It is going great. I have locked the Earthwind fire film. I'm eager to show it to people. HBO is very happy with it. As far as the roots are concerned, we are closer than ever than nipping this bad boy in the bud, slowly mixing. All the songs are recorded, we're just mixing them now.

And yeah, that's how it's going. I feel more alive than ever as a creative, as a musical creative. And then I'm going to do my next film project in May. Yep. There you go. All right. So an anonymous listener reminded me that I have a birthday this month and ask if I have any special plans for birthday rituals that I can share.

Yes. I do have a birthday ritual. My previous ritual was not being available. There was a moment when I turned 30, and I was under the impression that my peeps were going to throw this big giant blowout party for me. So rented a car, put a suit on. And this is before that's night show days. So, you know, me rocking a suit back in 2001, you know, had my suit on. I had a chauffeur-driven car.

My date and I went to like a nice fancy seafood spot. And I arrived at this place that I thought. My friends were like going to bestowing me, surprise. And I walked in and was like dead empty. And I went to the friends like, okay, what's going on? And they were like, yeah, man, I, you know, I guess the, it be in the Martin Luther King holiday. and the presidential inauguration.

This is when I think Bush 2 was in office around that period. It's like, yeah, man, like, everyone's throwing parties tonight, so no one's coming. And in my mind, I'm like, wait, based on the questions you guys were asking me earlier, like, I was hinting like, or y'all pull my leg or is this, like, is in everyone like waiting to yell surprise in another room, in this big-ass nightclub that's empty as hell. And they looked perplexed. Like, no, like, we wanted you to DJ. And why are you wearing a suit?

I was like, oh, you guys wanted me to DJ. And I, like, left my records home because, and they were shocked. Like, why would you come into a club with no records? And I didn't want to tell them, like, oh, I thought you guys were throwing me a birthday party. Like, they didn't realize. I just went home.

And they were like, yeah, there's no need to do it way because no one's here. And it wasn't until the next day, they were like, oh, we're so sorry, we didn't know. Like, and so to save face, normally I would book gigs in Japan. So there was a period maybe for 15 to 20 years where I was not at home. I was either in Japan or at Sundance. But this year, I've been doing the same thing for the last like seven years is I ran out a movie theater. And for 24 hours, well, not for 24 hours, like 16 hours, I show movies. So, and I curate them all. So this year, I do the same thing. Number one is we're going to have a cereal bar with over 40 different cereals. Shout out, by the way, I don't know if you

guys know this. Post-serial makes all of Walmart cereal, like the Walmart brand. I can't front, man. The Walmart brand of cereal, which is post-serial, is the best, better than Captain Crunch. Like, literally, like, who has, like, French vanilla ice cream with apple pie cereal? Anyway, I think it's called like Morning Glow or something like that. I don't know. But we have a cereal orgy over 40 different cereals. And our host show classic cartoons from the 70s, 60s, and 80s.

I like the Animaniacs, and I also like Rocky and Bullwinkle. They more or less show, like, hilarious, didn't know it was problematic then, but, you know, like cartoons. Like a lot of G.I. Joe stuff from the 80s is hilarious now. Jim. I'm even catching up on, like, the kind of 90s stuff that I outgrew. Like, I wasn't hip with, I wasn't hip to, like, Doug or, uh, Magic school bus. Magic school bus is wild, yo.

Like, so I guess Magic School Bus is a cartoon in which a school bus is inside the body of a kid. And this kid has diarrhea and he has to throw up. It's like a sick day. And so basically the Magic School Bus is like stalled in mud. And I say mud in air quotes because we know what it is. But I was literally this kid either had to throw it up or shit it out and they did that. Anyway, so we're showing cartoons in the morning. And then at one o'clock, we are going to have a lunch tasting menu for the 70s original version of Willy Wonka.

So everything that they eat in the film, we're also eating out here. So we are doing the Willy Wonka tasting show. And then at 4, we are going to show Love and Basketball. And then at 630, we're going to see the classic movie called Heat with Robert De Niro and Al Pacino. And then closing, I'm going to debut my Earthwood and Fire doc for a select few. So, yeah, I ran out a movie theater and just going to watch movies all. day and day. I highly recommend it. There you go.

A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me. Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show.

This is a place for raw unfiltered conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it. Clifford show on the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok podcast network on TikTok. This week on the Sports Slice podcast, it's all about the NFL draft.

And we've got a special guest. The director of the NFL's East-West Shrine Bowl, Eric Galco, joins the Sports Slice podcast to break down what really matters when evaluating draft prospects. From hidden traits teams look for to the biggest mistakes franchises make to the players flying under the radar. This is the insight you won't hear anywhere else. If you want to understand the draft like an insider, you don't want to miss this episode.

Listen to the Sports Slice Podcasts on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more, follow Timbo Slica Life 12 and TikTok podcast network on TikTok. In 2023, Bachelor star Clayton Eckerd was accused of fathering twins. But the pregnancy appeared to be a hoax. You doctored this particular test twice, Ms. Ellen's, correct?

I doctored the test ones. It took an army of internet detectives to uncover a disturbing pattern. Two more men who'd been through the same thing. Greg Gillespie and Michael Mancini. My mind was blown. I'm Stephanie Young. This is Love Trapped. Laura, Scottsdale Police.

As the season continues, Laura Owens finally faces consequences. Listen to Love Trapped podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. When a group of women. discover they've all dated the same prolific con artist. They take matters into their own hands. I vowed. I will be his last target. He is not going to get away with this. He's going to get what he deserves.

We always say that, trust your girlfriends. Listen to the girlfriends. Trust me, babe. On the IHeart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed you. Amen.