The Questlove Show - Questlove Reaches Into The Mailbag & Answers - March 7

Episode Date: March 7, 2026

Questlove answers Questlove Show listener letters in a candid mini-episode that spans grief, legacy, and the weight of influence. Responding to a fan whose “musical Mount Rushmore” includes several late legends in Ahmir's orbit, he reflects on losing collaborators. Quest also revisits the rise and evolution of Okayplayer, teases liner notes and treats for the next Roots projects, and addresses the fate of his lockdown DJ sets and whether they might return online. Please send your questions by the contact us page on QuestloveSupreme.com or DM'ing the show.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 uncover a disturbing pattern. Two more men who'd been through the same thing.

Greg Gillespie and Michael Ranchini. 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 day seen,

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 IHartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, everyone? I'm Ego Wood. My next guest, it's Will Farrell. My dad gave me the best advice ever. He goes, just give it a shot. But if you ever reach a point where you're banging your head against the wall and it doesn't feel fun anymore, it's okay to quit.

If you saw it written down, it would not be an inspiration. It would not be on a calendar of, you know, the cat. Just hang in there. Yeah, it would not be. Right, it wouldn't be that. There's a lot of luck. Listen to thanks dad on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcast. or wherever you get your podcasts.

The Questlove Show is a production of I Heart Radio. All right, y'all. This is Letters to The Quest Love Show. Again, if you have any letters, slide into our DMs. First of all, follow QLS on all the socials, please. And also subscribe and like on YouTube. That is the fuel to our fire. If you like these episodes and whatnot, look, it just takes a second.

Please like and subscribe. We're trying to build a nation of informed music heads here. Yeah, thank you. I like doing this. Give me more questions. All right. This is a question from Charlie. Question for Questlove.

My musical Mount Rushmore is DeAngelo, Prince, Stevie, and Amy Winehouse. Life is a music fan has become exponentially less exciting as three of them have passed away, and I'm just a fan. I've had to accept that, and I'll never have an experience like the first time I heard voodoo ever again. is somebody who obviously knew and collaborated with them, have you had times when it feels like it's not worth it or the same without them? Thanks and sorry for being a downer. One by one as the aforementioned three went to the next plane.

I will say that I probably go through a month of sort of pondering, what does this mean? what happens with me is when someone leaves, there's a pressure pointed to me basically that now you're going to have to lead. And, you know, it's weird. When Prince passed, I was on the phone with DeAngelo. He and I were talking for maybe 20 minutes before the CNN, like CNN happened to be on. And we were talking and I believe he asked me, he's like, yo, you get word yet, we've had a lot of discussions on Prince's reactions to his music. And kind of maybe by the top of January 2015 when, you know, Black Messiah is like not even a month old, he hit me up. You know, you hear anything? So it was my job to test the waters and tell him, you know, what our peers are saying.

Like, all right, what does he say about the record? What do you say about it? But, you know, for me, I specifically, I'm sorry, I want to laugh at this. I have to say the arrival of Black Messiah might have been, I can speak on it now, might have been a little bit too much for Prince at the time in his life. Look, haven't seen, and I know I'll never not humble brag on being the fortunate, whatever, 20 people to have seen the nine-hour book of Prince Doc. But 2015, 2016 was like a rough period on Prince mentally. So I will say that I sniffed around various band members, various peers of his.

To just be like, yeah, you know, shoot the shit and see what's up. And two of them, I finally just came out and said, so does he get, do I need to send you all copy of the record? Does he have it? And, you know, and the way that they looked at each other, I knew there was a mental telepathy thing happened. And I was like, let me in. And they started laughing. And this is how I knew this is the highest honor. You know, I told DeAngelo, take it as a high honor.

Word was that, you know, he refused to, he's like, I don't want to talk about that record. I don't want to listen to it. Which, look, it happens. It happens. Like, when I'm creating music, there's certain artists I don't want to listen to because I don't want to be derivative of it or whatever. But, you know, the whole point was that when Prince passed, D&I probably had. one of our longest conversations just about like and I try you know I was very careful to not I know what scares them off and you know but I would still speak in terms of like you know the ball's in our

court now like the way that you were 10 year old or an 8 year old when dirty mine came out and then purple rain like you were kid and that built you there are people that are doing that now with voodoo that's one thing I will say he was absolutely unaware of the voodoo renaissance you know i'd explain to him that pitchfork had done a review of the album like 10 to 15 years later and it was so eloquently written that suddenly the second round of you know these pitchfork bass you know de angelo fans are coming to the plate and i feel as though that's the you know because i'll be honest with you uh the day that we finished mastering the record,

we took a victory dinner. Like literally when the album was done. Okay, so the very last day of mastering, the night before we tried to fit, there's one more song that didn't make the record called The City that was supposed to come right after, player, player, before Devils Pops called The City. And we've recorded it, mixed it the night before.

you know, Russ went to go master it with Tom Coyne. And I took over the studio that day because it was free. I asked D and Russ permission to use that studio. I believe that POS of De La Sol wanted me to try to fill in a drum break that they couldn't clear for the AOI album. They couldn't clear the O'D to Billy Joe break from View. So I redid it while. the albums get mastered and then when Russ came in like here it is the final sequence and me Paz Russ we listened to voodoo for the first time and it was weird like it was over it was

like four years of living in this basement at an electric lady from like 96 to now I got a copy of it and I felt victorious of the first thing I did was I went I had date night that night and I remember I went to some like soul food restaurant uptown and I told them like, yeah man I got the new DeAngelo record and whatever and they're like oh okay they put it on and

right after player player they like lowered the volume then they put on like R. Kelly they put in like regular R&B and I was telling them like no no it's it's the entire record he said oh you know we thought it was just one song or whatever and you know I'm not trying to brag to them like yo I'm giving you guys gold like I'm letting you listen to this DeAngelo record but for me it was like the last four years in my life

and I got to tell you man there were eight people I played the record for and they all hated it my assistant hated it one of the tour managers hated it I I think my manager, Rich had jokes. Like, I don't even know what the fuck he's saying. Like, where's the single? You know, it was like that environment. It was, it was 2000. And, you know, so I kind of had the feeling that, I was like, shit, I ruined this guy's career.

And so I almost felt like I owed it to him to see it through by doing the entire tour with him. which was not good news in the Roots camp because we just won our Grammy and it's like, okay, let's cash in. The roots, you know, we got momentum. Let's go on the road. And it's like, oh, by the way, I'm going to take all 2000 off

and tour with this guy, which, you know, I've many threat memos of, yo, man, like, what the fuck? And, you know, that sort of thing. But all that's to say is that, you know, I told Dee, like, you know, we have a responsibility now to see, the mission through.

And now that D's not here, I feel that responsibility more than ever. So, you know, James, myself, B'allow, like the fragments that are left of the Soul Quarians, you know, we spoke, the family's going to get back together. And, you know, it's not a downer. Sorry for being like the long, expansive explanation of this is probably 25 minute explanation.

I think you gave Charlie more than they bargained for it. There you go. I gave you a whole episode, Charlie. We got Eric got a two-parter. I'm going to frame it a little differently. In 2026, what is your relationship with that site, aka OK Player, and why did you stop posting? I think the goal for OK Player was always for me to take the training wheels off.

and see it, see if it could sustain on its own, see if it could last on its own. You know, but it's also like we just grow up. And I know a lot of the original vets of that world say that, you know, once Twitter came, I abandoned the site, which is probably the case. But it wasn't, you know, a time where I woke up. I'm like, you know what, fuck this site.

I don't care. It wasn't that. You know, I gave my entire. life to that site. Like, you got to understand that between 1999 and 2006, I mean, I would dedicate somewhere between two on a slow day to sometimes like 10 hours every day. Like, in hindsight, especially in light of the, uh, the kind of black Twitter doc that can't came out. I mean, I still stand on tent toes when I say that I believe that OK player was the beginning of social media. You know, it was really only the Roots website for a quick year.

And then there was something much more than that. But, you know, I don't, I guess now you can say my relationship with OK player is because I still get, you know, artists that come up like, yo, man, what's, why did y'all say that shit about my record? I guess I have O'K. Okay, Player, sort of how, like, Russell or Rick has Def Jam, you know, like, whatever the smallest stake is. I mean, it's still very much alive. And, you know, I do know that OK Africa has definitely taken legs of its own and help and spread the gospel of, like, new Afrobeat and whatnot.

But, um... And you did appear on Don Will's Almanac of Rap podcast, which OK Player produces. Exactly. Shout out to their recent Webby win. Absolutely. Yes, shout out to you guys winning. Yeah, I grow out of stuff sometimes and I do other things. So this is Eric's second. That was actually like a two-part run to itself, but here's the third denouement. Easier question, what is the likelihood we will get liner notes for the next roots album? Whether written or podcast form, we'd love to have them. You know, I've never stopped informing people. Like even if you look at the, the, I mean, the only thing, that I don't do is as much anymore is like the mammoth, mammoth, mammoth, Instagram posts. Well, one, there's a character limit. And two, my publisher hates when I give music lessons away

for free. And it's like, that could have been in the book. So I will say that I know if I don't come with liner notes for this next record, you guys will kill me. I do know who my audience is. And, And I know that a new Roots album isn't just us releasing a Roots album, but it's, it's sort of figuring out a way to give you guys a feeling. But that said, and this is not, you know, a preface or any warning or that sort of thing, you know, 1999 was also 1999. And so I want you guys to understand that. In other words, okay, I'll give you a great example. The Supreme Clientel 2.0 record. Definitely an older sounding ghost face killer.

Like his voice is going down in texture and tones. So kind of that whiny trademark, that's of the past. And we can't penalize him because, you know, a 56-year-old sounding goes is way different than the 26-year-old. one that we have. So people also just need to know that people grow. But that said, this next Roots album is also the first album in which after Things Fall Apart, like Roots albums sort of

became a community project, but Things Fall Apart was like, you know, the album that I feel is though I had the most time in the driver's seat despite the many fumbles, like, set out to Eve getting her retroactive Grammy. Anyway, that said, yeah, I will include all the treats that it will take for you guys to come back to the yard. But that also said, you're talking to a guy that collects records like the oxygen he breathes. And that said, I know the live album is nothing exciting. I know a live album from a group that's been around for 30 years is not exciting. But I promise you, I treated and produced that Roots Live at Blue Note album as the hardest musical cynic of all time.

Everything I hate about live albums, everything I hate about groups that are 40 years after their existence, I was acutely aware of those things. and I still say that do you want more the Roots Come Alive 2 record it's probably one of our best albums in a minute even if it is a time capsule

I mean and the thing is a lot of vets from okay player are like oh damn I didn't know y'all this like I'm dealing with the oh damn I didn't know y'all was still good well thanks a lot

so you know but just to let you know that's there as well and it's worth a listen And this is from the guy who finally listened to the entire Prince Diamonds and Pearls five-hour box set and was shocked that I put a 19 song mixed together of what I feel is a masterpiece of an album. So, you know, what I was saying, you know, my feelings of, oh, I was wrong about this album. There's some things I do like. Yes, come back to the roots. far easier question from raymond you did DJ sets during the lockdown that were on youtube and have now been taken down if it's in your control wink wink is there any chance they can reappear i know i'm sitting on kind of a historical gold mine yeah absolutely positively documented every moment of the of the lockdown all those DJ sets are somewhere preserved

at the time when we thought the world was coming to an end YouTube and all the publishers out there like I had to physically call them all be like yo call the dogs off I'm trying to entertain people trying to keep them sane and I thought they'd still be up there but of course once the world came back to normal

all those things started disappearing understandably really the question is you know a lot of people are asking me like why don't you go back to doing that I'll ask you guys Do you want me Is there a way that we can take a poll

To see if it's even worth Me going back to a ninth job And coming back to DJ Yeah I still have my Twitch platform But it's just like Once I entered the world of movies Man

Only 24 hours in a day So that's how much work it is Questlop show is a production Of IHeart Radio A win is a win A win A win is a win I don't care what you're saying.

Yep, that's me, Cliford 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 Cliford 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 Cliford Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast,

or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifference. 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 Galko, 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 iHeartRadio 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 uncover a disturbing pattern. Two more men who did.

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 IHart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

That's up, everyone. I'm Ego Wood. My next guest, it's Will Ferrell. My dad gave me the best advice ever. He goes, just give it a shot. But if you ever reach a point where you're banging your head against the wall and it doesn't feel fun anymore, it's okay to quit. If you saw it written down, it would not be an inspiration. It would not be on a calendar of, you know, the cat. Just hang in there.

Yeah, it would not be. Right, it wouldn't be that. There's a lot of luck. Listen to Thanks Dad on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human