Questlove at The Roots Jam Sessions at Gramercy Theatre in 2018, photo by P Squared
The Roots, Talib Kweli, Common, Dave Chappelle
photo by P Squared
The Roots, Talib Kweli, Common, Dave Chappelle
photo by P Squared
The Roots, Talib Kweli, Common, Dave Chappelle
photo by P Squared
The Roots, Talib Kweli, Common, Dave Chappelle
photo by P Squared
In the leadup to the 2018 Grammys, The Roots did their annual Jam Sessions at Gramercy Theatre from January 24-27. Across the four nights, special guests included Run the Jewels, Gary Clark Jr, Portugal. The Man, Chuck D, Big K.R.I.T., Chronixx, Miley Cyrus, Kimbra, Jill Scott, Dave Chappelle, Talib Kweli, Common, Remy Ma, 6LACK, DRAM, Action Bronson, Freeway, Rapsody, Roxanne Shante, and still more.
We caught the second night, Thursday January 25, which was opened by DJ Aktive, followed by Origin, Phony PPL, Just Chase, Victory Boyd and then The Roots took the stage. During their set, they brought out Cyhi the Prynce, Kirk Franklin, Anthony Hamilton, Jimmy Jam, and August Greene, and they closed their set with Common and Talib Kweli on stage. They did “Get By” off Talib’s debut solo album Quality (which Talib had been performing in full at a Blue Note residency that ended last night), and then Dave Chappelle came on stage to tell everyone to put away their phones and have a moment, followed by Black Thought joining for a freestyle/jam. Pictures of night two are in the gallery above, and a pic of the setlist and some videos are below.
