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My job at REVOLT is to connect the dots between music, culture, and politics and keep me sane, so it’s safe to say there’s no one better suited to spend my time with in 2017 than Amir Questlove Thompson. This notoriously overworked man currently holds down 17 jobs, including go-to show business curator, DJ, late-night TV bandleader, and contributor to the official soundtracks of Kathryn Bigelow’s greatest films. DetroitWith so much going on, Quest sat down with me to talk about everything that’s on his mind and how he takes the time to keep it clear.
With his inspiration flowing in so many directions, how does he stay in the zone? “The two most important elements are to sit completely quiet and not listen to anything, and to cultivate the idea of being bored,” the artist said. He Creative Quest We won’t go into too much depth here, but if it sounds like Questlove talking about meditation, that’s because it is: “I was always dating girls who were like, ‘You should meditate,'” he jokes. “But I learned from the most unlikely person: Russell Simmons.”
Quest, who is now supposedly being mentored by Uncle Rush in the school of Transcendental Meditation, said of his outlook on life: “No major life-changing decision should be made without mental clarity. My survival literally depends on that kind of focus.”
And survival is on his mind. When we speak about the recent events in Charlottesville and how it relates to what’s been portrayed in Detroit, Amir says, “America has yet to have an honest conversation with itself. We have yet to reckon with how this land was taken, how it was built. On whose backs was it built? From whom was it taken, from whom was it stolen?”
Speaking specifically about the film’s themes, he added: “It’s a story that takes place 50 years ago, but it’s also a story that takes place 50 minutes from now.”
The film explores the classic Motown sound of Questlove and The Roots’ collaboration with Bilal on “It Ain’t Fair.” To achieve this, Thompson says he turned to the Dap-Kings, who worked on Amy Winehouse’s “Back to Black” and helped immortalize the work of the late Sharon Jones. The results were as expected.
And if you were worried the guy was overworked, you’ll be happy to know that after our conversation ended at the Four Seasons in Los Angeles, Questlove hopped on a plane to Hawaii for a much-needed (and almost unprecedented!) vacation. (Of course, he booked about four DJ gigs during his time on the island, so use your definition of vacation generously.)
