One of Jimmy Fallon’s guests on Wednesday June 12th is someone who should be plenty familiar to the host and his audience—Questlove.
The Tonight Show bandleader is set to make the short walk from his drumkit to the guest chair to promote Hip-Hop Is History, which will hit bookstores on Tuesday.
The new book sees Questlove, who grew up as an obsessive fan of the then-emerging genre and ultimately became a six-time Grammy Award–winning musician himself, trace the first half-century of hip-hop as only he can.
In recent years Questlove has emerged as America’s unofficial historian of hip-hop, and of music in general. Hip-Hop Is History is a follow-up to his 2021 bestseller Music Is History, and he famously won an Oscar in 2022 for his documentary film Summer of Soul. (If you missed his Oscar speech, you’re not alone: It happened just moments after Will Smith slapped Chris Rock.)
Next week’s guest shot won’t be the first time The Roots co-founder has taken a seat next to Fallon. In all, he has guested on Fallon’s Tonight Show six times before, most recently in April of 2023 to promote a different book—the New York Times bestselling children’s novel The Rhythm of Time.
Questlove and The Roots have served as Fallon’s house band since 2009, when the former SNL star was first tapped to host NBC’s Late Night. When Fallon moved over to The Tonight Show in 2014, The Roots came with him.
