Questlove Reflects on the Power of Vulnerability and Being a Trailblazer: ‘I Gotta Be the Change I Want to Be’ — SkimNews
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- Questlove spoke at Variety's Experience and Culture Summit about embracing vulnerability and being a changemaker, telling editor Jem Aswad, 'I gotta be the change I want to be.'
- Questlove has directed four documentaries since 2020, despite initially rejecting the role: 'I didn't know I was a storyteller,' he said, recalling his resistance before 'Summer of Soul' (2021).
- 'Earth, Wind & Fire (To Be Celestial vs That's the Weight of the World)' was released in June, with Questlove saying he read the same books founder Maurice White read during the band's genesis to inform his current creative approach.
- 'Sly Lives! (aka The Burden of Black Genius)' examined the tendency of Black creatives to self-sabotage after success, while 'Summer of Soul' landed in 2021 after George Floyd protests — a release Questlove credits to people wanting to 'celebrate joy.'
- The Roots Picnic held its 18th iteration in May, headlined by Jay-Z, with Questlove emphasizing it is 'curated,' not 'rubber-stamped,' and designed to foster community.
- The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon has kept The Roots together for nearly 35 years — unlike the Beatles, who broke up after seven — because the gig lets band members be present with their families, Questlove said.
Why it matters: Questlove's pivot from reluctant documentarian to a director with four films since 2020 reframes his public identity beyond The Roots and The Tonight Show — the kind of cross-medium expansion that broadens what late-career musicians can attempt. By choosing projects that interrogate Black creative self-sabotage and the joy of cultural milestones, he's also positioning his filmmaking as cultural intervention at a time he argues audiences are starved of emotional literacy.
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