Questlove's 40 reasons why Prince was a Hip-Hop legend

Gil Kaufman
Updated
Questlove's Ten Reasons Why Prince Was A Pioneer Of Hip-Hop
Questlove's Ten Reasons Why Prince Was A Pioneer Of Hip-Hop


Questlove has really been struggling with Prince's death. The Roots drummer has been publicly grieving the late music icon, frequently posting about him on social media, introducing Madonna's 2016 Billboard Music Awards tribute, writing an essay for Rolling Stone and attaching a snare drum with the Prince glyph onto his drum kit on the "Tonight Show" as a permanent nod.

Watch Questlove's Billboard Music Awards Tribute to Prince

Over the weekend, he found another way to honor Prince after seeing the singer's face plastered on the cover of the latest issue of hip-hop magazine The Source. In a lengthy Instagram post, Questlove provided some context for why the cover made sense to him. "1st i chuckled cause well... ok it's been a min since I saw The Source but after I pondered -- yeah it made sense," the drummer wrote before launching into his totally dead-on list.

Among the reasons:

Puts his crew on -- get them deals & makes them stars.

Had beef w his peers who hated on him.

Ghostwrote for everyone.

Used mad aliases.

Best drum machine programmer ever.

Cut his crew off and got a new crew.

For the full list check out Quest's post below:

View this post on Instagram

1st i chuckled cause well...---ok it's been a min since I saw The Source but after I pondered ----yeah it made sense: 1) came from troubled home 2) limited access to music forces him to create his own world of music 3) Overcame Poverty 4) creates fictional background tales to keep the press guessing 5) lives by the DIY creed 6) takes fashion taboos & makes them mainstream and acceptable 7) cock blocks & steals yo lady on the low (ask Rick) 8) puts his crew on---get them deals & makes them stars 9) pretty much wrote the book on gettin some better than any of his contemporaries 10) had beef w his peers who hated on him 11) invented the remix (not disco edits, but reimagining the album version) 12) played mystery card---let us think what we wanted---gave the press middle finger 13) ghostwrote for everyone 14) used mad aliases 15) refused 2 b ordinary & eschewed the proper English language as a ways 2 communicate 16) knew the B side wins again and again 17) used the exotic honey to his advantage 18) used his music to give his views on the po po, politicians, gun control, war, god, squares & "the man" 19) turned a long music video into a revolution 20) best drum machine programmer ever 21) used synthesizers as a way of life 22) could make an entire album in less than a week 23) balled so hard in Paris & other parts of France---so he made a film about it. 24) cut his crew off and got a new crew. 25) went all hippie like it was nothing. 26) made dis records 27) never wifed em, mostly replaced em 28)started his own label 29) Parental Advisory was invented because of him 30) made a Black Album w a chip on shoulder to prove to black people he was still bad. 31) plays sports better than u 32) had mad songs in the stash 33) had an MTV mansion/compound long before anyone did 34) changed looks constantly 35)dropped music on the net in record time 36) looked out for his peeps on the low doing benefits and raising money like a modern day Robin Hood 37) tries taking on the man for his complete freedom 38) couldn't tell him NOTHING 39) always escaped into thin air 40) left us way too early #PrinceRogersNelson #HipHopPioneer. @TheSource.

A post shared by Questlove Froman, (@questlove) on May 28, 2016 at 1:21pm PDT

Check out more love for Prince in the gallery below.


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