00:00Who said only blood can make you brothers?
00:05When you look at Questlove and Black Thought, four decades of brotherhood is what took them
00:11from wide-eyed teenagers with mountain-sized dreams to bona fide hall of famous.
00:17It's not every day you see a rap group like The Roots, longevity, musicianship, and defiance
00:25boarded their creativity and made them into the showman that we see today.
00:30When you think about your favorite artists, chances are The Roots probably shared a moment
00:37with them.
00:38Jay-Z, Eminem, Nas, D'Angelo, Erykah Badu, Jill Scott, icons.
00:48But it makes sense because everything The Roots has done has been iconic.
00:55Grammy wins, The Roots picnic, acclaimed documentaries, gracing late-night TV for over 15 years.
01:06When intention meets preparation, the results can be golden.
01:11That's why The Roots are one of a kind, a group that can never be duplicated in music.
01:17So without further ado, your 2026 Billboard Hip Hop Hall of Famers, The Roots!
01:32My brother.
01:36My brother.
01:37My brother.
01:38My brother.
01:39Huh?
01:39Huh?
01:39Huh?
01:41Huh?
01:47is a funny institution in that
01:50it measures what America listens to.
01:57Every once in a while, it also shows us
02:00what America is. I grew up
02:04with a partner who covered his bedroom
02:08walls with billboard music reviews.
02:14Like that was literally Questlove's wallpaper, right?
02:18So this is a super full circle
02:21moment for us.
02:24We come from a culture forged out of
02:28limitation where people took what they
02:32had and made something bigger than what was supposed to be
02:36possible. And somehow all these
02:40years later, here we are in the
02:42Billboard Music Hall of Fame.
02:49So that's the beautiful contradiction of
02:52American culture. It can take something
02:54born on the margins and put it on a
02:58billboard and then make everyone have to
03:01admit that yes, this was the center of the
03:04story all along. So we accept this
03:08honor on behalf of every musician who's ever
03:11taped a poster up on the wall
03:15and every musician that ever kept playing
03:18while no one else was listening.
03:20Respectfully, we thank you.
03:22And we specifically thank...
03:24Yeah, shout out to
03:27Carlin and Gail.
03:28Shout out to Sean G.,
03:30our entire team, Carlin.
03:32I mean, this is a rare moment where I don't have much
03:36prepared, but I will say that it's not lost on me that
03:42hip-hop, of course, is steeped in hustle culture.
03:48And often as black people, we're not afforded the space to
03:54dream.
03:57And, you know, for me, this moment is
04:00seminal because this is really just the story of two high school best
04:05friends in Philadelphia going on a whim.
04:09Both of us were going to go to different colleges and
04:11see where life took us.
04:13And then just one Saturday, we made a decision to start busking on the
04:17street corners to see what happens.
04:19And 40 years later, this is what happens.
04:23So, you know, this is about following your gut and living your dream
04:28and not dismissing your dream.
04:30Thank you very much.
04:31We appreciate it.
