Listen to the Roots’ Moody New Song ‘When the People Cheer’
Proving they can’t stop, won’t stop, the Roots have announced the release of their long-gestating new album, …And Then You Shoot Your Cousin and shared a brand new song, “When the People Cheer.”
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According to an Instagram post from drummer Questlove, the album will hit shelves on May 13th, via Def Jam. Below, you can take a listen “When the People Cheer,” which finds the crew spreading somber, self-conscious syllables over a twinkling piano, Quest’s ever-taut drumming and a croaking vocal hook. …And Then You Shoot Your Cousin is the Roots’ 11th studio album, not counting multiple collaborative albums, and first group effort since 2011’s Undun. (They teamed up with Elvis Costello last year, though, for the collaborative LP, Wise Up Ghost.)
The Roots have hardly been resting on their laurels in the meantime, though: The hardest working band in late night is now backing up Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show, where so far they’ve helped Fallon and Justin Timberlake continue their “History of Rap” series and recreated “Let It Go”–the Oscar-winning song from Frozen–with singer Idina Menzel using classroom instruments.
The Roots are also slated to continue to their annual Roots Picnic on May 31st at the Festival Pier at Penn’s Landing in Philadelphia. The group will play two sets, one of their own material and one backing up Snoop Dogg. The rest of the lineup features Janelle Monáe, the War on Drugs, Action Bronson, A$AP Ferg, Rudimental, AraabMuzik, Biz Markie and more.