During Kendrick Lamar’s increasingly vitriolic back-and-forth with Drake earlier this year, Questlove stepped in to express his dismay at how dark things got during their tiff, prompting some hip-hop fans to snub the veteran producer for being overly dramatic and out-of-touch. However, Kendrick himself seemed to agree throughout his new album GNX, and appeared to acknowledge Quest’s band The Roots in the video for his new single “Squabble Up,” which resembles the video for The Roots’ 1999 single “The Next Movement.” It appeared K. Dot was letting Quest know there were no hard feelings.
Quest acknowledged the nod on Instagram, thanking Kendrick for highlighting a moment in The Roots’ history that the drummer believed “no one saw or cared about” in a longer post about being floored by his work’s overall impact on younger generations. “I once joked I live a life in which someone knows Jordan JUST for the Hanes commercials only,” he wrote. “I own that I (was) the king of hiding in plain sight for decades & we live the reality we set for ourselves. HOWEVER… My number one love is the music I create in @TheRoots —that is the fuel to my fire & sometimes if you love something you must set it free. Then if it returns to you it’s real. That said I wanna thank @kendricklamar for acknowledging something I thought noone saw or cared about. Feeling seen is a great feeling and I dont take it for granted.”
He also gave Roots fans a little something-something to look forward to: “Yup, new album still coming lol.”
Hip-hop is the best. You can check out The Roots’ “Next Movement” video above.
