-Please help me welcome Questlove
and Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter.
[ Cheers and applause ]
♪♪
[ Laughs ]
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Hi. -Hey!
[ Cheers and applause ]
More than enough. More than enough.
Thank you very much.
-How's it going? -Yeah. It was a great one.
It's going good. It's going good.
We're having good.
We're having fun. -We're having fun.
We're having good. [ Laughter ]
-Tariq, good to see you. Quest, good to see you.
-Good to see you.
-Let's start off with this first.
Does it feel weird me interviewing you?
-Uh, it's Jimmy right? -Yeah, you can call me Jimmy.
[ Laughter ] Mr. Fallon.
Let's talk about "Mixtape Potluck" first of all, Quest.
-Okay. -What is this? What is this?
It's a cookbook? -In short, it's a cookbook,
but really, it's a guide for people that throw parties
that sort of want ideas.
So, it's like how to throw a party.
I throw these food salons. Both of you have been...
-I've been there. -...at them.
So, pretty much, it's just a gathering of --
-Explain what a food salon is,
'cause I've never heard of it before your party.
-Well, I mean, a food salon's a high-brow potluck,
where I usually have
three high-end chefs come over to cook.
-Yeah. -Dominique Ansel or, you know,
Daniel Humm from Eleven Madison.
-It's a real bougie dinner. [ Laughter ]
-You should call it bougie dinner.
That's what you should do next -- bougie dinner.
But that's what basically all these -- I'm in the book.
I gave you my Air-Fried Chicken Burger recipe.
-Yeah. [ Cheers and applause ]
-Yeah, 'cause what happened was --
-What's the story of -- yeah, why air-fried?
-Well, because I was talked into --
Like a lot of people in America,
I was talked into getting an air fryer.
[ Laughter ] -Better for the environment.
-It's the worst investment I ever made.
[ Laughter ] It's terrible.
I don't -- It's awful.
I really -- I would not recommend it.
My worst enemy, and I wouldn't tell them to get an air fryer.
But anyways -- Oh, you know what they're great for?
Tater tots. -Okay.
-French fries -- things that are frozen in a bag.
-So, they should call it a tater tot maker.
-Yes, that's it. That's exactly what it should be.
But anyways, I was like, "What can I do with this thing?
I don't know what to do with it."
So I made chicken burgers.
But my secret of the chicken burger is...
-What? -...the potato buns.
You take the potato buns,
and you put them in the food processor
and make them into bread crumbs.
That's the move, and it's actually a better bread crumb
than buying bread crumbs in a thing.
-Oh, whoa. -These make them more crunchier.
-Well, I can attest that it was great,
'cause we had to try all 50 meals.
-Oh, you did? -Yeah.
-Oh, good. I'm glad you made it.
And then, Tariq, you have a recipe in here.
-Yeah, you know. -South Philly Seafood Stew.
-Yeah. -Now, why is it South Philly?
-I mean, that's where I'm from.
That's where my boy branzino's from.
[ Laughter ]
[ Air horn blows ]
-Branzino! [ Cheers and applause ]
-I mean, it's a take on, you know, a classic cioppino.
-Yeah. -You know?
-You said, Quest, you always told me that
the secret that no one knows about you Tariq
is that he's actually an amazing cook.
-Tariq is probably one of the best chefs every.
-Really? -Like, I feel like
this whole food space I'm in is more like imposter syndrome,
'cause he's really, like...
I'm sure now he's slow-roasting --
[ Laughter ]
I'm sure that he got up at 3:00 in the morning to, like,
put a roast in the oven. -Oh, man.
-What do you like better? Emceeing or cooking?
-Um, you know, I actually like --
I mean, I enjoy cooking probably more than I do emceeing.
-Really? -Yeah, yeah.
-Why? -I mean, it's just a different
medium, you know what I mean?
It's something that, you know,
I haven't been doing for quite as long,
and it's just more, you know, therapeutic.
It's like -- I don't know. It's just something --
-Your whole life cooking? Was your parents into it?
-My parents weren't into cooking that much.
My grandmother a little bit.
But I started working in restaurants,
like, you know, before I should've.
-Really? -Since I was about 13.
-Yeah, that's when I started working, too, yeah.
[ Indistinct ] Yeah, I know.
You're not legally allowed to work there, but, yeah.
-And I was getting paid under the table.
-Exactly. Right. Yeah.
And is this your jam, the seafood stew?
-Yeah, you know, one of many.
It was what I was vibing on that day.
-I think this is cool, man. This is fun.
A lot of cool -- A lot of good names in here, too,
if you want to pick up this book, "Mixtape Potluck."
I also want to talk about your show, "Hip Hop."
This is on AMC -- "Hip Hop: The Songs That Shook America."
-Yep. -What made you want to do
a docuseries on hip hop?
-You know -- -What makes it different?
-For such a long time, you know, we travel around,
and you do interviews, you do, you know, promotion runs.
And, you know, you find people telling these stories
sort of documenting the culture,
and it really feels like, you know,
they're on the outside looking in.
-Sure. -So when we got the opportunity
to sort of, you know, to tell a story
from first-hand, you know, knowledge,
we jumped at it.
Like, this is what it looks like
when the gatekeepers of the culture or the elder statesmen,
you know, sort of take back the keys.
-Yeah. You guys have been around for a long time.
-[ Laughs ] -I mean, you have.
-Yeah. -I mean,
longer than most hip hop groups.
-Yeah, but... -Yeah.
-What you getting at?
-What I'm just saying is you guys are legit.
I mean, people love you, man.
People come on our show, and they're nervous to perform
'cause you're looking at them and they're looking at you.
They're like, "Oh, my gosh.
Black Thought is looking at me, and Quest."
Like, even the drummer's just like, "Oh, my God.
It's Questlove looking at me." Exactly.
But, so, for you to actually talk about songs
and, you know, songs that shook America,
it means something to people because you know your stuff,
you know what you're talking about.
-I'll always put it in terms of, like, I'm not a sports head,
but I love ESPN's "30 for 30." -Yeah, yeah.
-And so this show is also not only
for, like, connoisseurs of hip hop,
but even if you're not into it, like, it's still engaging
and educational and you learn something from it.
-How'd you pick the songs?
-Mm... -So, based on this book
called "Rap Year Book" by Shea Serrano...
-Yeah. -...we'd optioned that book.
He gives his opinion. It's more subjective.
He gives his opinion what he thinks
the song of the year represents.
It is not the best song or that thing,
but it's just -- for us,
it was like the song that causes the biggest ripple effect.
-Wow. -And so our pilot episode
is Kanye West's "Jesus Walks,"
which really has a deep story
just beyond the four minutes that you get to listen to.
-That's crazy. -And we had very many
knock-down, drag-out, you know, arguments about...
-What song is what? -...what song was the most
impactful and made, you know,
sort of the biggest impression when.
-Yeah, and you narrowed it down.
You've got a good list. This is good stuff.
You guys have known each other since high school.
-Yeah. -That's a long time
to know each other and be friends.
I have never before seen photos.
Here's -- -Oh!
-This is Questlove. [ Laughter ]
[ Cheers and applause ]
Remember this dude? -Yeah.
-Remember him? -Yep.
-And then here's Tariq. -Oh!
-Oh! [ Cheers and applause ]
-Nah, you're in style, dude. -Oh, no! [ Laughs ]
-What is the secret to being a successful group for so long?
-I joke that it's two tour buses.
[ Laughter ] -Yeah, yeah.
-But really it's just that, you know, we have a dream,
and we can do other -- like, pursue other things,
but always come back to home base.
-Yeah. -And that's --
-I think it's, you know, the fact that we've, you know,
never had to sort of compromise
our integrity or, like, what the brand,
you know, sort of has grown to represent.
You know what I mean? -You never have --
like, I know what you're saying.
Like, now and then you hear a band.
They put out a new album, they kind of sold out,
they changed to try to get something.
-Yeah, I mean, often, people are just, you know, in pursuit of
whatever said prize is, and they do something that, you know,
feels less than organic
or, you know, just more contrived
when, you know, I feel like slow and steady wins the race.
-Yeah. Smart.
[ Cheers and applause ]