-Quest, it's always great to have you in the guest chair.
And, Shawn, welcome to "The Tonight Show."
I'm happy that you're here.
You wrote "The Rhythm of Time" together, right here.
Congratu-- It is officially a New York Times Best Seller.
Whoo-whoo-whoo-whoo-whoo! [ Cheers and applause ]
-Congrats. -Thank you.
-Thank you, thank you, thank you.
-Congrats on that. -Appreciate it.
Shawn, your other best-selling book, "Razorblade Tears,"
by the way, was also featured on our show.
It was on the Fallon Summer Read List,
but also Barack Obama's Summer Reading List.
-Yeah.
-And it's being made into a movie,
produced by Jerry Bruckheimer.
-Yeah, which is terrifying.
-I mean, have you processed all of this?
-Not at all. Not a bit, no.
It's like five years ago, I was working at a hardware store,
cleaning up spills, and now the president knows my name.
-Yeah, exactly. [ Cheers and applause ]
-That's what's up. -That's what it's all about.
-Which is crazy, because the book --
You know, it's like having him read it,
it's sort of like your mom reading it, too,
because of like, "Just pass over the curse words.
There's terrible stuff that --"
-"No, I'm much more polite than this."
-Yeah. Yeah, exactly. -You crushed it.
And did you guys know each other before doing work --
-Actually, you know what?
I became aware of him when --
Because I follow your Summer Reading List.
Assuming that you're going to do one this year.
-Yeah, we're going to do one this year.
Absolutely. Yeah.
Maybe we'll have "The Rhythm of Time" on the...
-Hey. -I mean, I'm just sayin'.
-Just sayin'.
You guys have -- You both have written books together.
I mean, not together, but separately.
But never a kids' book.
-Yeah. -How did this all start?
-Basically, you know, during the pandemic,
I was quarantining on a farm, and...
-Yeah, I know.
-...without -- a farm, without cable.
So, you know, there was nothing to do,
only online deejaying.
Like, we had Wi-Fi.
But I was basically out of my comfort zone.
And once I realized, like --
-Because you need something to do.
-Yeah. Just need something to do,
and I have to do something creative.
And so I guess at the time when I was online deejaying
and working on "Summer of Soul" and then doing the other book,
"Music is History," the people I was staying with,
they're a bunch of life coaches, and they were like,
"Yo, you're writing another boring history book about music?
Like, do something else."
And so they kind of challenged me.
I always wanted to write a time-travel book,
but I'm a nerd that really doesn't know
much, like, science-fiction jargon,
so I always talked myself out of it.
And I guess, like, my publisher made a playdate with us.
-Yeah. -And so --
-That kind of worries --
What time-travel stuff are you into?
What do you mean you're into time travel?
-I love time travel.
Remember I told you I watched, like, "Palm Springs,"
like at least 10 times over the pandemic
and, you know --
-"Back to the Future"? -Yeah, all those --
-Oh, yeah, we've had "Back to the Future" talks.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
But, so. you're like, "Okay, I'm going to write this book.
I'll see if I can get S.A. Cosby to work --
Do you want to work --"
Did you think about it and go like, "Eh..."?
-Well, it was funny,
because when they contacted me, it was like,
"Are you sure you want me to write a kids' book?"
Because I write crime novels.
Usually, people getting shot in the face in my books.
-And crazier stuff than that.
-I don't know if I'm the perfect person to write a kids' novel.
-I wouldn't say you're my first choice.
-Yeah. -You're not Dr. Seuss.
-No, no, no, no.
Not unless Dr. Seuss hitting people with shovels.
But once we started talking about it, it was like, wow.
You know, you get an opportunity to work with Questlove.
First of all, I'm an old hip-hop head from back in the day,
so get to work with The Roots --
You know, "Things Fall Apart," you know, and
"Do You Want More?!!!??!"
And it's like, so when they call you, it's like, "Yeah,
Questlove wants to write a book with you."
And I'm like, "Yeah, alright, whatever.
What do I got to do?" Where I got to show up? Yeah."
You know, so --
-And how did you choose for it to be for middle-school kids?
-Alright, so, when our fourth album came out,
"Things Fall Apart,"
a friend of mine who was a teacher, like,
convinced me, like, you know, "Come and talk to the kids."
I was like, "Alright, we have enough notoriety.
Like, I'll come to the school like,
'Hey, kids, how you doing?'"
And, basically, the first question that the kids asked,
like, during Q&A time -- Like, "Anybody have any questions?",
they were like -- One kid stood up,
was like, "Yeah, do you know, like, a real celebrity,
like André 3000?"
[ Laughter ]
-Like you're not a real -- Yeah. "Do you know a real celebrity?"
-Yeah. And so inside, I was just like, "Them kids."
-Kids are harsh, man.
-Yeah, so, I was just like,
"Alright, let me just stay away from kids."
Like, so that kind of discouraged me from --
That was, like, such a humiliating moment
that I let that sit with me forever.
-Yeah.
-You know, I think the pandemic is about,
you know, we're either going to pivot or we're going to panic.
And so, pretty much, I decided, like, to make a list
of everything that I had a fear of
and just, one by one, just rewrite the --
-Check them off the list. -Yeah, rewrite the narrative.
So, I always wanted to write a kids' book.
And so -- And, plus, I got tired of you
writing all the kids' books.
Every time I turn around, you're in the
New York Times Best Sellers.
-So now you got to be --
-Every time, you do it like that, I was like, "Aah!"
-"Aah, I got to do --" Come on. -Right.
-It's a great story and it's well-written.
And you are on The New York Times Best Seller list.
Congratulations. -Thank you. Thank you.
-Thank you. [ Cheers and applause ]
Which is wild.
It's like, you know, I never thought I'd be
on New York Times Best Seller list at all
and that I'd be on there twice.
It's like, somebody's got to pinch me, wake me up.
-Yeah, come on, bud.
But, I mean, it's also --
It's a whole new generation of --
Now you got -- Really, this is the toughest audience.
-They are. They are. -They're honest with you.
If they don't like it, they don't like it.
-I went to talk to some kids a couple weeks ago
at a middle school, and it was like the first
5, 10 minutes, it's terrifying.
It's just like you're staring at them,
they're staring at you, and it's like,
"Somebody blink first."
-Yeah.
-Somebody do something. Yeah, exactly.
-Yeah.
-Well, I think what has to happen now is you
have to write a sequel.
-Well, they're already -- [ Cheers and applause ]
-That's what happens when you're successful.
-See, I thought, in the pandemic, it was going to be
a one-and-done thing.
And, you know, a lot of this book
borrows heavy from my life, so --
Remember when you told me the first week of the show,
like, everything that we ever --
You said Letterman told you, like, everything
that was ever in your life,
you're going to use for this show.
-Yeah.
-Like, I gave everything for this one book,
and then, you know, they're like,
"You got to write two more."
-Yeah. Now --
-But we're talking about the second book.
-Now you got to get real creative, yeah.
-Working on it. We're going to dig up some stuff.
-It's so fun and it's very you, because I know you.
-Yeah. -And it's very well-done.
Congratulations to both of you, and thank you very much.
-Thank you so much. Thank you. -Thank you.
-Questlove, S.A. Cosby, everybody.
"The Rhythm of Time" is out now.
More "Tonight Show" after the break.
Stick around, everybody!