?uestlove teased the lineup to the sixth annual Roots Picnic festival through a series of cat-and-mouse tweets today (January 21), hinting at appearances from Gary Clark Jr., Grimes, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, Hit-Boy, Solange Knowles, Robert Glasper, Joey Bada$$, and Gaslamp Killer. While waiting for a flight to Shanghai to take off, the drummer posted that he wanted to spoil the roster for the annual Philly concert series and then proceeded to drop capital-letter references to all of the aforementioned artists.
Macklemore and Ryan Lewis: “Poppin'” may be a reference to the backpack-rap duo’s “Thrift Shop,” which opens with the line “I’m gonna pop some tags,” and soon after includes the phrase “fucking awesome” in the lyrics.
Well I’m on the plane just thinking about how Friggin Awesome this #rootsPicnic2013 is…it makes me feel like Poppin’ somethin….”#”
— Questo of The Roots (@questlove) January 21, 2013
Grimes: The “Genesis” and “Oblivion” are allusions to the two singles from Visions, the third LP from 40 Best Songs of 2012 alumna Grimes.
Those who been down w/ our festival since …The Genesis if you will, you know #rootsPicnic2013 will blow other festivals to Oblivion.
— Questo of The Roots (@questlove) January 21, 2013
Robert Glasper and Solange: He’s name-dropping jazz musician Glasper’s 2012 LP, Black Radio, along with “Twice,” a Glasper track that ?uestlove himself remixed to feature Solange, whose lovingly lens-flared “Losing You” is also mentioned.
We tried to get some artists from classic Black Radio…actually we tried Twice….bah these 2fers are Losing You huh? #rootsPicnic2013
— Questo of The Roots (@questlove) January 21, 2013
Hit-Boy: A winking reference to HITstory, the West Coast rapper/producer’s 2012 mixtape.
But I will say #rootsPicnic2013 will be HITsTorical!
— Questo of The Roots (@questlove) January 21, 2013
Joey Bada$$: The conspicuously stylized reference is to “Waves,” from Joey’s debut mixtape 1999.
Before I WAVE$ goodbye on this 13 Hour Trip, I’m wondering am I missing anything else about #rootsPicnic2013….
— Questo of The Roots (@questlove) January 21, 2013
Gary Clark Jr.: A hat-tip to festival warrior Gary Clark Jr. via several track titles off the bluesman’s Essential Blak and Blu (“Ain’t No Messin’ ‘Round,” “When the Train Pulls In,” and “Bright Lights”).
But glitter aint gold. Aint no messin round when the train pulls in. So watch those bright lights #rootsPicnic2013.
— Questo of The Roots (@questlove) January 21, 2013
The Gaslamp Killer: The final clue is very easily spelled out: “gas… lampin… killer.”
But for more #rootsPicnic2013 info follow @rootspicnic. Just maybe I’ll…nevermind I got gas. From cold lampin too much. Its killer.
— Questo of The Roots (@questlove) January 21, 2013
Dates for this year’s Roots Picnic have not yet been set and a formal lineup announcement has not yet been made, but the pieces all seem to fit. Let’s just hope he was kidding about Macklemore and Ryan Lewis.