Questlove says Common & Pete Rock got The Roots to finish their new album

When Common and Pete Rock dropped their nearly flawless album The Auditorium Vol. 1 in July of this year, it accomplished a few things.

One, the album offered rap's older generation of fans what many of them have been craving based on their social media comments: An album full of boom-bap beats with lyricism and adult themes. Two, the LP showed that Common and Pete haven't lost a creative step since both sound sharper than ever.

Plus, a third thing the album did was inspire The Roots to complete their next LP since they haven't released a full-on project since 2014's …And Then You Shoot Your Cousin. The band's drummer Questlove spoke about it with Common and Pete on his Questlove Supreme podcast, telling the duo their album has sparked a bunch of creativity in The Roots' frontman Black Thought.

"Not to be outdone, my band has been sitting on the sidelines watching all this action happening and, you know, it’s made us … I will say that it’s made Tariq into, the motherf****r wrote seven songs in one day. We have not done that since our second album," Quest explained, using Thought's real name.

Quest then said a Roots show from earlier in the summer also helped his bandmate write new material.

"But then I think after the Hollywood Bowl performance that we did, I think that lit something under Tariq. I mean, I can say in the last two weeks, he’s knocked off at least 80 percent," said Quest. “I mean, back in, like, Do You Want More?!!!??! days, 'Riq would write, like, six or seven songs in a setting. This album is definitely, like — it’s probably what he’s working on right now as I speak. It’s inspiring."

When it comes to releasing new albums, it's been a slow go for the Philadelphia group since becoming the house band for Late Night with Jimmy Fallon in 2009, then The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon after that. They also don't tour as much, which is far different from earlier in their career, and they only released three albums since taking the TV gig.

But Black Thought released some stellar LPs since then, like the three volumes of his Streams of Thought project and the amazing Cheat Codes album that he did with producer Danger Mouse.

Elsewhere in his interview, Questlove said the new Roots album should arrive in 2025, which will be a wonderful day for their fans and hip-hop in general.