Questlove Reflects on the Roots’ Move to London: “Business Thrived, the Friendship Eroded”

Questlove has called the Roots’ relocation to London in the early 1990s “one of the biggest risks” of their career. Speaking with SPIN, the drummer and bandleader described the move as a leap into the unknown—motivated by a desire for a scene that still valued live musicianship, but weighed down by poverty and an overanalyzing mind.

“What got us over there was really a whim. We felt like we needed to be in an environment that embraced musicianship,” he said. That whim mirrored Jimi Hendrix’s famous London sojourn two decades earlier. The band scraped by, unsure how to pay for heat or electricity, while Questlove—self-described overthinker—constantly scanned for exits. “Our brain is our GPS. The job of our brain is to case the place out, figure out the safe points.”

The gamble paid off artistically. In London they recorded their 1993 debut, Organix, built a fanbase, and secured a U.S. record deal. Yet Questlove is direct about the cost. “The business thrived—the friendship eroded. Moving to London was a very tense field,” he said. The forced evolution exposed cracks that took years to address. “I had to really take assessment of all my relationships and have a ground zero moment.”

The Roots went on to win multiple Grammys, with albums like Things Fall Apart and a long tenure as house band for The Tonight Show. Questlove’s reflection is less a nostalgic look back than an honest inventory of what survival really demanded.