Watch The Roots Run Through The Hits In Philly For The 4th Of July Jam
The Roots brought the funk back to Philly for a second time in almost a month to make heads bob and necks break at the 4th Of July Jam, ending a full week of the city's Welcome America festivities. The fellas joined a deep roster of industry heavyweights (including some Philly royalty) on stage to churn out decades of hits to an adoring audience that must have consisted of the entire city (seriously, there were hundreds of thousands of people lined up on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway Friday night) alongside fellow king of West Philadelphia DJ Jazzy Jeff, the one and only Bilal, UK pop sensation Ed Sheeran, powerhouse soulstress Jennifer Hudson, the deceptively ill rhymes of one Miss Nicki Minaj and he who they call "The Man," none other than Aloe Blacc.
The fellas opened up the proceedings with Jeff and MASCHINE Maestro Jeremy Ellis -- watch out for dude's impressive live James Brown chop -- appropriating Black Thought's verse from The Tipping Point's "Web" to a proper chop of Bill Conti's iconic Rocky theme, melding two Philly champs into one epic sight and sound. Later they were joined by Blacc to play host to his recent string of hits as his backing band and then came out sporadically throughout the evening for short bursts of the madness. The night was capped off with a glorious fireworks display just behind the stage, drawing an illustrious close to the evening's performances. Philly felt the love that Friday night, and you can too. Watch The Roots perform with a diesel guest-list at Philly's 4th Of July Jam and peep the break-out of Jazzy Jeff and Jeremy Ellis putting their audible dukes up in a mash contest of sorts, chopping up The Super Mario Brothers theme.
