The Roots

Released: May 19, 1993

Songwriter: Black Thought ?uestlove

Producer: The Roots

[Black Thought]
Pass the what? Pass the popcorn (8X)

Yo, I wrote this, basement, Never Never Tunnel type portion
Just to accompany some audio distortion
Bust the popcorn, drop it ons my cassette and
Yo Crumbs, umm, how you feel? I hope it's blessed man
Dig The Square Roots be the setters of examples
Findin mad rhythm in the static of your samples
Quick to make you move to my groove as I soothe
The ear of the listener on the musical
Prisoner G, now you're free you can be all you wanna be
Go where you want or go and see all you wanna see
Because yo, your ambitions I won't neglect
And to them brothers who ain't here, nuff respect
So BROther Quest, how ya livin, what ya givin black?
To me the brother with the linens and the applejacks;
Busy til the break of dawn
The first verse is born I pass the popcorn

Pass the what? Pass the popcorn (4X)
Say what?
Pass the what? Pass the popcorn (4X)

Secondly, I speak for the ?uest from the S-Q-T (Square Roots)
And I'm Black Thought, therefore you know it's funky
The rhythms he recycles sometimes prehistoric
The mic for the popcorn's like metaphoric (it's metaphoric baby)
So many different factors in a ?uestion style
Cause he's the father and he's giving more than one child
The abstract soloist, drummin from the heart
All the way from Philly in the West part
Relax your mind and let your body be at rest
Flow in slow mo', and let the BROther manifest
Now the second verse has been born
I'm Black Thought and I pass the popcorn
On to Kid Crumb I pass the popcorn

Pass the what? Pass the popcorn (4X)
Say what?
Pass the what? Pass the popcorn (4X)

From the Southern section of Philly my affection
Affiliates me with kids, from the store to pastry
The Foreign Object, direct from ? with the skit
That be rugged, it was the drumsticks and the buckets
Back in the days, now the Rubber Band plays to accompany
?uestion upon the drums and displays mad soul
Soul be the source of the blam Roots fam
As we grow and expand like the afro
With menacing music seriously I'm sinister
I shout, move about, turn it out like minister
Diggin the flip-side when I slide I gets biz with
Mad melanin, chocolate, like a chip that's black man
From the dark room with the mad raps homegrown
Knots and knaps upon the dome from thinkin
I'm sinkin in the sound cause I gets and got down
Lettin Black Thought's out of lockdown, buckshot
Lick it to the tick of my measure's on the Richter
Grits getter so grab your sister
I get wreck so check my respect from the wreck
That I've gotten biting this'll make your fronts turn rotten
The original, rock chewer, from a duo
Whatever called po' folkers or Crumbs, and his mouth broke
Kids wanna laugh so I blast on your ass to - wait see
Chase me and see if you catch the circular knot
Style buckwild the acoustic boom
Square Root of Black Thought broadcast with the popcorn
It's like that y'all
The popcorn popcorn as I pass y'all
I go..

Pass the what? Pass the popcorn (4X)
C'mon
Pass the what? Pass the popcorn (4X)
C'mon

[Ad libs to outro]

The world’s premiere hip-hop band, The Roots were formed in Philadelphia in 1987 by MC Tariq “Black Thought” Trotter and drummer and bandleader Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson. Since those early days, the band has weathered changes in personnel and record labels while performing hundreds of shows a year and releasing a string of well-regarded (if not always top-selling) albums.

While the musicianship of Thompson and the other band members, as well as their seemingly limitless repertoire, gets most of the attention, real hip-hop fans know that the rapping skills of Black Thought (along with former group member Malik B.) are the group’s hidden weapon. Thought, one of the few MCs brave enough to go toe to toe with Big Pun, handles any groove the band throws at him with aplomb, style, and flash.

Today, The Roots are seen by millions every night as the house band on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, a move that has given the group the chance to indulge its not-insignificant comic side.

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