The next time you're rolling down East Passyunk Avenue in Philadelphia, make sure to look up when you drift down below South Street for a tribute to some of the city's favorite sons. After a City Council resolution passed last Thursday, a new sign went up on Friday morning dubbing the street "The Avenue of The Roots."
The tribute to the Philly hip-hop collective and Tonight Show house band got an irreverent shout-out from the group's drummer, Questlove, who wrote, "Welp this is very Philly: technically we were supposed to wait for the vote and then like in May come Picnic Time we’d have an unveiling w confetti & kool aid lol but cats was like “NOAP!!! WE FINNA PUT THIS JAWN UP NOW!!!!! really awesome to see the place we honed our skills and craft embrace us like this.”
He was talking, of course, about the 2020 Roots Picnic festival, which is set to return to Philly's The Mann Center the final weekend in May (May 30-31). This year's event will be headlined by DaBaby, Meek Mill, and Summer Walker. Other artists making appearances throughout the two-day annual event include SiR, Burna Boy, Snoh Aalegra, Baby Rose, Thundercat, Raekwon and Ghostface Killah, Griselda, Brandy, Musiq Soulchild, Phony Ppl and DJ Diamond Kuts.
Check out the Roots' street sign below.
56