The Roots went all out to perform their new single, Dear God 2.0, with the help of Jim James and an orchestra last night on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.  Pretty epic performance right here.  How I Got Over is in stores this Tuesday, and on iTunes Sunday night at midnight.

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John Legend’s new album, Wake Up, which is entirely produced and recorded with The Roots, is coming this September.  They have performed  together at a few shows this year and one of these occasions was this weekend in Philly, the night before The Roots Picnic at The World Cafe. In this epic set, JL and The Roots cover Roberta Flack, Curtis Mayfield, Teddy Pendergrass, Bill Withers and Donny Hathaway among others, with Black Thought adding in some rhymes.  Here’s a soundboard recording of the show.

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Back in 2007, The Roots took the VH1 Hip Hop Honors on the road, with the help of Big Daddy Kane and MC Lyte.  It was one of my favorite tours from The Legendary as they did nothing but hip-hop classics all night long.  One of their covers was the Gang Starr staple, “Just To Get A Rep”.  The Roots crew nailed the beat and Black Thought brandished a slow flow that would have earned the respect of the master of the slow flow himself, Guru.  Here’s the flawless cover of a timeless hip-hop classic.

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Back in 2000, The Roots embarked on an Okayplayer Tour with Reflection Eternal, Slum Village, Bahamdia and Guru among others.  It was amazing to hear Guru perform backed by The Roots.  As we continue to honor the memory of Guru, here’s another great gem from the Okayplayer Tour 2000 stop in Phoenix, AZ.  Setlist and download after the jump.

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I’m a bit late to the party here, which is funny because I meant to post these right after Questlove orginally shared them on his swift.fm page, but it slipped through the cracks.  Regardless, if you haven’t heard these gems by now, The Roots paid homage to the great J Dilla on the anniversary of his passing by recreating his beats in the studio between rehearsals and tapings at 30 Rock.  Unfortuantely, Black Thought does not grab the mic, but this collection of laid back instrumental grooves played by The Roots band will certainly get a ton of spins as its perfect to just lay back and vibe to.  Free download and stream below.

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We got an exclusive throwback today from The Roots crew.  This gem is from back in 1999, in the Things Fall Apart era of The Legendary.  During their encore, The Roots tore into Y’All Know Who with special guest Craig Harris adding to the vibes on a didgeridoo (yes, you read that correctly).  Here is our exclusive video and audio, and be sure to download their entire set from Montreux over at our sister site, TheRootsLive.com.  Also check out the ATWL Vimeo channel for more live concert videos.

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