There was a video that I was going to post with this but it has been removed from YouTube. On Friday night at a tour date in Chicago, The Roots told the audience that they will retire from touring as of March ‘09. Instead they will have a nightly gig on Late Night when Jimmy Fallon takes over. First, I would like to congratulate The Roots, they have been one of the most prominent touring acts in hip-hop for a while and have really carried the torch on what a hip-hop live show should/can be. I hope the younger generations learn from the hard work these guys have put into hip-hop. Click the break for rest of my take on their retirment.

The Roots showed everyone the light, they proved that a hip-hop act can put on a quality show, which means that they can tour extensively because people will want to pay to see them more than once or twice. I saw them live in D.C. about 6 or 7 years ago (wow, that makes me feel old) and they tore the stage up. There wasn’t just a DJ spinning the beat and an artist rhyming, there was a guitarist, keyboardist, beat boxer, lyricist, drummer and more. The use of live instrumentation in rap shows is something I have said will be a trend coming up in hip-hop and hope it catches because a lot of live hip-hop shows are unbearable these days.

The most interesting aspect of their extensive touring though is that it follows the business model of a rock artist and not a rap artist. Rock artists primarily generate their revenues through touring, where as rap artists have typically earn their revenue through album sales. The Roots toured like a rock act, which means ALL THE TIME, and because of the quality of their music and performances they drew crowds night after night. With the rapid decline of album sales, this business model is something that all hip-hop artists should take a serious look at and try to imitate. If you make quality music AND can entertain people through a good live show artists make more money through different revenue streams, album sales and touring, but also have more staying power. I’m not saying every artist needs to play an instrument or know people who do, although it wouldn’t hurt, but it does mean that the artist needs to find a better of way of connecting the music with the crowd because often enough artists do not have enough charisma to hold a show on their own with just a DJ behind them spinning.

So get a ticket to a Roots show before they finally take a well-deserved retirement and hope that the younger artists are taking note because consciously or not, they were doing far more than just entertaining us, their fans. The Roots were one of the first major groups to set a precedent for hip-hop as a genre to move away from the archaic revenue stream of album sales and into touring, a better and much more viable option for our future.

Side-note: I know I just wrote a long and thoughtful post but I have to say this, Jimmy Fallon is taking over Late Night? WTF? Maybe he can ruin every interview with his guests by laughing like he did on every skit he was on in SNL.