The Roots announced the 2019 Roots Picnic lineup on Tuesday (March 12). Artists included on the bill are H.E.R., 21 Savage, Lil Baby, City Girls, Ari Lennox, Black Thought & J. Period featuring Yasiin Bey (formerly known as Mos Def) and Blueface, among others.
In honor of its 20th anniversary, The Roots will also perform 1999’s Things Fall Apart in its entirety. Serving as The Roots’ fourth studio album, Things Fall Apart is often considered the group’s breakthrough album, becoming The Roots’ first record to sell over 500,000 copies.
It includes the Grammy Award-winning song “You Got Me,” which took home the gilded trophy at the 2000 Grammy Awards in the Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group category. The album itself was nominated for Best Rap Album but lost to Eminem’s The Slim Shady LP.
The 12th annual Roots Picnic takes place on June 1 at Philly’s Fairmount Park, a brand new location. In a press release, The Roots’ manager and President of Live Nation Urban Shawn Gee explained why moving from Penns Landing to Fairmount Park means so much to them.
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“We finally have a Roots Picnic in the Park,” Gee said. “The vision 12 years ago was always to provide an all day musical and cultural experience in Fairmount Park.
“Black Thought, Questlove and I grew up spending our Sunday afternoons at the Belmont Plateau in Fairmount Park watching Philly DJs spin and enjoying the vibe and the culture. It’s a great feeling to be able to come full circle and bring the Picnic to Fairmount Park. I think it’s a big WIN for the city.”
Questlove was evidently anxious to announce the lineup on Monday night (March 11). The Roots drummer tweeted a “first look” at the lineup, which actually didn’t include the name of any performers but did lead fans to his Instagram page.
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“This is your first look at the lineup for the 2019 #RootsPicnic,” he captioned the photo. “First & foremost we wanna say that for the longest all we ever wanted to do was to give our hometown the dopest festival ever. It was a great 11 years at #PennsLanding: now its time to rise up. We going to greener pastures!
“We are moving the picnic to the MannMusicCenterGrounds in #FairmountPark. Yes! Literally GREENER PASTURES! Trust us on this! Ample parking and transportation services will be on call and provided (Septa/Uber/Lyft)—-and finally we have GRASS to have a real picnic!”
Tickets will be available everywhere beginning Friday (March 15) at 12 p.m. ET. Check out the Roots Picnic’s official website here.
