“Questlove teaming up with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra for a ‘hip-hop brunch’ [is] a surprising pairing,” writes Thor Christensen in Thursday’s (4/14) Dallas Morning News. “Titled ‘Questlove’s Hip-Hop Brunch: A Visual Journey Through Hip-Hop,’ the concert Saturday at the Factory in Deep Ellum is billed as ‘an immersive brunch’ with visuals by Dallas artists Jeremy Biggers and JM Rizzi and a live collaboration between Questlove and the DSO…. Ahmir ‘Questlove’ Thompson [is] best known as the drummer of the Roots … band…. He’s also a producer, an adjunct professor, a podcast host (Questlove Supreme), a historian who’s written six books and a director who won his first Academy Award in March for the documentary Summer of Soul…. He isn’t the first rock or R&B artist to team up with the DSO. St. Vincent did it in 2015 … and Q’s old pal Erykah Badu did it in 2019…. It’s also not Questlove’s first dance with an orchestra. In 2017, the Roots performed ‘A Night of Symphonic Hip-Hop’ with the Dallas Pops … and live-streamed it worldwide.” DSO President and CEO Kim Noltemy “compared Saturday’s concert to the 2018 Soluna Festival, when the DSO joined forces with the rapper Nas.”
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