?uestlove: I didn't.. the only knowledge I had of Toshi was from BET, they played a video. I think it was him and Caron Wheeler. Back then, I mean at that point in my career, if you don't get to travel and get to see the world much, you'd be ignorant to the fact that other people are just as into American culture as you are, and in some spots, actually more than you are. So it was weird, because I had yet to go to Japan in that time period. I think when I'd seen the video it was like '94, and we had yet to go to Japan, so I had no idea how they relate to our culture, or how they.. where they fit in on the whole global scale. So I remember seeing him and was like "Damn! Japanese folks singin' soul! Okay." Y'know, "That's cool."

?uestlove: Well, just because he is the.. like I know for every culture there has to be somebody that represents soul. I mean for me that just totally validates the theory that soul music is universal, and not just a "black thing," so to speak. And there's cats that I would play his stuff for, and I'm like, "Okay, he's Japanese," and they're all "Yeah right he ain't no Japanese man!" And I'd show his photo, and "That's not this guy singing." You know, there's some people that (for them) it's just hard to imagine, like "Ohmigod! What is this?" So hopefully, I guess by employing us and other artists of our caliber he will eventually be known as a groundbreaker, as far as exposing the world to Japanese soul. So it's not like he's the first to do it, but just the first to be exposed, you know. I've known many cats... musicians and what not... that have played, but as far as exposing it to the world...

?uestlove: I'd like to think of anything I do, that I have my hands in, as groundbreaking (laughing). (in response to the question) Very much so. Again, just for rewriting the book of what is the definition of soul, who's allowed to play in the game, who's not allowed to play in the game. He's taking the book and he's gonna rewrite it and show the world that, you know,Sam Cooke isn't the only one allowed to define soul, or Otis Redding. I mean at this rate, America is just now digesting the fact that boy bands can do soul. N'Sync, The Backstreet Boys. Definitely not your average Bay City Rollers type group, more Boyz II Men than, you know.. bad boys. So it's like.. I think America now is more open to different cultures expressing themselves in a way that's not stereotypical of what they're supposed to represent.

?uestlove: I mean, I see it as a big step forward because I'd never had any type of cultural base as far as how Japanese people express themselves. We've... I mean since Elton John, and since David Bowie, since even up to George Michael, you've had a feel for how white cats can express themselves in areas besides rock. With Latins, you sort of have a feel for it, but it's like, I don't know the top five Japanese rock groups, I don't know.. I mean probably the only thing I'm well-versed in in terms of the knowledge, is of course hip hop, cause I've worked with a few Japanese cats, and I know how they feel about DJing and whatnot. But as far as just the whole expressing in song, I'd like to think of myself as a person with a lot of knowledge of what's next, and always keep my ears open for who's gonna be the shit next, you know what I mean? Being as though I've never had any type of exposure to the culture, I see this as a big step. Toshi Kubota's definitely gonna be a major step in the development of Japanese soul.

?uestlove: Toshi's manager Kaz sent us a whole bunch of tapes. We were blown away

by the concerts because it was a whole bunch of people in the audience, in stadiums, screaming... Before the Roots winning the Grammy, we used to always... before the Grammys, even now, we always joke about being the martyrs of hip hop, the whole "woe is me" thing, so our whole thing was, "Well what does he want with us? We don't write hit records." (laughing) Y'know, the smart money would be go to Dr. Dre, if you really wanna break ground open, so.. the first thing I said was "wow, he must really love music," or respect music, to wanna work with us... cause the way the American system works, or the world's system, is nepotism, y'know, you sorta wanna roll with the"best." My definition of the best is who artistically stimulates you, not who has the most chart hits or whatever. If that was the case, I'd be going to Sweden to work with the Backstreet Boys. So I respected the fact that he even asked us. I was shocked. I was like, "Why us?" y'know? Like just seein' his audience kinda scared me for a bit. I was like, "Shit, if it ain't broke don't fix it!" You have an audience with all these people, and if you come to us, we're sure to ruin you! (laughing) So that right there told me he was serious about music, and that he wasn't trying to get with who had the most chart hits or whatever, so I really admired that quality. Not like "he just gave us the work, so I admire him," y'know, just the fact that he went with the underdog. And collaborating with him was cool, cause I thought at first it was gonna a communication breakdown type thing, where it's hard to communicate. Cause in the past, I've worked with DJ Krush, and he doesn't speak a word of English. It's funny, cause when his translator went on her lunch break, we didn't know how to communicate, so we'd actually talk through music. He was trying to tell me what kind of beat he wanted, but he couldn't say it. It was surreal, he'd play the beat , I'd say "Oh! You mean..." and we communicated through music. With Toshi, he's very shrewd, he knows exactly what he wants. It wasn't a thing where we could just give him any old thing. He had standards just like we did, so I really respect that in a musician. Someone that's picky, and knows what they want, cares about their career, asks questions, that type of thing.

?uestlove: Well, as far as authenticating it, again, I don't see him working with The Roots as him getting America's approval to do it, simply because we're not the biggest group in America. So I just see it as a mutual artistic growth, for Toshi and the Roots. Again, him working with Ruff Ryders, or Dr. Dre, or Swizz Beatz, then that would be a little suspect, "ok, we see what you're trying to do. You're trying to break into the American market." But just with him working with us, I just see that as natural artistic growth, and... like I wouldn't want to say that we're the authority on what soul music is,... but, as far as musicianship is concerned, you know, that definitely put a notch, a positive gold star on his report card, for me. The fact that okay, here's a cat serious about music. If anything, that was the authentic point, the fact that he's serious about music.

?uestlove: Thank you.