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Mo' Meta Blues: The World According to Questlove Paperback – Illustrated, May 12, 2015

4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 810 ratings
Goodreads Choice Award nominee
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"You have to bear in mind that [Questlove] is one of the smartest motherf*****s on the planet. His musical knowledge, for all practical purposes, is limitless." --Robert Christgau

A punch-drunk memoir in which Everyone's Favorite Questlove tells his own story while tackling some of the lates, the greats, the fakes, the philosophers, the heavyweights, and the true originals of the music world. He digs deep into the album cuts of his life and unearths some pivotal moments in black art, hip hop, and pop culture.

Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson is many things: virtuoso drummer, producer, arranger, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon bandleader, DJ, composer, and tireless Tweeter. He is one of our most ubiquitous cultural tastemakers, and in this, his first book, he reveals his own formative experiences--from growing up in 1970s West Philly as the son of a 1950s doo-wop singer, to finding his own way through the music world and ultimately co-founding and rising up with the Roots, a.k.a., the last hip hop band on Earth. Mo' Meta Blues also has some (many) random (or not) musings about the state of hip hop, the state of music criticism, the state of statements, as well as a plethora of run-ins with celebrities, idols, and fellow artists, from Stevie Wonder to KISS to D'Angelo to Jay-Z to Dave Chappelle to...you ever seen Prince roller-skate?!?

But Mo' Meta Blues isn't just a memoir. It's a dialogue about the nature of memory and the idea of a post-modern black man saddled with some post-modern blues. It's a book that questions what a book like Mo' Meta Bluesreally is. It's the side wind of a one-of-a-kind mind.

It's a rare gift that gives as well as takes.

It's a record that keeps going around and around.
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  1. Print length
    288 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Grand Central Publishing
  4. Publication date
    May 12, 2015
  5. Dimensions
    5.25 x 0.75 x 8 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    9781455501373
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1455501373
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Attention White Girls: Stop reading about vampires and read what Questlove has to say instead. Mo' Meta Blues is a magical kaleidoscope about a high concept, low maintenance genius named Ahmir. Like him, it's smart, funny, sweet and in a thousand places at once. Read it or rot on your vine."
--Amy Poehler

"Questlove is an artistic giant and spiritual genius whose roots go back to Curtis Mayfield and so many others. This book is a gem to read and a joy to feel! Don't miss it!"
--Dr. Cornel West


"I truly love this book. I felt like I was having a conversation with Ahmir, and I may have even said aloud a few times, "What? No way!" It's everything I want to know about someone who is obsessed with music...his love for music (contemporary/revolutionary/cool) is tireless. I am forever a fan of Questlove's fanaticism."
--Fred Armisen


"A busy thicket of musical geekery . . . likable . . . funny . . . MO' META BLUES has an open-mike, improv-night spirit . . . The end pages on my copy are crammed with song titles; they resemble the back of a popular girl's senior yearbook." --Dwight Garner, New York Times

"Smart, funny, insightful . . . [The] joy of this book is getting to live inside Questlove's jam-packed, restless brain for a while . . . Four stars." --Rolling Stone

"MO' META BLUES isn't just a memoir. It's a dialogue about the nature of memory and the idea of a postmodern black man saddled with some postmodern blues. It's the side wind of a one-of-a-kind mind. It's a rare gift that gives as well as takes. It's a record that keeps going around and around.

"[MO' META BLUES] is incredible . . . [Questlove is] one of the more unabashed music geeks to ever walk the earth . . . a student of music and pop culture. But, as the book demonstrates, Thompson is also a wonderful storyteller." --Pitchfork.com

"A thoughtful, incisive analysis of hip hop-and pop music in general-from one of its foremost contemporary architects . . . a book with as much warmth, heart, and humor as introspective intelligence. Fanatics and newcomers to the music will both find plenty of revelation here." --Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"A hip hop thinker with historical perspective . . . an excellent book." --Philadelphia Inquirer

"After reading it, you'll feel like you know Questlove. The book is intimate and funny. Plus, you'll come away with a crash course in hip-hop history." --NPR.org

About the Author

Ahmir Thompson, also known as Questlove, is the drummer and co-founder of the Grammy award-winning hip hop band The Roots. He is also a world-renowned producer, arranger, and songwriter. In 2009, The Roots became the house band on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. Questlove has over 2.4 million followers on Twitter and has been known to DJ damn near every night of his life.

Ben Greenman is an editor at the New Yorker and the author of several acclaimed books of fiction, including Superbad, Please Step Back, and What He's Poised to Do. As a journalist and critic, he has written widely on music and pop culture. His most recent novel is The Slippage. He lives in Brooklyn and has never been known to DJ, ever.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ 1455501379
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Grand Central Publishing; Illustrated edition (May 12, 2015)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 288 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 9781455501373
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1455501373
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.31 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.25 x 0.75 x 8 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 810 ratings

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  1. Ben Greenman

    Ben Greenman

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    Ben Greenman is a New York Times-bestselling author who has written both fiction and nonfiction. He is the author of several acclaimed works of fiction, including the novel The Slippage and the short-story collections What He’s Poised to Do and Superbad. He is the co-author of the bestselling Mo' Meta Blues with Questlove, the bestselling I Am Brian Wilson with Brian Wilson, Brothas Be, Yo Like George, Ain't That Funkin' Kinda Hard on You? with George Clinton, and more. His fiction, essays, and journalism have appeared in the New Yorker, New York Times, Washington Post, Paris Review, Zoetrope: All Story, McSweeney’s, and elsewhere, and have been widely anthologized. His most recent book is Dig If You Will The Picture, a meditation on the life and career of Prince.

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  2. Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson

    Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson

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  3. (Musician) ?uestlove

    (Musician) ?uestlove

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Top reviews from the United States

Rock&Ice
5.0 out of 5 stars Fun and Enlightening read!
Reviewed in the United States on January 4, 2024
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I could just read this stuff indefinitely (much like Jon Krakauer type mountain adventure literature for me). What a fun and interesting biography and such a cool style with the additional voices from Questlove’s manager and bio co-writer.

I picked this up after reading Black Thought’s bio The Upcycled Self which was also very interesting. Honestly, not to take anything away from the BT book, but I think this has it beat by just going deeper with more stories. Although to be fair Tariq might go to even darker areas if his life in The Upcycled Self, as he has some seriously dark places from his past to share.

Anyway, I am very glad I read both books and especially found Mo Meta Blues to be a satisfying read. I’m glad the editors and co-writer allowed Ahmir some creative license with HIS book. Trust the artist and we all come out with a better more honest and interesting product. Well done!
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Kristin
4.0 out of 5 stars A great portrait of talent and creativity
Reviewed in the United States on July 5, 2014
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I really enjoyed reading this memoir. If you're interested in the intersection of creativity, talent and success, I think you'll also like this book.

I gave this 4 instead of 5 stars because with the Kindle, it's really hard to read the footnotes in the way I think the writer(s) intended. Flipping back and forth was tedious and unfortunately, I found myself waiting and just reading the notes once I was done with the chapters. I wish Kindle editors would make this a little easier for readers.

Otherwise, very accessible and satisfying memoir from an admirable figure.
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Andito Toquito
5.0 out of 5 stars What's Not to Love?
Reviewed in the United States on November 5, 2014
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I've been a fan of The Roots since the mid-nineties. Wwhat initially attracted me to them was the interplay between the live band behind the rapping, thus merging two forms of music that I had love since I was a little kid but up till then had seen as mutually exclusive, at least in what would truly be categorized as hip hop (vs. rock rap like 311 or Rage Against The Machine). Anyway, I already digress.
When I found out that Questlove had written a book, I can honestly say I had mixed feelings, first because on a number of music-related films I've seen in recent years, the camera would turn to him as this sage-like authority on music, and he seemed all to pleased to play the part, making me wonder if he was full of himself. On top of that, when I heard The Roots took a gig as a backing band on a late night talk show, as much as I respect an artist's freedom of direction and need to make money and have an audience, I couldn't keep the term "sellout" from popping up in my head. Nevertheless, the high ratings on this site suggested this book would be a worthwhile read, and were they ever right!
If you haven't already lost interest in this review, unless you're both a musician and a voracious reader, you probably will soon since my reasons for loving this book are very personal. Still, it moved me so much I just felt the need to testify.
Now the review begins in earnest:
What moved me most about this book is the fact that Questlove, like me, is clearly a musician, music lover, and a voracious reader of both reviews (are you reading this?) and books about music. He states early on that like me, musician autobiographies are one of his favorite kinds of books, and that when he decided to write one, he decided to take an avant garde approach to writing it by including atypical elements like memos from the co-author to the editor, a soundtrack to his early life (precisely what I have students of mine do and have considered writing an entire book on myself), and a sort of foil to his voice in their long-term road manager, who at first gets his own chapters but ultimately, and I'd say more effectively, gets a sort of veto power in the form of footnotes. At first, the skeptic in me saw all this as a shallow gimmick, but it didn't take too long for me to view it as a brilliant remix to the format of what's become (I believe) the best selling non-fiction genre: the memoir.
In terms of pure content, the book serves as a fantastic first-hand retrospective of hip hop's golden era in the nineties, not to mention a delivery room recounting of the birth (and ultimately death?) of what ist sadly seeming like a brief and wonderful hybrid of hip hop and R&B in neo soul. The list of names present at the house party jam sessions at his place in Philly contained the bulk of the roster of artists who revolutionized my concept of what could be done with music between 1999 and the mid-O's.
Genres aside, this is ultimately the story of a person who has dedicated his existence to music while rarely compromising his principles (yes, I'm deliberately contradicting my earlier accusation). This struck such a chord with me because I have put a massive portion of my adult life into developing my skills in creating music. It is partially the lack of desire to compromise my principles that has kept me from "making it big," but another part of it is not being able to find a band that is willing to stick it out long enough to make a name for itself. In Questlove's impressively honest recounting of Tthe Roots' existence as a band, he shows what a challenge and a rollercoaster it is to keep a band going. From the hand-to-mouth struggles of their early days to the mixed reactions to their later albums, it's evident that it's been no walk in the park for the roots and Questlove, who is clearly his own separate institution on so many levels, but it seems like it was (and continues to be) all worth it.
To go back to my earlier comment on the TV gig, reading his explanation of it makes total sense to me, and it looks like it's actually been a phenomenal boon to the band. I don't normally watch TV, but I'm now curious to see them do their thing on that show since it sounds like there's lots of love, intelligence, wit and hard work going into it.
The last element I'd like to address is his love for music. Like Questlove, I would call music my one overt addiction (I even recorded a song about it back in the days of my Tascam 4-track called "Musical Junky"). To hear Questlove talk about his genre-spanning appreciation of music hit home so hard, especially the element of having certain songs and artists that you kind of secretly appreciate. (I thought that I was the only one who frequently skips tunes on my iPod to avoid shame when friends are listening.) The last detail that really jumped out was when he mentioned DJing and not playing his own stuff when he does it. It's a trip to hear someone at that level make a statement like that, but let's just say I know exactly what he means. It's one thing to put your songs out there with a band on stage, but when playing them next to other artists' tunes that have the dance floor moving, what if people clear the floor like what happened in the club in Florida? That was a super poignant detail in the book, but it also shows how the art of music is not only about selling records and making people want to shake that thing, and for that I am very thankful for all Questlove and other uncompromising artists like him have done.
P.S. After reading what I wrote, I realized I didn't address my earlier suspicions about him being full of himself. In getting to understand him better, I realized that he really is a sage-like authority on music, which is why documentarians more in the know than me sought him out for his input. I'd actually say that after reading this book, I'd consider him to be impressively humble and practical.
6 people found this helpful
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K.L. Brady
5.0 out of 5 stars Late to the party, but SO glad I came...
Reviewed in the United States on June 14, 2016
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I'm so glad I picked up Quest's memoir after finishing Something to Food About, which I also highly recommend. This was truly an insightful book which offered a look at his work, within our world, interweaved with music and hip hop...MY kind of hip hop (which is the best of hip hop). I loved many things about it, including the structure--it was different. As a huge fan of ATCQ and the Native Tongues and D'Angelo, I'm absolutely amazed at how connected the Roots crew is to everything I love in music, especially neo-soul and hip hop but also just plain good music from any genre. It was about music but so much more. I most enjoyed reading about his creative journeys -- success, failure, success, failure, success...the never-ending cycle of highs and lows, the intricate relationships, the everything. Mirrors my own...except I DVR Fallon instead of starring on it. lol I came away with quite a few takeaways--here are 7. 1. The artistic factions within the hip hop industry are eerily similar to those in the AA literary industry. There's a constant tug of war between artistic traditionalism and commercialism. Excellent discussion on that throughout. 2. No matter what your journey, your gift, or your art is, the key to success is perseverance. Simply can't quit. And when opportunity knocks you have to say yes. 3. Side note -- I could see the birth of Black Messiah in here -- thanks to Quest for Pino Palladino and that bass line in Another Life. 4. I'm not the only one who judges the "Coolness" of Jimmy Fallon's guests by whether they acknowledge The Roots. 5. If you need creative energy this is a great place to find some. 6. We all need a Ben Greenman to help tell our stories. 7. We Aquarians rock.

This was a fantastic read. I devoured it in a couple of days. Like the Steve Jobs bio, this is definitely a book that I'll read more than once. I highly recommend it
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Mabuses Sohn
5.0 out of 5 stars Sehr gute Analyse
Reviewed in Germany on October 24, 2020
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Wie bleibt ein Künstler kredibel? Questlove verät es dir und noch einiges mehr.
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Didier Celestine
5.0 out of 5 stars Bien
Reviewed in France on April 9, 2020
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Bien
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Danilo
5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating read for any kind of music enthusiast
Reviewed in Australia on August 4, 2018
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Fascinating reading for any type of music enthusiast. Ah it takes you through the soundtrack of his life, highlighting pivotal recordings and moments in his and modern music history.
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knovo
5.0 out of 5 stars I love? estlove and The Roots and had to check ...
Reviewed in Canada on December 1, 2014
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I love ?estlove and The Roots and had to check this book out. Witty, informative, sentimental...just some ways to describe the character and emotion that is captured in this tell-almost-all of his life and the music that surrounds him. I especially love the parts where he discusses encounters with other celebrities.
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Jonathan Pedlar
5.0 out of 5 stars Questlove rules
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 3, 2014
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Ok so here I am a 57 year old who grew up listening to Glen Miller , The Beatles then ELP , Led Zeppelin etc and then diversified in musical tastes reggae ,latin, funk ,NewOrleans brass band the list could go on and on ! .. A guy I worked with also a drummer (much younger) tried to introduce me tp Hip Hop and Questlove some years ago unsuccessfully .. Recently I got the Joe Jackson CD which has Questlove playing drums and then I got The Elvis Costello CD with The Roots and I was sold .. The Roots initially I found difficult to grasp but with repeated listening I fell in love with the music .
Mo'Meta Blues is the best music biography I have read , and I have to tell you my CD collection has grown ..It is well put together and the imagery created just took me to the locations being written about .. please don't be put off that some "old Guy" has read this book and really enjoyed it, buy or download a copy you won't be disappointed
10 people found this helpful
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