The Roots

Harrisburg University, in partnership with Dauphin County, is excited to present legendary American hip hop band The Roots in concert at Harrisburg’s Riverfront Park on July 29, 2023.

The Roots have consistently elevated music and culture as one of the most influential and impactful hip-hop collectives of all time. Founded by Tariq “Black Thought” Trotter and Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, the three-time GRAMMY® Award-winning multiplatinum group went from rapping on Philadelphia corners all the way to gigs at The White House, a longtime stint as the “house band” on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” and billing atop their own annual festival The Roots Picnic.

Among numerous classics, they changed hip-hop forever with 1999’s platinum Things Fall Apart—which Rolling Stone named one of the “500 Greatest Albums of All Time” and Pitchfork graded “9.4-out-of-10.” Their GRAMMY® Awards include “Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group” for “You Got Me,” “Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance” for “Hang On in There,” and “Best R&B Album” for Wake Up. As a live phenomenon, The Roots made history as the “first hip-hop group to perform at Lincoln Center,” and Rolling Stone lauded them as one of the “Twenty Greatest Live Acts in the World.”