Creative Quest- Questlove's book on creativity

Questlove on the left, with a funny and cool drum solo battle with F Knuckles.  Co-leader of the band The Roots, now house band on the Jimmy Fallon Show, he's also a DJ, he produces music, he puts on "food salon" events with top chefs, and he writes books.  The guy WORKS.   

I'm reading Questlove's book, Creative Quest* right now.  It caught my eye at the library a while back, while looking through the "creativity" section.  I'm not sure what I was looking for.  I do creative work for a big chunk every day, I just don't make a living at it.  I don't really have big questions about creativity at this point, I've figured out my own process, and create stuff daily.  I guess I wanted a little inspiration, and a different take on creativity.  I wanted to hear someone else's thoughts on how the make cool stuff.  

The book is kind of rambling, it a real conversational feel.  It has interesting stories that go off on tangents, from one idea on creativity to a related one, then to another one.  I'm about halfway through the book now, and it's a really interesting read.  Questlove has far more going on, and is much more complex than I thought.  Like many people, I knew him mostly as "the drummer with the afro pic" on the Jimmy Fallon show.  I'm not a serious hip hop fan, not even a moderate hip hop fan.  

But when a book catches my eye, I've learned that's a sing to check it out.  Questlove played his first gig at age 11, at Radio City Music Hall, when his dad's do wop band was playing there.  The drummer got sick, and Questlove sat down at the drums and played the show.  His knowledge of music is encyclopedic (or should that be wikipedic these days?)  He has also worked with so many incredibly talented people, and he draws on stories from many other people's work as well, from not only hip hop, but also from comedy and world class chefs, the three main creative worlds he's involved in.  

It's a good read, exploring questions about creative work, and also a look behind the scenes in hip hop and music, in a series of stories from the world of professional music.  What effect has the book had on me?  I'm writing my own thoughts on creativity now, something I've had in the back of my mind for quite a while.  So there you go.  Some of those will probably show up in this blog before long.  So if any of this sounds interesting to you, check out his book, Creative Quest.  

Here's Questlove at Google, talking about the book.

The Roots with "The Seed 2.0" featuring Cody ChestnuTT 

The Roots with "The Next Movement"

Before reading Questlove's book, there was one song featuring The Roots that I listened to on a regular basis, this one above.  My sister is friends with Anthony Rapp, one of the actors who was in the play and the  movie RENT, which also featured Idina Menzel.  Rent made me a fan of hers.  Call me a dork, but I really dig this version of "Let it Go" with Idina Menzel, Jimmy Fallon, and The Roots.  I'm weird like that.  

* Not a paid link.