Questlove and Black Thought Ink First-Look Deal

Photo Courtesy of Dominik Bindl/WireImage

Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson and Tarik “Black Thought” Trotter of Grammy Award-winning, multiplatinum hip-hop collective The Roots and their production company, Two One Five Entertainment, have inked a first-look deal with Universal Television Alternative Studio and Universal Television.

The three-year deal covers development on scripted, unscripted and specials programming across television and digital content platforms, expanding The Roots’ 10-year-plus relationship with NBC.

“This deal is very important to us as we’ve been content producers and storytellers for our entire career,” said Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson. “A significant investment from Universal Television Alternative Studio and Universal Television in our vision allows us to share these stories on a much larger scale. Tarik and I see this as the next chapter to our careers, and we are very involved in the entire process. I’m directing, Tarik is writing and we both are producing.”

“Many of our initial projects have been music-centric content, and one of our goals is to become the premiere hub for music storytelling – a safe space for these stories to be shared across a variety of platforms,” added Tarik “Black Thought” Trotter. “Eventually we will expand outside of music with our stories. However, as we all know, every story has a rhythm and Two One Five Entertainment will harness that rhythm and create well-produced, compelling content.”

“The Roots are innovators and cultural tastemakers whose breadth of musical knowledge is unparalleled,” said Meredith Ahr, President, NBC Alternative and Reality Group. “The band has been a cornerstone of NBC’s late-night programming for over a decade, and we are excited to extend our collaboration across a diverse slate of projects to bring even more compelling storytelling to our audience.”

The Roots is the official house band on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” where Questlove also serves as the show’s Musical Director.