Questlove helping Jay-Z with Reasonable Doubt Performance

By: Yves Erwin Salomon

Questlove from the Roots has worked with Jay-Z in the past, so he wasn't surprised when the rap mogul asked him to serve as musical director for his special concert this Sunday (June 25th) at Radio City Music Hall in New York City. The drummer said he was a little nervous about Jay-Z performing all of the songs from his 1996 platinum debut, Reasonable Doubt. Questlove told MTV.com, "Unless you do (the songs) night after night, there's a chance you could forget (the lyrics). In (Jay's) case, I'm suggesting -- I've seen (Bruce) Springsteen do it, R.E.M. do it, (David) Bowie do it -- I'm suggesting that (there) be a teleprompter. There are too many words in '22 Two's'(and) 'Regrets.'Right now, he's playing the album over and over again, learning words. He says he's gonna know everything."

Questlove was also concerned because several guest from Reasonable Doubt, such as the late Notorious B.I.G. and Foxy Brown, who is suffering from sudden severe hearing lost, are unavailable. The producer said, "'Bring It On'(has) my favorite (DJ) Premier loop. The problem is it's a posse cut. (Who knows what's going on with) Jaz-O and Sauce Money. I don't want to cut one verse of that song. That is my favorite song on Reasonable Doubt. I gotta figure out a way to prolong it. Make (Jay) bust a second verse or something.

He added, "This show, I will say that this is gonna be a challenge. It's sort of like doing a magic trick when you have to destroy a building and (then) that building is demolished. You've got one shot. We're gonna do a very different approach. Yes, we're gonna do Reasonable Doubt. But the question is, how are we gonna do it? I got my work cut out (for me)."

Jay-Z will launch a world tour in September.

In related news, the Roots will release their Def Jam Records debut, Game Theory, in August.