Questlove says his new documentary is his chance to ‘give back to’ Black history

Questlove’s directorial debut Summer of Soul is made up of 40 hours of unused, unseen footage from the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival, featuring performances from Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight, The 5th Dimension and more legendary artists. 

He couldn’t believe that the historical footage from the festival, held at Mount Morris Park in Harlem, had never been used before. The award-winning documentary is also full of footage from interviews and other historical outtakes of the 300,000 people who attended the festival. 

Questlove says he considers himself a music snob and he has such a large knowledge of music history, like our Canadian interviewer extraordinaire Narwaur the Human Serviette. He told Etalk's Tyrone Edwards that he thinks Summer of Soul is a "little Narwaur-esque." 

“I’ll say that having thought that I had Narwaur levels of music knowledge and I knew everything and you couldn’t pull a fast one on me. When I was approached about this movie I wasn’t one hundred per cent entirely convinced that it’d even happen. Only because I couldn’t see the logic of someone having Stevie Wonder and Sly and the Family Stone and Nina Simone and Mongo Santamaria and B.B. King and Moms Mabley and Willie Tyler and Lester and The Chambers Brothers, all these awesome artists and it just sat there unscathed like forever,” he explained.

“For me, that was like the one itch I had to scratch. Are our stories that disposable that you can even have this magical summit meeting of the gods of 1968 and, you know, just sort of casually be like, ‘Ah, I’ll pass?’” he said, questioning why the footage of the Harlem Culture Festival was never used until now.

"More than just being a directorial debut, I felt like Summer of Soul was really my chance to give us back our history, our music history, and make it right," the Roots drummer added.

The NYPD had refused to provide security for the Harlem Cultural Festival so the Black Panthers stepped in to make sure everything went smoothly. That looks starkly familiar to our world in 2021.

“The irony was not lost on me that we were literally living in the same exact conditions and situations, especially what happened last year living in the pandemic and especially what happened in America with Black Lives Matter,” Questlove said.

He said that he hopes that we start to see contemporary artists using their voices to "lift people up."

"There was a period in the late ‘90s where we were just so kind of disconnected from any sort of voices of being activists because it was almost like fatigue. So I’m really glad today – like H.E.R.’s a great example of how she’s using her platform and her artistry to use her voice and speak out," Questlove shared.

"I hope that this movie will inspire people and show people how you can still be a musician, you can still entertain and you can also educate and uplift your people."

BEFORE YOU GO: Queen Latifah receives BET Lifetime Achievement Award

[video_embed id='2231148']BEFORE YOU GO: Queen Latifah receives BET Lifetime Achievement Award[/video_embed]