The Roots’ Questlove is one of Hip-Hop’s most iconic figures, known for his signature afro and glasses combo. Since 2009, he has also been beamed into homes every night via The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. He recently took to IG to state the importance of practicing, and why he still DJ’s and plays neighborhood parties to this day. Here at Scratch, our facilities are open for practice most days of the week for our current students. Check his routine and what he has to say below :

"All those hours of practicing mixes. Matching keys and patterns. And small stuff y’all don’t notice unless you have dog ears. THIS. IS. WHY. I. DJ.——for people to get and understand my quirky method. I have an ulterior motive in djn which is “I wanna teach you guys the world of music and how it fits” but do it in a way in which you don’t know I’m doing that. It’s finding a world in which #Drake & #Rihanna can find a world with #ThreeDogNight & #MarlenaShaw & in my world #RareEssense #LouisPrima #BrittneySpears#GaryBartz & #MajorLazer makes sense—-and I want people walking away thinking and asking “why can’t radio be like this?” (MORE ON THAT LATER #ahem)—-but yeah this is ain’t about celebrity worship more than it’s about someone REALLY GETTING my deeper reason for djn—which was never about taking selfies w jawns in the booth and partoning em up for later (I HATE cats that use the DJ booth and studio for that purpose)——for those late to the party I did a mammoth 6 hour gig at Central Park on Sunday with the LOUDEST SPEAKERS ever and not one noise complaint (money doe$ talk up there huh?) 11pm to near 6am they danced like their lives depended on it. This has never happened in the 30 years of me DJing. This makes up for every “Ju f^^%%n suuuuuck!!!!” celeb quip flashback nightmare I’ve had. This makes it worth it."

"Even when you think you got the hang of it? STILL PRACTICE. Always Practice. perfect practice makes “perfect”—-no short cuts to wisdom, it’s trial and error. And most important? #Practice!!"