The Roots Say Endgame Is Nearly Complete After Decade-Long Album Gap

Black Thought and Questlove are preparing The Roots’ first studio album in more than a decade.

The Roots are moving closer to a return that hip-hop listeners have been waiting on for more than a decade. Black Thought and Questlove say the group’s long-discussed Endgame project is nearly complete, giving the album its clearest sign of progress yet during a new Billboard Hip-Hop Hall of Fame interview.

The Roots Endgame album would be the Philadelphia band’s first studio full-length since 2014’s “...And Then You Shoot Your Cousin.” That gap matters because the group never disappeared from culture. The Roots remained the house band for “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” while Black Thought expanded his solo catalog and Questlove moved deeper into filmmaking, books, and music history.

According to the interview, the new sessions reconnect the band with the free-flowing jam process that has long separated The Roots from groups built primarily around programmed production. Black Thought’s writing and Questlove’s rhythmic direction can move in real time with the musicians, leaving space for arrangements to develop through performance instead of arriving fully locked.

That approach also makes Endgame more than a reunion headline. The Roots helped prove that live instrumentation could remain central to forward-looking hip-hop without turning the music into a museum piece. A new album gives the group an opportunity to test that chemistry against the sound, politics, and creative pressure of the present moment.

There is still no announced release date, track list, or completed guest lineup, so the update should be read as meaningful progress rather than a countdown. The group’s official site has not posted a retail or streaming date, and PowerPage will hold those details until The Roots, their label, or a recognized music platform confirms them.

For now, the strongest development is that Black Thought and Questlove are publicly describing the record as close to completion. Readers looking for music that is already available can revisit PowerPage’s latest New Music Friday lineup while Endgame takes its final shape.