Philadelphia Hip-Hoppers 'The Roots' To Get A South St. Mural
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Philadelphia's favorite band is hooking up with Philadelphia's premier public arts program. The Mural Arts Program today announced a new project with "The Roots."
Mural Arts Project director Jane Golden says the project will include a very large mural on a yet-to-be-determined wall somewhere on the east end of South Street, and an arts education program (called "Roots 101"), with classes to be held in an empty storefront nearby.
Roots members Kamal Gray (in white cap) and Tariq Trotter (in black hat) joined Golden for the announcement, at Head House Square. Another founding member of the group, Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson, had been scheduled to appear but begged off due to illness.
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Trotter says it's not his first involvement with painting walls in the city.
"I was in the Anti-Graffiti Network because I was ordered to," he admits. "I had scrub time, you know what I'm saying? I went before Judge Reynolds back in the day, and he said, '150 hours,' so I had to do these murals. So it's such an amazing blessing and so ironic for a legal mural to be going up of The Roots."
Reported by Pat Loeb, KYW Newsradio 1060