Nothing if not prolific, The Roots are always thinking about ways to up the ante on their musicality. Up next for the legendary hip hop band is territory that they've never explored before: a "full-fledged narrative concept album" with strong orchestral influences.
Speaking to Billboard.com at a recent event in New York, ?uestlove said the crew's 12th album will in a way be the inverse of their critically acclaimed 2010 release, How I Got Over.

"Instead of from dark to light, it's an album that goes from light to dark," he said. "It's going to be heavy on sort of orchestral chamber music with harder beats in it."
Questo wouldn't reveal the album's name just yet, but teased that it would pose a challenge to spell.
"It's a one-word title that's spelled incorrectly," he hinted.
As for a release date, the veteran drummer and composer said it was too early to tell, but he hopes to get it out by early 2012.
"In a perfect world it would come out in November, but in this world that we live in, maybe January? Maybe February?" he laughed. "I don't know, but hopefully it's gonna be in a timely fashion."
The Roots held the 4th annual Roots Picnic in their native Philadelphia on Saturday with performances by Nas, Wiz Khalifa, Yelawolf, Esperanza Spalding and more.

(Photo: Evan Agostini/PictureGroup)