
*After declaring its lifelong love of hip-hop last year, the Roots Picnic will celebrate the year 1995 in 2025 with “A Roots Picnic Experience: Class of ’95.”
Alumni appearing at the Live Nation Urban and the LA Phil-hosted event, which returns to the Hollywood Bowl on June 8, 2025, include Lil’ Kim, E-40, Method Man, Redman, Raekwon, DJ Quik, Goodie Mob, Havoc of Mobb Deep and more, Vibe reports.
The Roots will do double duty as the headliner for its namesake Picnic as well as the band for all performers,
Tickets are available now for the annual event at the Hollywood Bowl’s official website.
Weighing in on the Picnic’s theme, Roots drummer Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson noted how significant 1995 is for his group while chronicling the path taken by the legendary Roots crew to get to where they are now.

“Well: 1995 was our true arrival. Nineteen eighty-seven was the Year of the Creative Adhesive, the year that tied together Tariq’s world and my world in high school, and 1991 was the Year of the Green Light, the year we gave ourselves permission to take our resources and passion and pursue our dream. But 1995? That was the Year It All Came Together,” the Oscar-winning entertainer said in a statement.
“[1995 was] when our first major release, ‘Do You Want More?!!!??!’ was sent into the world. Hip-hop was an entirely new ballgame back then, on an entirely new playing field. Those were the days when there were still things like mainstream terrestrial radio, bloated video budgets, and creativity at both the regional and the global levels. Those were the days that produced classic album after classic album, unleashing countless new ideas about art. Those were the days when the world was our oyster. This is the story of those days.”
In addition to “Do You Want More?!!!??!,” 1995 was a very good year for hip hop, with classic debut albums from the likes of Ol’ Dirty Bastard (“Return to the 36 Chambers: The Dirty Version”), Three 6 Mafia (“Mystic Stylez”), Raekwon (“Only Built 4 Cuban Linx…”), Goodie Mob (“Soul Food”), Big L (“Lifestylez ov da Poor & Dangerous”), and Tha Dogg Pound (“Dogg Food”), among others.
In addition to classic material, 1995 brought the the East Coast – West Coast beef, which culminated in the deaths of iconic rhymesayers Tupac Shakur and the Notorious B.I.G.
“A Roots Picnic Experience: Class of ’95” comes after 2024’s sold-out “Roots Picnic: Hip-Hop is the Love of My Life.” The event, which marked the first time the Roots Picnic was held in Los Angeles, included performances by The Roots, Queen Latifah, Common, Digable Planets, and Arrested Development.

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