After more than a decade without a new studio album, The Roots appear to be closer than ever to making their long-awaited return.
The Philadelphia hip-hop institution has revealed that its next album will be titled Endgame, marking the group’s first full-length studio project since 2014’s …And Then You Shoot Your Cousin. What was once beginning to feel like an increasingly distant possibility is now becoming a genuine reality, with Black Thought and Questlove confirming that the project is nearing completion.
The wait has been a long one. Since their last album, The Roots have continued to maintain one of the busiest schedules in music. Their long-running role as the house band on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, the annual Roots Picnic, Black Thought’s solo work and Questlove’s increasingly prominent career as a producer, filmmaker and cultural historian have all kept the group in the public eye — even as fans waited for another Roots album.
Behind the scenes, however, the band has been trying to rediscover the creative environment that originally made The Roots special. According to recent interviews, Endgame represents a return to the free-flowing jam sessions that helped define the group’s earlier work. Rather than simply assembling another collection of tracks, the band has been focused on getting back into a room together and allowing the music to develop organically.
That approach could make Endgame particularly intriguing. The Roots are no longer the same band they were when …And Then You Shoot Your Cousin arrived in 2014. More than a decade of performing, collaborating and pursuing individual projects has given Black Thought, Questlove and the rest of the group an enormous amount of new musical experience to draw from.
For now, there is no officially confirmed release date. Earlier comments had suggested a 2026 arrival, but more recent reporting points toward a window of late 2026 or early 2027. Questlove has spoken about wanting the album out by the end of the year or early next year, while other reports describe the project as close to completion rather than completely finished.
