Sunday night, Questlove added Academy Award Winner to his long list of accolades after receiving the Oscar for Best Original Documentary for last year’s Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised).
When we spoke to Questlove about the project ahead of its debut on Hulu last July, he told us how he was hesitant to step into the uncharted territory of filmmaking as a longstanding producer, musician and DJ. But the music journalist took a leap of faith anyway, and on the Oscar red carpet he shared his hope that others will follow his lead when it comes to pursuing their dreams.
“What I want, especially for Black people to learn, is we don’t take the time to dream enough because for a lot of Black people, we live in fight or flight and it’s always about survival,” he said ahead of his win.
“It took me three months to accept that this might be my destiny and this could change my life and yes, you are a natural born storyteller, and once I accepted that — you see how God works,” added Questlove whose documentary was also nominated for Best Music Film at the upcoming 64th Annual Grammy Awards.
“My life has totally changed,” he concluded. “This is The Roots 30th year and I’ve never had this level of dreams for myself and my music career.”
Check out our full interview in the video above.