Ben Kenney Uprooted

Eve Simonsen of the Philadelphia City Paper spoke with Ben Kenney who recently left the Roots to replace Incubus bassist Dirk Lance. Kenney says Tariq Trotter, a.k.a. Black Thought, was fully supportive of his move. “[He said,] ‘Do your thing. You wanna go play rock, go’. The Roots realize they are a foundation. They understand that if it weren’t for them, a lot of sh** wouldn’t happen.” Now that he’s jumped from hip hop to rock, Kenney says he does miss his days with the Roots. “It’s that grass-is-always-greener thing,” he admits. “Turning around and playing rock, I miss things about hip-hop. If I’m playing bass, I miss playing guitar.”