Drummer and co-frontman for the original all-live, all-the-time hip-hop band the Roots, Questlove (Ahmir Thompson) was also arranging and producing Roots tracks from their 1993 recording debut. Aside from the band, he appeared on or produced tracks for D'Angelo, Erykah Badu, Common, Fiona Apple, Dilated Peoples, and Nikka Costa, though his first record under his own name, Babies Makin' Babies, was a mixtape of smooth soul instead of his own productions; he put together a sequel in 2006. Three years later, among continued recording activity with the Roots, he became a near-household name when he and the Roots were tapped to be the house band on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. ~ John Bush