Key Takeaways

• Questlove described how D’Angelo’s presence during the 2025 Roots Picnic rehearsals felt unusually final.
• D’Angelo’s physical condition suggested deeper health issues that were not publicly known.
• Their last conversations moved beyond music, deepening their decades-long friendship.

Questlove is remembering his longtime collaborator and friend D’Angelo with a heartfelt tribute following the singer’s passing.

In a personal essay published by Rolling Stone on Thursday (Oct. 30), The Roots drummer opened up about the neo-soul legend’s final months and how he sensed something wasn’t right during rehearsals for the 2025 Roots Picnic. D’Angelo, who was supposed to headline the annual festival, pulled out at the last minute and was replaced by Maxwell.

“We rehearsed two weeks out. He was famously secretive, but something felt different,” Questlove wrote. “The first clue: Rehearsals started late. Nothing new in his world, but this was ridiculous. I scheduled 10 p.m., but the first note hit at 3 a.m. By 7, I had to leave for the airport. He looked wounded. ‘Where you going? We only did a few hours.’”

The 54-year-old continued, “He struggled to hold his guitar, preferring to sit at keys. I thought it was an aesthetic choice — a throwback ’95 vibe. I didn’t realize the medical truth unfolding. When asked, he said he’d been through something but was on the mend.”

Questlove, who co-founded the Soulquarians with D’Angelo and J Dilla, admitted that rehearsal felt “final.” “I started thinking to myself, ‘Why do I feel like this is the last time I’m gonna play this song with him?’” he said.

As previously reported by REVOLT, D’Angelo died earlier this month after a private battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 51. The four-time Grammy winner’s music defined the neo-soul movement and inspired a new generation of artists like Frank Ocean and H.E.R.

Questlove says his final moments with D’Angelo were some of the best

Elsewhere in the tribute, Questlove looked back on their final days together, revealing that despite the pain, those moments brought them closer than ever. “I have to say, the last weeks with him were probably the best for our friendship,” he reflected. “Music was always the template for our communication. Now here we were in the hospital — no soundproof separation booths, no drums, no keys, no instruments, no musicians. Nothing but just the two of us talking. About where our lives had been in the past five years or so.”

He also admitted that facing the uncertain finality of it all felt somewhat awkward for him. “Is this visit gonna be my last visit? Is this concert gonna be the last one we watch together? Will this be the last J Dilla beat we lose our minds over?” Questlove asked. “Man… Since that day back in 1996, talking about our hometowns and high school and our churches and our fathers and how we escaped it all, we hadn’t talked all that deep.”