The Roots have quietly been one of the greatest hip-hop groups of all time. The Philadelphia based band have real classics in their catalog, from Things Fall Apart in 2000 to Illadelph Halflife in 1995. The reason they tend to fall under the radar is because they’ve gotten a lot quieter over the years. Their last record …And Then You Shoot Your Cousin released in 2014 came out while they were working their full-time gig doing the late night show with Jimmy Fallon.

Now, over a decade later, they’re finally releasing a new album titled Endgame. The question is: what took them so long? In an interview with Billboard, Black Thought and Questlove of The Roots explained that they had to rediscover the creative spark that made them such a fantastic group in the first place. After working on their own solo records, they had to get back into the jam sessions that made them click in the first place.

“We’re still those 15-year-olds maintaining that [love for the music],” Questlove said. “Every time I see units and guys saying, ‘We gotta go solo,’ I’m sure it’s the Michael Jordan, Michael Jackson effect of the highlight reel. But we’ve learned that groups and collaborations are probably the wisest way to set a legacy. The solo thing is an illusion because you still need people on the team to do that. That’s what kept us together.”

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