Playboy.com: Do you think hip-hop's reaction to Hurricane Katrina was as big as people expected? Were enough people speaking out about it?

Questlove: To really get political, you need to set yourself apart from capitalism. That's why people get leery when Bono comes around with his agenda. I find it disheartening that entertainers have more power than politicians or parents. But at the end of the day, most artists don't want to fuck up a good thing by rocking the boat. I personally can't afford to rock the boat. I don't have a yacht yet. There's no boat for me to rock.

Playboy.com:Would you have said something like Kanye did if you had the chance?

Questlove: I don't know. They would never allow me to stand next to Mike Myers to say it. I'm very dismayed about the whole political process. I've called organizations during the election period and asked why the Roots haven't been invited to play voting drives. They want the big name and I'm not a big enough celebrity. To me, it's still the same double standard. Hollywood rules. That's what makes me leery about it.

Playboy.com: How much did Katrina affect the mood, lyrics and darker feel of your new album?

Questlove: One hundred percent. The reason this album sounds like it does is strictly a timing thing. We initially wanted to work with an outside producer, and seriously considered Jon Brion, who did the soundtracks for P.T. Anderson's films. But between leaving Geffen and signing to Def Jam, we had a four-month blackout without a recording budget and couldn't start. I guess Kanye had the same ideas, since he started working with Brion on Late Registration. We needed a new angle and decided to try the Graceland approach. Let's go somewhere cool and get inspired. But again, no budget, so what's the coolest city nearby? New Orleans. We went there and found this brass band, the To Be Continued Band. We were going to work with them and go the total brass route on the album. Then, to make ends meet and generate money to start recording, we toured around Europe starting last July. Then Katrina hit. And afterwards, we literally lost that band. We didn't find them until October.

Playboy.com: Were they spread out in different cities around the country?

Questlove: At this point, I don't even know where three of the members are. We found eight of them. They all couldn't find each other after losing cell phone service and numbers.

Playboy.com: How did you first meet Tariq?

Questlove: First day of high school in 1987. I sort of compare it to when Jennifer Grey, Ferris Bueller's sister, met the thug dude, Charlie Sheen, in the police station. I was the good guy. That was the first public school I ever went to, my shit was always sheltered in private schools with only like 20 students. Tariq was getting suspended on the first day of school. I think the story might have gotten embellished, but allegedly he was getting some in the bathroom. He set his rep, so I started talking to him.

Playboy.com: How did you get into music growing up?

Questlove: My parents were encouraged by their doctor friends and the post-hippie community they ran into in West Philadelphia to let me explore and find my talent. In black households, you're not allowed to play with your food. You better eat it, or else. But my parents, they let me do my thing and beat the shit out of pots and pans and eventually get into music. I loved the Jackson 5 growing up. They were like an occupation. Adults would ask me what I wanted to be. I said, "Jackson 5."

Playboy.com: Former Roots member Malik B, who left the group years ago, has a few guest spots on Game Theory. What happened?

Questlove: Malik's return to this record was like when Matt Damon solved all those math equations in Good Will Hunting. We had a brand new engineer at the studio, and Malik just appeared one night and told him to set up a mike. He didn't know the history of the group, that Malik wasn't a member anymore. He just thought he was one of the Roots and let him record some lyrics. Our producer called me at 3 a.m. and played it for me. I was like, "What the fuck, is that Malik?"

Playboy.com: Had you talked to him before you made the record?

Questlove: I haven't talked to him for two years. I don't even know how to contact him to thank him. He was on some Zorro shit and came back a few more times to record tracks. Tariq saw him, but I physically haven't seen him for a second. That's how he's always been. Comes like a thief in the night, does his thing and [whoosh] he's out. He should be MC Enigma.

Playboy.com: Was there pressure to make Game Theory sound a certain way, since it was your first album on Def Jam?

Questlove: At the end of the day, the Roots are our own island. For me, I know people had their ideas, that we were going to do a lot of collaborations, but at the end of the day, we sort of wanted to have people think one particular way and fool them and do a totally different album. I know this isn't the album people thought we were going to create for Def Jam.

Playboy.com: How different is the record industry now from when you started out?