Roots’ Dark Minds and Questlove Sued by Ex-Bassist’s Estate

Stephanie Hubbard, the widow of the Roots‘ former bassist, Leonard “Hub” Hubbard, is suing her late husband’s partners, alleging they violated federal RICO statutes in handling the band’s finances. Questlove and Black Thought are both named in the suit, along with manager Shawn Gee, Live Nation Entertainment, and other business entities connected to the band over the years. A representative for Roots did not provide comment.

Leonard Hubbard first joined Questlove and Black Thought in an early iteration of the Roots, then called Square Roots. He remained with the group from 1992 to 2007, leaving after a diagnosis of blood cancer. Hubbard died as a result of cancer in 2021.

In court documents seen by Pitchfork, Hubbard’s estate claims that Grand Negaz Inc., the company set up in 1993 to manage the band’s businesses, gave the bassist a 17 percent share, along with Questlove and Black Thought each had rights to 35 percent (vocalist Malik B .also received 17 percent). The estate made similar claims about additional entities established in 1999 and 2000 to handle the band’s publishing and touring.

The suit alleges that Black Thought and Questlove used their Roots business apparatuses to arrange other band-related ventures and personal matters. All the while, Hubbard remained a stakeholder in their original corporation. Although he is no longer actively performing with the Roots, the suit maintains that Hubbard was not paid according to the original agreement, and that money owed to Hubbard was used to fund other Roots-related projects.

Calling Questlove and Black Thought “the Plotters,” the suit further claims that, in April 2013, the Roots transferred all of their assets—including the alleged debts to Hubbard, and he didn’t know—to a new business, Legendelphia LLC. “The RICO Defendants unlawfully, while using racketeering activities … took Plaintiff-Decedent’s money, and destroyed [his] music business,” the suit reads in part. The accusations of “racketeering activities” include “forgery, wire fraud, bank fraud, mail fraud, and criminal copyright infringement.”

Stephanie Hubbard’s attorney, Luke Lucas, shared the following statement with Pitchfork:

I hope people who make music together look out for each other. Ms Hubbard is the widow of a great musician and from Philadelphia, an undisputed founding member of a great hip hop band. Fame doesn’t have to preclude fairness for those who make your success possible. There would be no Roots without Leonard Hubbard.

Leonard Hubbard had sued before his former bandmates on similar grounds in 2016, claiming that he was not paid properly as a co-founder of the band.