NEW YORK, NY – March 21, 2006 – On May 18th & 19th, Grammy Award-winning hip-hop band The Roots and their new label, Def Jam Recordings, will throw a two-night party at New York City’s historic Radio City Music Hall. Sponsored and presented by Verizon, and produced by Festival Productions, Okayplayer, and Radio City Entertainment, the shows will feature highlights and hits from The Roots extensive 7-album catalogue, as well as new material from its upcoming Def Jam debut release Game Theory, slated for a late-summer, early fall release.

Tickets for both shows go on sale at noon on Friday, March 24th at Ticketmaster and Ticketmaster.com, and the remaining tickets will be at Radio City’s box office and other local ticket outlets on Saturday, March 25th. A portion of the proceeds from ticket sales will go to benefit the family of the late, legendary hip-hop producer Jay Dee (J. Dilla).

Styled after The Roots’ wildly-successful pre-Grammy Jams at the Key Club in Los Angeles, ‘Verizon Presents The Roots With Special Guests’ will find the band joined onstage by a litany of superstars, each to perform mini-sets in a seamless, non-stop evening of music. Thursday, May 18th will feature sets with new labelmate Nas and frequent collaborators Common and Talib Kweli. Friday, May 19th will feature a diverse line-up including Erykah Badu, Mos Def, J. Davey, and Angelique Kidjo. There will be more guest performers announced for both nights as they are confirmed. And true to form, many other special unannounced guests can be expected.

“Our fans should pretty much know that our New York shows are the most special shows, simply because we have been known to pull some amazing rabbits out of our hat,” says The Roots’ drummer, band leader, and de-facto spokesman Ahmir “?uestlove” Thompson. “Every show we've ever thrown in this city was a footnote and an exercise in surprise. Why deprive yourself now?”