Questlove Talks ‘Hope for Haiti’ Telethon

Tonight, pretty much every major American television network will air "Hope For Haiti Now" -- a multi-site telethon that you've probably heard about by now. MTV News spoke about the event with the Roots' Questlove, a man who will be backing a good chunk of the night's performers on his trusty drum kit.

"Money talks," said Quest. "We need contributions to help rebuild that society. It's only right. You would want it done for you. You need to contribute."

The event will have a resolute yet somber tone. Quest described how he is backing up performers such as Mary J. Blige, Shakira and Sting -- artists known for brighter, optimistic jams that will tone it down for the evening.

"The tone... is quite somber, very serious," he explained. "We're going to back up Mary J. Blige. I know that usually people expect Mary's work to be rather upbeat... Shakira, there's no hip-shaking tonight."

The Roots' performance during the telethon is something of a blessing. They are normally busy taping for 'Late Night With Jimmy Fallon' on Fridays, so the group originally passed. When Fallon caught wind of the situation, he moved the taping to earlier in the day and opened up the band's schedule.

"Of course, we're in real time right now," said Quest. "Lives are literally on the line. There are still literally hundreds of thousands of people who haven't been located, that are still buried under the rubble... It's a sense of urgency... There's so much work to do and so little time to do it in."