Michelle Obama attends a roundtable discussion at Whitney M. Young Magnet High School in Chicago, November 12, 2018.
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Michelle Obama's memoir, Becoming, is out now and the former First Lady is currently on a tour promoting the book. Those lucky enough to get tickets for Obama's public appearances are welcomed to the event by a three-part, 300-track playlist curated by Questlove of The Roots.
The series of playlists, titled “The Michelle Obama Musiaqualogy,” span Obama's lifetime (1964 to the present day) and includes music from each decade. That means Sam Cooke, Ella Fitzgerald, and James Brown right up to current favorites Kendrick Lamar, Frank Ocean, and Beyoncé.
“From the jazz and Stevie Wonder of my childhood, to Prince and Earth, Wind, and Fire as I came into my own as an adult, to Beyoncé, Janelle Monáe, and so many others who provided the stirring backbeats of my time in the White House—music has always been a defining part of who I’ve become,” Obama told Billboard. “Life’s a little better when we live it to Questlove’s beat.”
