Questlove, the drummer, author, publisher, and Oscar award winning filmmaker sat down recently with Business Traveler to discuss his future plans, which consist of less work and more self care. “What I’m doing now is kind of uncharted territory,” he says. “This is beyond being a multi hyphenate. A big part of the idea or illusion of Questlove is that I work nine jobs and I’m so hardworking. Maybe my life goal is to show people that it’s cool not to work so hard."

Quest is taking a page from Andre 3000 in some ways. “Probably the most important lesson of André 3000’s journey is the fact that he had the wherewithal to actually say, 'You know what? I need to sit down and not do something,'" he said. “When Jay-Z was saying, ‘I’m gonna retire,’ I used to laugh at that, like Black people don’t retire,” he says. “It’s sad to say that, but basically it means that we don’t feel safe to just stop and be. So I’m looking forward to that.”

In addition to publishing books, further exploring the culinary arts, and shining a light on environmental racism, Questlove wants to start a family as well. "My panic reaction to Summer of Soul was to grab everything because it might not happen again," he said. "Once I whittle these nine projects down to a normal level, then I’m dead serious: I’m going to try my hardest challenge, which is not working as hard and not using work as a distraction from the things I really should be doing, like starting a family with my girl. I don’t want to be the same person in my mid 50s as I was when I was 20.”

Questlove is currently preparing his next book, Hip-Hop Is History, and plans to work on several films that deal with issues of metaphysics, spirituality, and class issues.