GROSS: So your grandfather, I think on your father's side, was a member of The Dixie Hummingbirds, the great gospel group. And of course, doo-wop and gospel harmonies are very connected. And I know your father didn't really like hip-hop, at least not at first. He didn't like rap. Did your grandfather not like your father's music? 
Transcript
GROSS: So your grandfather, I think on your father's side, was a member of The Dixie Hummingbirds, the great gospel group.
THOMPSON: Yeah.
GROSS: And of course, doo-wop and gospel harmonies are very connected.
THOMPSON: Right.
GROSS: And I know your father didn't really like hip-hop, at least not at first. He didn't like rap.
THOMPSON: Yeah.
GROSS: Did your grandfather not like your father's music?
THOMPSON: I've got to really, really be honest with you - see, you're kind of disarming in your conversation and, like, now I've got to be honest with you. For the longest, journalists would come and talk about William Beachy Thompson...
GROSS: Your grandfather, yeah.
THOMPSON: ...Of The Dixie Hummingbirds. And I would deny it. That's not my grandfather. No, you're wrong. And then I'd go to my Wikipedia page and someone keeps putting it back.
GROSS: You mean - is that true? It's really not your grandfather?
THOMPSON: Hear me out.
(LAUGHTER)
GROSS: OK.
(LAUGHTER)
THOMPSON: I mean, this is going on forever and forever and forever. Now, what I did know of my grandfather's relationship with his children - it was a short run and there really wasn't that much love in the household. It was a very volatile situation, my father's rearing - his growing up in that household. So he really didn't have fond memories of my grandfather.
Now, four months before he passed, The Roots got honored on Broad Street with one of those - the Walk Of Fame things. And yet the umpteenth journalist was like, this is amazing, three generations of Thompsons on Broad Street - you, your grandfather. And I was like, don't say it. And, you know, and finally I went to my dad and I was like - I said, Dad - I said, I got to tell you something. You know, for like the last 12 years, all these journalists and everybody have been coming up to me saying that William Beachy Thompson from The Dixie Hummingbirds is my grandfather. Is that true?
And it was the most painful kind of ambiguous denial ever. Like, my dad sort of, like, matrixed his way, like, out of...
(LAUGHTER)
THOMPSON: He said, well, you know, I - you know, that's what they say.
(LAUGHTER)
THOMPSON: And I said, Dad, is my grandfather William Beachy Thompson of The Dixie Hummingbirds or not? And he finally said, yes, he is. OK, there, he is. And that's kind of how I find out. Now, I feel horrible for all the countless cousins, all the countless family members down South that have, like - hey cousin, William Beachy Thompson. That's not my grandfather. You know, that, like, I've had millions of those moments. So right now I'm slowly doing research because I just got this confirmation four or five months ago.
GROSS: Shortly before he died, shortly before your father died.
THOMPSON: Yeah, yeah, so...
GROSS: I'm glad you were able to ask him.
THOMPSON: Yeah, yeah.
GROSS: Why didn't he tell you with pride?
THOMPSON: Because they did not have a good relationship, and I don't know. Like, I kind of wanted to go there, but at the time my dad was in the hospital sick. So I didn't want to...
GROSS: Right.
THOMPSON: ...Get into - Dad, I would've loved to have known this - you know, that sort of thing.
THOMPSON: Yeah.
GROSS: And of course, doo-wop and gospel harmonies are very connected.
THOMPSON: Right.
GROSS: And I know your father didn't really like hip-hop, at least not at first. He didn't like rap.
THOMPSON: Yeah.
GROSS: Did your grandfather not like your father's music?
THOMPSON: I've got to really, really be honest with you - see, you're kind of disarming in your conversation and, like, now I've got to be honest with you. For the longest, journalists would come and talk about William Beachy Thompson...
GROSS: Your grandfather, yeah.
THOMPSON: ...Of The Dixie Hummingbirds. And I would deny it. That's not my grandfather. No, you're wrong. And then I'd go to my Wikipedia page and someone keeps putting it back.
GROSS: You mean - is that true? It's really not your grandfather?
THOMPSON: Hear me out.
(LAUGHTER)
GROSS: OK.
(LAUGHTER)
THOMPSON: I mean, this is going on forever and forever and forever. Now, what I did know of my grandfather's relationship with his children - it was a short run and there really wasn't that much love in the household. It was a very volatile situation, my father's rearing - his growing up in that household. So he really didn't have fond memories of my grandfather.
Now, four months before he passed, The Roots got honored on Broad Street with one of those - the Walk Of Fame things. And yet the umpteenth journalist was like, this is amazing, three generations of Thompsons on Broad Street - you, your grandfather. And I was like, don't say it. And, you know, and finally I went to my dad and I was like - I said, Dad - I said, I got to tell you something. You know, for like the last 12 years, all these journalists and everybody have been coming up to me saying that William Beachy Thompson from The Dixie Hummingbirds is my grandfather. Is that true?
And it was the most painful kind of ambiguous denial ever. Like, my dad sort of, like, matrixed his way, like, out of...
(LAUGHTER)
THOMPSON: He said, well, you know, I - you know, that's what they say.
(LAUGHTER)
THOMPSON: And I said, Dad, is my grandfather William Beachy Thompson of The Dixie Hummingbirds or not? And he finally said, yes, he is. OK, there, he is. And that's kind of how I find out. Now, I feel horrible for all the countless cousins, all the countless family members down South that have, like - hey cousin, William Beachy Thompson. That's not my grandfather. You know, that, like, I've had millions of those moments. So right now I'm slowly doing research because I just got this confirmation four or five months ago.
GROSS: Shortly before he died, shortly before your father died.
THOMPSON: Yeah, yeah, so...
GROSS: I'm glad you were able to ask him.
THOMPSON: Yeah, yeah.
GROSS: Why didn't he tell you with pride?
THOMPSON: Because they did not have a good relationship, and I don't know. Like, I kind of wanted to go there, but at the time my dad was in the hospital sick. So I didn't want to...
GROSS: Right.
THOMPSON: ...Get into - Dad, I would've loved to have known this - you know, that sort of thing.
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