Jul 02 2008
The Roots Are Ridiculous
Title says it all doesn’t it? On Wednesdays I tutor this kid who lives about 45 minutes, give or take, away from me. As always I had my trusty iPod on me and today I decided to put in on shuffle through the entire Roots catalog. And I was totally blown away. I hadn’t listened to these guys since their Rising Down LP came out and I guess I forgot how unbelievably incredible they were. Every album had it’s own sound and as I listened to track after track, I truly appreciated just how much they’ve evolved their art since the Organix days. Words don’t do this group justice. It’s times like this when I truly appreciate youtube.
As I mentioned before, the Roots never stop growing with every new record, and in my opinion, their growth can be mapped out fairly well just by listening to their albums. It all began with Organix and what I like to call the jamming era. Now, the Roots have always been known their live instrumentals and on their debut and the follow up Do You Want More?!!!??! it’s clear why that is. Lyrics are still pretty good, but Black Thought and Malik B haven’t evolved into the total monsters they’ll become yet and there are times where their rhymes left you wanting a bit more. Besides, the lyrics took kind of a back seat to the band. Every song was just one huge jam session and it really shows in the overall energy of the first two albums. Here’s a song off their debut Organix, Pass The Popcorn.
Did you see ?uestlove’s hair??? Guess, the Root’s musical style isn’t the only thing that’s grown. Anyways, after two albums of jam centric music, the Roots decide to seriously step their lyrical game up and the improvement between the first two and Illadelph Halflife is crazy. Black Thought and Malik B rhymes some of the sickest lines of their careers thus far, and Dice Raw, an additional emcee first featured in Do You Want More?!!!??! is brought back for more songs. Additionally, Illadelph Halflife, saw the Roots featuring some pretty high profile rappers, specifically Q-Tip and Common. The band is still prominent but the focus shifts drastically to focus on the actual rapping. This trend is continued on their next album, my personal favorite, Things Fall Apart. By the end of these two albums, the Roots had established themselves as a rap group and not simply a band that featured rapping. Here’s a song off Things Fall Apart, The Next Movement (you can also go to my top ten hip hop videos entry and watch the incredible What They Do off of Illadelph Halflife)
After the incredible success of Things Fall Apart, the Roots suffered the loss of Malik B and a couple of other members. Thus started the Black Sheep era, named as such because I think these albums are usually unfairly viewed as bad albums. During this period, the Roots experimented a quite a bit with their sound and due to this Phrenology and it’s successor Tipping Point, sounded different from any other Roots album so far, and even from each other. Hell, some of the songs on the same album seem miles apart from each other. Regardless, some dope shit was put out during this time and this is my favorite single from the period, Don’t Say Nuthin.
After, Tipping Point, the Roots signed with the unexpected (as far as Roots fans were concerned) Def Jam Records. This move worried a lot of people, because they feared that Def Jam would force the Roots to conform to making ringtone singles and that the quality of their music would drop as a result. O ye of little faith. Nothing of the sort happened, and the move to Def Jam started the Dark as Midnight, Politically Angry Era. The band takes the backseat and the jam sessions are basically nonexistant. However, Black Thought seems to finally have found something to rap for, and his lyrics become dark and out of that darkness comes focus like never before. Also, Malik B made his triumphant return during this time, although he still hasn’t joined again officially. The Roots of the present have come a long way since Organix, but damn, quality is quality, and they’ve never failed to impress me with every album they’ve released. Here’s a personal favorite, Get Busy, off the Rising Down record. Jazzy Jeff on the hook is just bananas.
So that my friends, is in a nutshell, the Roots. 8 studio albums in and they show no sign of slowing down. Just incredible. Besides, if they ever decide to call it quits as a rap group, they can always reform as some kind of hip hop influenced rock group. The members are more than proficient with their respective instruments and Black Thought has some ridiculous pipes. Don’t believe me? I leave you with this clip of their amazing U2 tribute/cover.
