"Astonishment is our natural state of mind." - Paul Harris.
"Style is what an artist uses to fascinate the beholder in order to convey to him his feelings and emotions and thoughts." - Stanley Kubrick.
"Always be yourself, express yourself, have faith in yourself, do not go out and look for a successful personality and duplicate it." - Bruce Lee.
"If ya ears hurt, you shouldn't listen. That means you artificial and my style'll poison ya brain tissue." - Black Thought
"I also believed that comics were capable of more than just making people laugh. So in my themes I incorporated tears, grief, anger, and hate, and I created stories where the ending was not always happy." - Osamu Tezuka
The Roots - The OtherSide (feat. Bilal Oliver) [Late Night w/ Jimmy Fallon: 2011-12-06]
A web exclusive clip showcasing a tremendous live performance of undun’s superb 6th track (and a vintage style Roots composition that belongs up there with some of the band’s greatest creations). Always a treat to peep these incredibly talented gentlemen performing live on late night network TV (and at their own nightly gig, no less). Everyone across the board kills it here: Thought performs both of his ill verses from The OtherSide and then (like the human rhyme style replicating machine that he is) executes Greg Porn’s excellently dark third verse to perfection. Then there’s Captain Kirk blacking out on electric guitar, not to mention Poyser and Kamaal totally feelin’ it on the keys (James even cracks a smile near the end). And finally, the illa-5th dynamite back-and-forth between Bilal and Kirk during the track’s extended home stretch, leading into a ?uesto-led crescendo finale (I imagine this is how The Roots will be performing this joint while on tour). Can’t wait to get the chance to peep this (and other wonderful moments from undun) live in person, hopefully sometime next year. Be sure to cop the new album (my CD copy is currently in transit, packaged together with this super sweet Roots tee). “That’s when we’ll settle up the score!”
A rare and excellent interview with IMO the greatest MC alive (and I personally told the man exactly that when I shook his hand at a live Roots show I attended nearly 5 years ago), Tariq Trotter aka the incomparable Black Thought of The Roots. Cop undun, out in stores now as it’s getting phenomenal reviews across the critical spectrum. No doubt, the Legendary have done it yet again. 18 years in the game and sitting right on top of it with the most thought provoking album of the year.
THE ROOTS | The Other Side (feat Bilal & P.O.R.N.)
The Roots, also known as The Legendary Roots Crew, The Square Roots and The Foundation, are an influential, Grammy winning hip hop group based out of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, famed for a heavily jazzy sound and live instrumentation. Inspired by the “hip-hop band” concept pioneered by Stetsasonic, the Roots themselves have garnered critical acclaim and influenced later hip-hop and R&B acts.
While everyone is shitting their pants about The Black Keys - El Camino, I’ve been eye’ing up on my home city band/hip hop group from Philly, The Roots. Their recent album, ‘How I Got Over’ was a good one and for sure it was some good vibes almost anytime of the day. The first time I listened to that album was traveling on the “el” on the Red Line to downtown Chicago and when I heard this was coming out, my ears were wide open curious to know/hear what they had going on this time around. I’m going to say one word…damn. This is one more fabulous album adding on to their flawless discography.
Though the group had multiple members going in and out, this group doesn’t disappoint. I chose this song due to the fact of how raw of the hip-hop/soul vibes are clashed together. Dynamic drums, deep vocals, organ synths/pianos, and moving chorus drops all create a ‘feel good’ sound. If you aren’t into The Roots, this sound, or whatever it is, they’re a group to get into if you want to expand your mind a little. To end this off a bit, what threw me off a little bit was in the end of the album there was movements (Possibility, Will To Power, and Finality). It’s literally them playing instrumentals that are really nice to hear, fucking around banging on shit, or well, both. Regardless this album has some unique features on it.
The Roots, stay relevant and keep it real. Love your shit.
The Roots - Kool On (feat P.O.R.N. & Truck North) [LC recommends]
4 full front-to-back listens deep in yet another excellent studio recording (and one hell of a reverse narrative concept) from the most consistent band in music and my favourite group/musicians of all-time. And this beautiful joint is an early contender for the best track from undun. From Tariq’s unmatched storytelling abilities on the first 2 verses to P.O.R.N nicely holding his own on the third verse to Bilal’s pitch perfect handling of the dramatic hook, this track (featuring ?uesto’s laced-out drums and Poyser’s heavenly keys) just gets everything right on and IMO is one of the best compositions The Roots have ever created (coming from a loyal admirer of 2-1-5’s finest for 16 years and counting). Copping the CD on the 6th of December to show support for the hardest working band in hip-hop.
undun is an existential re-telling of the short life of one Redford Stephens (1974-1999). Through the use of emotives and Redford’s internal dialogues the album seeks to illustrate the intersection of free will and prescribed destiny as it plays out ‘on the corner’. Utilizing a reverse narrative arc, the album begins as the listener finds Redford disoriented–postmortem–and attempting to make sense of his former life. As he moves through its pivotal moments he begins to deconstruct all that has led to his (and our own) coming undun.
“At this point in our career we’d like for our work to have a unifying theme, and an experiential quality,” says Ahmir “?uestlove” Thompson, 40. “We’ve been intentionally making our albums shorter in length so that they can be experienced as a continuous work. The music is band-oriented with an eye on the moody cinematic. As a DJ, I am the King of playlists, but I don’t want our albums to feel like a playlist or a mixtape for that matter. We want to tell stories that work within the album format and we want the stories to be nuanced and useful to people. undun is the story of this kid who becomes criminal, but he wasn’t born criminal. He’s not the nouveau exotic primitive bug-eyed gunrunner like Tupac’s character Bishop in “Juice”… he’s actually thoughtful and is neither victim nor hero. Just some kid who begins to order his world in a way that makes the most sense to him at a given moment… At the end of the day… isn’t that what we all do?”
Can’t believe that The Legendary are already putting out a brand new LP (and a concept album at that). I’m all for shorter (read: 40 min) studio recordings if it means more frequent releases from the hardest working band in hip hop music. Plus, you gotta love that extended breakdown at the end.
Official tracklist:
Sleep
Make My feat. Big K.R.I.T.
One Time
Kool On
The Jump
Stomp
Lighthouse
I Remember
Tip The Scale
Redford
undun hits your favourite music retail outlet on December 6th (instant coppage on day one). Should be the perfect way to end what has turned out to be a fine year for hip hop.
