I will run the risk of setting myself up to called a “stan” by some anonymous internets hump, but there isn’t any other way to describe Ahmir Thompson and Tarik Trotter as anything less than being the essence of all music. ALL MUSIC.
The drum and the voice are civilizations two oldest instruments. The drum was created as a percussive element to mimic the majesty of thunder. The drum tells us to prepare our ears to listen. Ever notice how your ass freezes up when you hear thunder? Like, “Oh shit, a storm is about to popoff.” The voice communicates our messages. Fear, pain and sometimes love are the most popular themes. The drum and voice are universal everlasting. They are both primitive, yet still so beautifully eloquent. I mean the drum and the voice.
Black Thought and ?uestlove are beautiful dudes as well. [ll] to that. My experiences of these artists in live concerts have always been favorable and sometimes they have been close to spiritual. Black Thought and ?uestlove have mastered their respective instruments. Black Thought folds and mends his vocal chords so that his voice not only gives information and intonation, but also homage and respect to the voices that have preceded his. ?uestlove… You should already know.
As much as I love to see the Roots crew live I will admit to not liking any of their studio albums. I don’t dislike them in as much as I don’t love them. While all their albums have grown on me there has yet to be the album they have released which I anticipated more than a concert from them. ‘Game Theory’ was almost that record. ‘Rising Down’ could be that album. The Roots pull out some boom bap and even some go-go music along with a radio friendly soft rock collaboration on ‘Rising Down’. I’ve come to expect the Roots to always remain two steps ahead of popular culture. This CD continues that trend.
With nearly twenty years of recording music together for both Black Thought and ?uestlove I think the Roots has finally figured out the formula for transferring their stage presence into a studio album. ‘Rising Down’ is a seriously fun endeavor for this band. I hope everyone recieves the project as well as I did. And definitely catch the Roots when they are in your town.
‘Rising Down’ featuring Mos Def, Styles P, and Dice Raw
‘Get Busy’ featuring Dice Raw and Peedi Crack
The illest Hiphop band eva
Top 10 illest groups or emcee. I remember how I felt when I heard “Do You Want More”…it was different when things were Hip-Hop was still varied…I’m just glad they’re still around.
Black Thought = GOAT
Re-spin “Illadelph Halfltime”. IMHO that’s a GOAT candidate album, right up their with Midnight Marauders & Illmatic
I cant agree with you enough on the whole movement/collective vs. album comparison….ever since i bought Organix i’ve been having to justify the hotness of the albums to myself. Never had to do that with Blackstar tho. yup
Black Thought is probably the greatest emcee out there right now and the Roots are the shyt.
Went to High School with the dudes. I rep ROOTS crew to the fullest. Thought is in my top 10 emcees list and I have to argue his spot everytime I talk about it.
I love ?uestlove liner notes
he one of the best at writing about the musical process and being creative
i wish he would collect them in a book
Dallas did you get a chance to peep the green lantern cd…..
The intro ? wrote for Check The Technique was great, talking about how It Takes A Nation of Millions changed everything for him.
Can’t wait for this to come out. (Wish you had posted 75 Bars though. Thought was a razor-toothed Pac-Man on that joint. Plus the tuba. Only The Roots could put a tuba in a song and have it come out being so dope you didn’t even know it was a tuba)
it’s official. April 26th I will lose my Roots’ live show virginity. Although not the ideal venue…I’m excited.
Anybody in the Baltimore area rollin?
@Encyclopedia Black
tuba? The Roots been using all the types of instruments. Scottish bagpipes on “Do You Want More” back in 1994.
Dude I could not have said it better. You really hit the nail on the head. As a Nigerian, I love The Roots cuz they touch on things I can relate to and not just Americans and they recognize Nigerian stars like Fela and Femi Kuti. My fave album is still Things Fall Apart. I really wish they would have accepted peedi as a sub complement to Black Thought. Help shake things up. But I wouldn’t have them any other way. Real music rules
@El Gringo: But tuba? I can name a few songs where I’ve heard bagpipes, but none up till now have had tuba. Can you name any songs with tuba in them?
@Encyclopedia: I wanna say Trick Daddy’s “Uh huh, ok, whassup, Shut Up” had a tuba in it.
What the hell are we talking about here? Tuba? Bagpipe? The Roots pwn the DNA to the voice and the drum. Every other instrument ever created tries to imitate those two sounds.
I went to a Roots show and Hub had attached his pubic hairs to his bass guitar and ?uesto was beating out his ballsachs with drumsticks and Thought was scatting while eating out Jaguar Wright on stage and y’all niggas is talking about tubas and bagpipes?!?
My point is the tuba doesn’t sound like a tuba on 75 Bars.
@Ceez: Yeah, he sampled a marching band I’m pretty sure. Good call.
@Dallas: This is what the internets do. They make people (me) obsess about minutiae. It’s like finding a pair of Jordan Is and obsessing about the shoelace tips.
You forgot to add that Captain Kirk had made a guitar out of Michael Richards’ hair.
I wish more people here in Philly valued and respected The Roots as much as people from outside locations do (though the Roots have shit on plenty of people here in the 215 to warrant some hate).
Thought is bar for bar, show for show the most consistent MC of all time. Their catalogue is thorough (“Tipping Point” and “Phrenology” are aiight), but “Things Fall Apart” is an absolute CLASSIC album. And “Game Theory” was remarkable. Can’t wait to hear where they take us with “Rising Down.”
I like how Ambassador knows about the show here and I don’t…I’m losing right now.
sangano Says:
April 2nd, 2008 at 8:04 pm
I cant agree with you enough on the whole movement/collective vs. album comparison….ever since i bought Organix i’ve been having to justify the hotness of the albums to myself. Never had to do that with Blackstar tho. yup
Huh? Am I lost here? Didn’t Mos Def & Talib Kweli only record ONE full length LP as Blackstar? And wasn’t that project originally only supposed to be an LP but the heads at Rawkus decided to rush it out so Mos and Talib added some more joints on to it? I thought it was a damn good album but it was not the mind blowing project that people always claim it was.
Do You Want More?!, Illadelph Halflife & Things Fall Apart>>>>>>Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Blackstar
As a matter of fact: Cannibal Ox-The Cold Vein>Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star
It was just an album, people! It wasn’t the damn Autobat Matrix..
One.
All I got to say about this is that Ive thought the Roots were the truth ever since I saw them perform live at Amherst in 96 – yes Im old dammit!
L
No other concert has dope covers of Dr. Dre AND the Police…
Amadeo – on 4/20 they’re doing a free set as part of the Big Apple Festival in DC on the National Mall.
Will it be crowded as fuck and jam packed with tree hugging environmentalists?
Sure.
But it’s free, and it’s the Roots. And it’s metro accessible.
Towson tickets on sale now via Ticketmaster tho. $15.75 with surcharges and all that shit.
Oh and I know about these things because it’s kind of my job. Kind of.
While I’m at it. El-P and Dizzee Rascal @ 9:30 club May 9th I believe. Sometime in May. May 5th? 9th? Sometime.
@ Zilla –
You know how it is – nobody hates Philly more than Philadelphians. They call that ‘tough love’. I remember I read an article on why cats from Philly never get love from their hometown. It’s that beastly grind that makes the shiniest diamonds. . .
Dart it’s not quantity its quality, and that’s not to say that Roots aren’t quality, but for meeeeee and my taste the Blackstar album trumps any roots album….but then again it trumps most everything except Illmatic, Ready to DIe and a few others to me…soo there you have it one spics opinion….take it for what it is. Moreso if its such a common perception there must be something to it.
then again i just got into law school …. i could really give two fux
J Dot:
You’re dead-on about Philadelphians, however the Roots have done their fair share of dirt to peeps when they were on the come-up…I wasn’t talking on the general nature of hateful peoples down here, but how the Roots have repeatedly shot themselves in the foot in their hometown.
Amazing to see real hip hop fans dedicating word to real hip hop artists. Been a fan of Roots for a while now. A lot of people always debate about groups and I mean no disrespect to the greats. So down with Tribe, Wu, Goodie Mob, Outkast, EPMD, even if you count the one-album Blackstar too. But Roots are the tops. So consistent, Black Thought is one of the hardest hitting emcees ever to touch the mic. He’s unquestionably in the Hall of Fame. And just to double the skill, Questlove steps up on production and drums. The whole group is straight fire. Can’t wait for Rising Down…especially because it features real hip hop artists…Com, Kweli, Peedi, Mos, and maybe Lupe.
As someone who’s worked for The Roots in the past, and been close to collective for more than decade, I can not express how proud I am to see Tariq and Ahmir finally get the respect that is long overdue!!!
215 all the way live.. Do or Die!