Roots done made a good album.

Jul 17, 2006

Roots done made a good album. · by Sach O

Despite recent attempts to paint me as a backpacking nerd who hates dancing and all things fun, I’m an equal opportunity hater and underground favorites The Roots have long been a target of my ire. Their early incarnation puzzled me: if you’ve got a whole band to make loops, how come the results come out so boring? I definitely did not want more. I started to warm up to them on Illadelph Halflife which was all over the place rap wise but noticeably improved on the beat front and actually liked Things Fall Apart which had some cohesive songwriting and one of rap’s only drum n bass outros that didn’t suck. Hell, they broke Beanie and Eve on that one so it was definitely proof that they knew something the rest of us didn’t. After that things got weird though with Phrenology being some sort of proggy mess and The Tipping Point turning into a laughable attempt to backtrack and make Black Thought relevant to the Lean Back crowd. I was ready to write the Roots off as one of those groups that Rolling Stone and Blender would forever overrate based on their boners’ for live instruments, the kind of act that would keep on touring forever but never release anything valid on wax for the rest of their career.

Turns out I was wrong on that one.

Game Theory is a cohesive, smart, emotional, creative, innovative and all around dope record. If anything, for the first time since the 90’s, it sounds like ?uestlove and crew aren’t bored with Hiphop and aren’t either trying to do some crazy space shit or fit in with the cool kids. Instead, they go the thematic route, dropping a set of dark interlinked songs examining the state of America, the world, their band and music in 2006. From the opening salvo False Media to the genuinely heart wrenching dedication to J Dilla on Can’t Stop This, the album never deviates from its mission statement meaning that unlike most current collections of songs sold on CD, it’s actually an album and not an easily dissectible collection of tracks to be filtered out in Itunes. The sound is definitely percussion heavy but they don’t shy away from sampling either, all of it tasteful and appropriate to the mix. Often times, the record sounds as if the band were trying to reverse engineer Public Enemy’s style, replacing the wall of sound with empty space and the relentless pace with a languid feeling of mourning; but always keeping the intense rush of their forbearers. Meanwhile, the band’s other great influence Jay Dee is present both in his actual production work and in a subtle interpolation of one of his best songs as a chorus. I could go on a track by track breakdown, but the whole album works best as a whole rather than separated into pieces so you’ll have to believe me and go out and buy it next month (*ahem*). In the meantime, hit up ?uestlove’s Myspace to hear the single which is a good indication of what the record’s going for at its safest.

Definitely the biggest surprise I’ve heard this year. Now if only President Carter let Nas and Ghostface record albums this cohesive…

Comments for "Roots done made a good album."

I’ve always felt “The Roots” sounded better over sampled production than their live instrumental stuff. And that’s taking Black Thought’s flaws as a rapper as granted.

Although my favorite Roots song is probably The Seed 2.0, which isn’t a pure rap song to say the least.

— Epitome Jul 17, 08:46 PM
lol at your choice of photo.

I heard this album last night and indeed it’s their best since TFA

— Rafi Jul 18, 01:19 PM
I can’t believe you didnt like Do You Want More?? or Illadelph that much. Those shits bang. To each their own I guess.

— jbutters Jul 18, 04:31 PM
I definitely liked both. I didnt feel organix though the way some people do.

I played the shit out of DYWM.

— Rafi Jul 18, 05:00 PM
I liked Illadelph but I find it belnds together too much. I don’t traffic in rating albums on a scale but it’s not bad despite its faults. Definitely don’t feel “Do you want more” though.

— Sach Jul 18, 05:10 PM
Funni, how people rank roots albums. I think it goes with ur taste in music. People into Jazz and funk (such as myself) tend to prefer Organix and Do You Want More, which are my favorite roots albums. Then Things Fall Apart fall into those who prefer that straight up hip hop. Phrenology being for those alternative/rock types. Maybe I’m wrong, but that’s how i see it.

— JoMaboo Jul 18, 10:17 PM
I disagree. I like listening to straight up jazz & hip-hop too. I even own a record featuring Questlove playing with some jazz musicians and it sounds pretty good. But DYWM? is a really boring record.

— Epitome Jul 19, 07:59 AM
Ya’ll are crazy. DYWM? and Illadelph are classics.

— jbutters Jul 19, 10:47 AM
DYWM was dope, illadelph was doper, how old are U homie, cause my ears were around in the 80s so I got to hear the progression as it happened from Super Rhymes to the 90s Boom Bap beats. I still remember the Beatminerz did the remix on one of the dope Roots joints to give them a more street sound on DYWM. I forget the song. But Beatminerz were dope innovators, but they been wack since 97-98. Or at least over rated. Everybody and they mama could make a hot beat post ’96. I still got like 20 records I bought in Paris in ’97 that sound like Premo or Dre or Rza or somebody dope from down the block did them. Btw, I l8 as hell but I love Ur blog homie.

— BILY BO Mar 1, 02:54 AM