Start Living In A New World....
When I said The Roots will be the subject for tomorrow, you knew by "tomorrow" I meant "next week"...right?The Roots have dug to new depths and thus reached new heights with their newest release Game Theory. The best release in their career in my opinion.
After their commercial breakthru LP Things Fall Apart, which featured their huge hit "You Got Me" with Erykah Badu, The Roots were now on everyone's radar. So what do they do? They refused to make the same album and released Phrenology an album chock full of psychodelic rock and punk influenced and they threw most of those new found fans off. Criticism was at its peak. People didnt like it, people didn't get it. Now reeling from that criticim they release The Tipping Point with the embarassing lead-off single "Don't Say Nuthin". Tipping Point was safe....a attempt to reel back in all those they lost with Phrenology and it served as their most boring and unplayable album to date. It was then that I grew frustrated and disinterested with my 2nd favorite hip hop group.
After being released from their contract and signing a new deal with Jay-Z and Def Jam, I was HIGHLY pessimistic that Game Theory would even be worth purchasing. I was wrong. And I was glad I was wrong. Jay-Z has often aluded that beneath the bling and status, he is a hip hop head at heart. Well he allowed The Roots to make their darkest, most uncompromising album of their careers. No blatent commercial radio attempts. Game Theory is bold, yet paranoid. A call to action yet is fragile and unsure all at the same time. Black Thought has grown in his subject matter (as he was doing on Phrenology) .
The album features Jack Davey of J*Davey, Mercedes Martinez of The Jazzyfatnastees, and the return of missing in action Roots member Malik B. The highlight of the album however is a tribute to the late great Jay Dee aka J-Dilla. "Can't Stop This" which Dilla produced features Black Thought while others such as Talib Kweli and Common give their thoughts and memories about Dilla thru soundbites. A fitting tribute and an excellent way to end the album.
Next Entry....J Dilla-The Shining
The Roots-"Can't Stop This"
The Roots-"Living In A New World"
posted by Geezie @ 11:58 AM
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