the microphone Black Thought (Tariq Trotter), or Questlove on drums? Uestlove (Ahmir Khalib Thompson), the low Hub (Leon Hubbard), Kamal (Scott Storch) on keyboards, percussion Knuckles, Captain Kirk on guitar Malik B and himself at the microphone ... this is the formation of a group has become historic in the world of black music: The Roots!
Despite their generally been categorized as "alternative" hip hop, along with other groups like Blackalicious and Common, the longevity of their success is still evident even after 24-year career.
is apparently a success inexplicable, why? Well they represent the other side of hip hop: the cultural fringe with a dignity far removed from that genre at that time would have damaged much of the production in the 90s.
The Roots do not wear gold chains from a pound, do not wield guns in their videos and do not go around with expensive big car, do not use violent or sexist tone, in fact differ in all respects from the stereotype of rapper hick who eats hamburgers drinking champagne.
From what you guess? Just listen to Things Fall Apart in 1999, in which profess a strong criticism of the unhealthy marketing hip hop, indecent or that colonialism would soon have destroyed the roots of Black music in the world of hip hop!
phrenology is the title of the album released in 2003, simple as erudite quotation: This term refers to the science that studies the personality according to the shape of the skull ... personality items in a very small skull is the model of the mass audience modern, this is the only explanation I can give the much-acclaimed success of all those horrible sounds as sickening as that ipercompresse so fashionable today.
The meeting of the MC Black Thought and drummer Questlove goes back in the distant 1987, the Philadelphia High School for Creative Performing Arts. Initially the two do not have the money to afford turntables, mixer, microphone, and especially the right amount of vinyl to produce rap-the-art, then, to make ends meet, trying to recreate the rhythms of the Golden Age with the battery of the same Questlove, who has a talent overflowing on his side, and also, coming from a family of great musicians doo wop, at 13 years was a true master with chopsticks.
So The Square Roots, the first name of the group, decided to perform an opportunity happen everywhere, from sidewalks to parties or on the stage of their school.
During this period, adding bassist Hub and rapper Malik B, and this training begins with the break-in period that sees them engaged in New York and Philadelphia, quickly becoming a very popular group in the real underground.
1993 marks their first big break, when asked to represent the hip hop festival to a German for the occasion affect the Organix album with the intent to sell a few copies at concerts.
antennas professionals label DGC / Geffen will capture the talent, and in '95 comes the publication dell’album Do You Want More?!!??!
È un disco prodotto senza nessun tipo di campionamento, senza ricorrere a materiale registrato, in cui è la stessa crew a suonare la propria musica; proprio per questo però, il disco non ha successo, perché è il periodo del pieno boom del G-Funk (ghetto-funk o gangsta-funk) e quindi la loro trasgressività nel proporre un hip hop strumentale, passa inosservata agli occhi del grande pubblico.
In questo stesso anno la line up si espande, con l’ingresso di due membri fondamentali per l’evoluzione del gruppo, ovvero il tastierista Kamal e il beat boxer Razhel the Godfather of Noyze.
This training gives new life in 1996 Illadelph Halflife, preceded by the single Clones, which quickly reached the Top 5 of the rap chart, a song by the sounds typical of the sharp rap underground, where it was produced a beautiful video, which explores all four disciplines of hip hop, breakin represented by the big b-boy advocate Bobbito Garcia, the founding father of the movement of street graffiti Phase 2. Thanks also to the influence of new information, the group compromises sampler of the bases, making the finished product a bit 'more commercial, but never forgetting the clever and witty style that distinguishes them and which is reflected also hit in the Keep It Real.
1999 was an eventful and busy year for the band, the rapper Malik B leaves the scene for drug problems (occasionally reappear in the next album), but it is also the year of the third album Things Fall Apart , through which the group finally reaches the consecration in the world. The achievement of this huge success is due to the numerous collaborations that have enhanced the entire work: the soul singer D'Angelo, Common, Mos Def, the club hit produced by The Next Movement Dj Jezzy Jeff. But it is mainly due to the pearl of the disc, or You Got Me, that sales reach almost one million copies: sung by the inimitable Erykah Badu and written by a then unknown Jill Scott, this wonder he won the Grammy award!
The Roots Come Alive is a live album in the history of the very few hip hop is recorded between New York and Paris and always goes back to 1999. Maybe just intrigued by this production, the following year, Jay-Z will convene for its recorded for MTV Unplugged.
After all these achievements and accolades, the group is challenging working on a project is innovative, now abandoned the idea of \u200b\u200bfollowing an analogy with the success of the previous disc.
In fact, in 2002, after the intense design work in studio durato tre anni, portano alla nascita l’album Phrenology. Disco ricco di sfumature creative, in cui viene meno la vena jazz che aleggiava nelle precedenti produzioni lasciando il posto ad un rock razionale e più melodico.
Un pioniere come Afrika Bambaata sostiene che sia proprio il rock ad avere un rapporto di fratellanza con l’hip hop, e che quindi la connessione tra questi due generi è più diretta rispetto a quella commistione col jazz molto orecchiabile, ma poco incisiva ed energica.
Seguendo questa filosofia, questo album si potrebbe definire il più rap di tutta la discografia dei The Roots!
Questa formula vincente prende life in the hit single "The Seed 2.0, which participates in the same Cody ChessnuTT or author, vocalist and guitarist of the song already included in his solo debut album The Headphone Masterpiece.
Many other effective partnerships give birth to songs really well done: Break You off with the warm voice of Musiq and also the hypnotic rhythm of Sacrifice, in which a strangely sweet Nelly Furtado enriches the chorus in the background.
A little less than two years, published The Tipping Point, symbolic title that takes this concept from the work written by Malcolm Galdwell, or the "tipping point" beyond which a simple idea can become suddenly one of the phenomena of mass, difficult to explain rationally. It is critical for their innovative research, because in an environment, one of hip hop, now all too standardized, it is increasingly difficult to impress the ears of the slumbering masses. But starting from tradition, takes shape represents a highly successful musical, in which the incisive rhythmic Questlove blends better with sought-after sampling of Kamal, as in the best tradition of hip hop. From rap to very close quarters of Black Thought on the Supercar champion in track Do not Say Nuthin ', or references to Bob Marley in shades of chorus Guns Are Drawn, a piece highly critical della pubblica amministrazione americana, ma anche le ballatissime I Don’t Care e Stay Cool sono tutti tasselli che completano un puzzle perfetto, nonostante le importantissime assenze di Razhel e Malik B.
Poco dopo la pubblicazione di questo album, i rapporti con la casa discografica Geffen cominciano a rovinarsi del tutto, fino a spingere il gruppo ad orientarsi verso la famosissima Def Jam. Prima di questo epico passaggio però, a fine 2005 esce in due volumi separati Home Grown! The Beginner’s Guide To Understanding The Roots, nel quale sono presenti numerose chicche sia live che versioni inedite in studio.
L’inaspettato cambio di etichetta spaventa non poco i seguaci storici group, as the Def Jam hip hop group also produces much more pop, but obviously we are talking about The Roots, who refuse to be definitely influenced by the needs of commercial producers, indeed, the single Do not Feel Right paves the way for a hard angry and full of social conscience, entitled Game Theory. With his fiery rhymes, Black Thought becomes an entertainer as well as education in the first single, also in Music and Songs In The False Media.
Equally moving is the song Can not Stop This, dedicated to J Dilla, a great friend and collaborator of the Roots, who died in February 2006.
two years later and Rising Down, the disc that most of the previous stresses the integrity and creativity of the band and the refusal to compromise, and showed that the total artistic control of their music.
In fact the same Questlove defines this album as the most political to date, as it deals with matters such as drug addiction involved, differences in treatment in prisons and more generally in life Philadelphia. Certainly are not reassuring messages as those launched by the band, considering that the date of the official launch of the disc occurs precisely on the 16th anniversary of the famous Los Angeles riots, sparked by absolution of those famous policemen who were filmed beating black Rodney King.
Other significant songs are I Will Apologize, a tribute to the great Fela Kuti, as well as Criminal, an intense debate about the injustices of life on the streets, and even the single Birthday Girl, in which the singer's voice stands out Fall Out Boys , Patrick Stump.
In the two years after Obama becomes president, the band became a regular guest of Late Night With Jimmy Fallon and bassist Hub gives way to Owen Biddle, thanks to which, coming from a school of jazz fusion, The Roots begin to move towards a progressive black 70 years. This is shown, in the album How I Got Over, collaboration con artisti meno rap come i Monster Of Folk e Joanna Newsom nei brani Dear God 2.0 e Right On.
Nuove melodie psichedeliche e nottambule, con un flow decisamente superiore alla media tanto da chiamare in causa, sempre con estremo rispetto creativo, la buonanima di Curtis Mayfield in Walk Alone; per non parlare della base old school di Radio Daze, alla quale si abbina una tastiera quasi orientale dell’ottimo Kamal.
Il brano Wake Up Evereybody, al quale partecipano John Legend, Common e Melanine Fiona, viene pubblicato durante il periodo della campagna elettorale di Obama, e successivamente nel 2010 nasce l’album Wake Up!
È un progetto portato avanti by The Roots with the talented singer John Legend, a collection of timeless classics, masterfully interpreted by the powerful voice of the Legend himself, accompanied by metrics Black Thought and the "conductor" Questlove.
seems too easy to bring up titles like Little Ghetto Boy and I Can not Write Left Handed to collect a success already good and ready but due only to the original authors, but certainly the talent and passion that exudes from this collaboration , thus making these cornerstones of modern black music notes now completely metabolized, according to actual recall those emotions that only the genuine quality music can create.
After so many years now, the "roots" of this group are well settled in spite of not always fertile ground and, thanks to their rugged quality, continue to transform it into fruits which absorb loads of nutrients for the mind those who can appreciate. The Roots, just like "roots", transforming all that assimilated from the environment in an effective message, direct and very realistic in our everyday life ... Never better name for this band hip hop!
Claudio Valerio
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