Hello fellow music lovers and welcome to another edition of Way Back Wednesday, where I shed some light on some artists and jams from way back in the day.
Eleven albums deep, and The Roots keep coming back with more. "Distortion To Static" is one of the most-played hip-hop songs in my catalog, mostly because the 1994 single represented my first dip into independent hip-hop, and The Roots along with A Tribe Called Quest and Pete Rock & CL Smooth were my first true loves of indie grooving sounds. I've seen the Legendary Roots Crew perform live three times and each experience proved memorable. In fact, the Roots was one of the first concerts I ever went to, at Bogarts in Cincinnati. Of course, the crew killed it. They had me at the get-go — live instruments + hip-hop = win.
Background: It all started in 1987 at the Philadelphia High School for the Creative and Performing Arts. Frontman Black Thought met and became friends with Questlove, a drummer. Their first performances were on the street corners of their home town, with Black Thought rapping over Quest's bucket drum beats. The lineup has changed over the years, some members popping in for a single album, others lingering for several, but Black Thought and Questlove remain constant, their combined forces making up the group's powerful heart. The Roots sound straddles the line between neo-soul and hip-hop, and unlike traditional hip hop, where beats and production is created with computers and samples, The Roots both record and perform live using guitars, bass, keyboards, brass, and whatever else works for any given album. This approach has pushed The Roots into sonic realms few other hip-hop artists were exploring, not to mention earned them new fans that weren't normally listeners of the genre.
Notable Albums: The band's first album, Organix, was released and sold independently in 1993, and created enough industry buzz to earn The Roots some label offers. They ended up signing to DGC/Geffen, and dropped their sophomore LP (but first proper national release), Do You Want More?!!!??! in 1994. The album saw moderate success, partly due to a memorable performance at Lollapalooza paired with three strong singles: "Distortion To Static," "Proceed" and "Silent Treatment" all earned hip-hop classic status, arguably more popular now than on their original release. Fast forward two years and out came album number three, Illadelph Halflife, in 1996. The Philly natives finally broke into the Billboard Top 40 and their videos started regularly airing on Yo! MTV Raps. "What They Do" probably has my favorite hip-hop video ever, and the track was the most successful of Illadelph Halflife, calling on the smooth croons of Raphael Saadiq for the hook, which he lay over smooth jazz guitars and keys. In a time of hyper-flashy lifestyles, The Roots remained conscious, and the video offered their brilliant and necessary commentary on rap video cliches; the version with sarcastic subtitles exposing the false realities was considered a landmark statement at the time. The Roots would never adopt that sort of hip-hop attitude, and their video was a direct jab at the ones who did at the time: Will Smith, The Notorious B.I.G. and Puff Daddy among them.
Having some success with Halflife, The Roots were primed to break out and become stars, and Things Fall Apart would be the album that powered their launch. The bands fourth full-length dropped in the winter of 1999, its sound fitting for the colder months with sobering, heavy subject matter accompanied by a denser sound. The single that carried the LP, "You Got Me," features vocals from Erykah Badu, who replaced original singer and co-writer Jill Scott. The label wanted a higher profile singer on the hook, so Scott had to wait a bit longer to get noticed. Female rapper Eve also made her debut appearance on the track. "You Got Me" went on to win a Grammy in 2000.
"Distortion To Static"
As far as I'm concerned, The Roots are one of the best groups around, period. Where do The Roots rank for you? What's your favorite album from the legendary crew?
This article appears in Jul 9-15, 2015.