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The Roots album graced by a Romare Bearden collage is less than half the length of each studio set the group released from 1995 through 2002. It might be the one that requires the most deep listening to absorb. Part of that can be attributed to the array of voices, or characters -- the widest variety of Roots guests yet. Given that, as well as the collage-like insertion of three preexisting recordings, it could be disregarded as less a Roots album than Wise Up Ghost, their Elvis Costello fling. Framed as conceptual, it's an examination of self-destructive cycles with materialism, god, and the devil all factors as much as any of the instrumentalists. In a way, it's one facet of the Roots in severely concentrated form. Black Thought, as ever, sharply portrays a man trying to make the most out of suffocating circumstances. He enters on the creeping dread of "Never," a song that also features Patty Crash in singing Talky Tina mode, with "I was born faceless in a oasis/Folks disappear here and leave no traces." On the following "When the People Cheer," he's even more penetrating and provocative, "Searchin' for physical pleasure if I don't go mental first." Those songs, along with the harder-hitting "Black Rock" and "Understand," are child's play relative to what follows. The album pivots on a jarring minute-length extract from experimental composer Michel Chion's "Requiem." Then, a chilling piano-and-strings ballad fronted by Mercedes Martinez stammers and slips into chaos. Over casually tense drums and piano, "The Dark (Trinity)" involves Black Thought, Dice Raw, and Greg Porn, who blur the line between boastful and despondent; Dice Raw's verse, where he wonders how he went from lusting after Jordans to wanting one of his "bitches" to get an abortion, is coldest of all. "The Unraveling" is a dejected shuffle -- proper support for Raheem DeVaughn's conflicting thoughts of rebirth and emptiness -- with a lullaby break. DeVaughn continues to lead on the finale, "Tomorrow," a sonically sprightly number that can be taken as sarcastic, from the whistled intro to the singer's "I'm thankful to be alive, 'cause you sleep from eleven to seven, and work hard from nine to five." When it seems like the simple and chipper rhythm is about to fade away, the piano switches course and shifts into one of the most gorgeous melodies heard on any Roots album. It crash-lands, abruptly ending an album that, depending on the amount of time spent with it, will seem either fragmentary and hollow or fathoms deep -- either a trifle or among the group's most remarkable work.
© Andy Kellman /TiVo
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Richard Nichols, Producer, Mixer, StudioPersonnel - Jason Goldstein, Mixer, StudioPersonnel - MICHAEL ANTHONY, ComposerLyricist - Tariq Trotter, Producer, Vocals, AssociatedPerformer, ComposerLyricist - Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson, Producer - The Roots, MainArtist - Adolfo Salazar, ComposerLyricist - Gregory Spearman, ComposerLyricist - Patty Crash, Vocals, FeaturedArtist, AssociatedPerformer - D. D. Jackson, String Arranger, AssociatedPerformer - Metropolis Ensemble, Strings, AssociatedPerformer - Dane Johansen, Cello, AssociatedPerformer - Sean Lee, Violin, AssociatedPerformer - Rich Rich, Assistant Mixer, StudioPersonnel - Adrian Charlie Guzman, ComposerLyricist - Katrin Newman, ComposerLyricist - Emily Smith, Violin, AssociatedPerformer - Mike Jerz, Producer, Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Alice Yoo, Cello, AssociatedPerformer - Trapzillas, Producer - Henry Wang, Violin, AssociatedPerformer - Siwoo Kim, Violin, AssociatedPerformer - Danny Kim, Viola, AssociatedPerformer - Jack Spelz, Viola, AssociatedPerformer
℗ 2014 Def Jam Recordings, a division of UMG Recordings, Inc.
Richard Nichols, Producer - Jason Goldstein, Mixer, StudioPersonnel - Tariq Trotter, Producer, Vocals, AssociatedPerformer, ComposerLyricist - Jon Smeltz, Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson, Producer - Montez Roberts, Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - The Roots, MainArtist - Gregory Spearman, ComposerLyricist - Greg Porn, Vocals, FeaturedArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Rich Rich, Assistant Mixer, StudioPersonnel - Modesty Lycan, Vocals, FeaturedArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Damion Ward, Producer, ComposerLyricist
℗ 2014 Def Jam Recordings, a division of UMG Recordings, Inc.
Richard Nichols, Producer - Karl Jenkins, Producer, ComposerLyricist - Jason Goldstein, Mixer, StudioPersonnel - Tariq Trotter, Producer, Vocals, AssociatedPerformer, ComposerLyricist - Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson, Producer - Montez Roberts, Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - The Roots, MainArtist - Dice Raw, FeaturedArtist - Rich Rich, Assistant Mixer, StudioPersonnel - Kirk Dudley, ComposerLyricist - Cornell McFaden, ComposerLyricist - Willie E. Pettis, ComposerLyricist - Archie L. Turner, ComposerLyricist - Karl "Dice Raw" Jenkins, Vocals, AssociatedPerformer - Pat McNulty, Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel
℗ 2014 Def Jam Recordings, a division of UMG Recordings, Inc.
Richard Nichols, Producer - Jason Goldstein, Mixer, StudioPersonnel - Tariq Trotter, Producer, Vocals, AssociatedPerformer, ComposerLyricist - Jon Smeltz, Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson, Producer - The Roots, MainArtist - Dice Raw, FeaturedArtist - Gregory Spearman, ComposerLyricist - Greg Porn, Vocals, FeaturedArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Rich Rich, Assistant Mixer, StudioPersonnel - Karl "Dice Raw" Jenkins, Vocals, AssociatedPerformer, ComposerLyricist - David C. Simpson, ComposerLyricist - Greggory M. Bradsher, ComposerLyricist - The Wurxs, Producer
℗ 2014 Def Jam Recordings, a division of UMG Recordings, Inc.
Joseph Simmons, Producer, ComposerLyricist - Richard Nichols, Producer, ComposerLyricist - Jason Goldstein, Mixer, Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Tariq Trotter, Producer - Jon Smeltz, Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson, Producer - The Roots, MainArtist - Mercedes Martinez, Vocals, FeaturedArtist, AssociatedPerformer - Gregory Spearman, ComposerLyricist - D. D. Jackson, Producer, String Arranger, AssociatedPerformer, ComposerLyricist - Metropolis Ensemble, Strings, AssociatedPerformer - Dane Johansen, Cello, AssociatedPerformer - Sean Lee, Violin, AssociatedPerformer - Rich Rich, Assistant Mixer, StudioPersonnel - Emily Smith, Violin, AssociatedPerformer - Alice Yoo, Cello, AssociatedPerformer - Henry Wang, Violin, AssociatedPerformer - Siwoo Kim, Violin, AssociatedPerformer - Danny Kim, Viola, AssociatedPerformer - Jack Spelz, Viola, AssociatedPerformer
℗ 2014 Def Jam Recordings, a division of UMG Recordings, Inc.
Richard Nichols, Producer - Jason Goldstein, Mixer, StudioPersonnel - Tariq Trotter, Producer, Vocals, AssociatedPerformer, ComposerLyricist - Jon Smeltz, Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Ahmir Thompson, Producer - Zach Hancock, Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - The Roots, MainArtist - Dice Raw, FeaturedArtist - Gregory Spearman, ComposerLyricist - Greg Porn, Vocals, FeaturedArtist, AssociatedPerformer - D. D. Jackson, String Arranger, AssociatedPerformer - Metropolis Ensemble, Strings, AssociatedPerformer - Dane Johansen, Cello, AssociatedPerformer - Sean Lee, Violin, AssociatedPerformer - Rich Rich, Assistant Mixer, StudioPersonnel - Damion Ward, Producer, ComposerLyricist - Karl "Dice Raw" Jenkins, Vocals, AssociatedPerformer, ComposerLyricist - Emily Smith, Violin, AssociatedPerformer - Alice Yoo, Cello, AssociatedPerformer - Henry Wang, Violin, AssociatedPerformer - Siwoo Kim, Violin, AssociatedPerformer - Danny Kim, Viola, AssociatedPerformer - Jack Spelz, Viola, AssociatedPerformer
℗ 2014 Def Jam Recordings, a division of UMG Recordings, Inc.
Raheem Devaughn, Vocals, FeaturedArtist, AssociatedPerformer, ComposerLyricist - Richard Nichols, Producer - Jason Goldstein, Mixer, StudioPersonnel - Tariq Trotter, Producer, Vocals, AssociatedPerformer, ComposerLyricist - Nick Banns, Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Ahmir Thompson, Producer - Ray Angry, Producer, ComposerLyricist - Montez Roberts, Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - The Roots, MainArtist - D. D. Jackson, String Arranger, AssociatedPerformer - Metropolis Ensemble, Strings, AssociatedPerformer - Dane Johansen, Cello, AssociatedPerformer - Sean Lee, Violin, AssociatedPerformer - Rich Rich, Assistant Mixer, StudioPersonnel - Emily Smith, Violin, AssociatedPerformer - Alice Yoo, Cello, AssociatedPerformer - Henry Wang, Violin, AssociatedPerformer - Siwoo Kim, Violin, AssociatedPerformer - Danny Kim, Viola, AssociatedPerformer - Jack Spelz, Viola, AssociatedPerformer
℗ 2014 Def Jam Recordings, a division of UMG Recordings, Inc.
Raheem Devaughn, Vocals, FeaturedArtist, AssociatedPerformer, ComposerLyricist - Richard Nichols, Producer - Jason Goldstein, Mixer, StudioPersonnel - Tariq Trotter, Producer, Vocals, AssociatedPerformer, ComposerLyricist - Nick Banns, Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - Ahmir Thompson, Producer - Ray Angry, Producer, ComposerLyricist - Montez Roberts, Recording Engineer, StudioPersonnel - The Roots, MainArtist - Rich Rich, Assistant Mixer, StudioPersonnel
℗ 2014 Def Jam Recordings, a division of UMG Recordings, Inc.
Album review
The Roots album graced by a Romare Bearden collage is less than half the length of each studio set the group released from 1995 through 2002. It might be the one that requires the most deep listening to absorb. Part of that can be attributed to the array of voices, or characters -- the widest variety of Roots guests yet. Given that, as well as the collage-like insertion of three preexisting recordings, it could be disregarded as less a Roots album than Wise Up Ghost, their Elvis Costello fling. Framed as conceptual, it's an examination of self-destructive cycles with materialism, god, and the devil all factors as much as any of the instrumentalists. In a way, it's one facet of the Roots in severely concentrated form. Black Thought, as ever, sharply portrays a man trying to make the most out of suffocating circumstances. He enters on the creeping dread of "Never," a song that also features Patty Crash in singing Talky Tina mode, with "I was born faceless in a oasis/Folks disappear here and leave no traces." On the following "When the People Cheer," he's even more penetrating and provocative, "Searchin' for physical pleasure if I don't go mental first." Those songs, along with the harder-hitting "Black Rock" and "Understand," are child's play relative to what follows. The album pivots on a jarring minute-length extract from experimental composer Michel Chion's "Requiem." Then, a chilling piano-and-strings ballad fronted by Mercedes Martinez stammers and slips into chaos. Over casually tense drums and piano, "The Dark (Trinity)" involves Black Thought, Dice Raw, and Greg Porn, who blur the line between boastful and despondent; Dice Raw's verse, where he wonders how he went from lusting after Jordans to wanting one of his "bitches" to get an abortion, is coldest of all. "The Unraveling" is a dejected shuffle -- proper support for Raheem DeVaughn's conflicting thoughts of rebirth and emptiness -- with a lullaby break. DeVaughn continues to lead on the finale, "Tomorrow," a sonically sprightly number that can be taken as sarcastic, from the whistled intro to the singer's "I'm thankful to be alive, 'cause you sleep from eleven to seven, and work hard from nine to five." When it seems like the simple and chipper rhythm is about to fade away, the piano switches course and shifts into one of the most gorgeous melodies heard on any Roots album. It crash-lands, abruptly ending an album that, depending on the amount of time spent with it, will seem either fragmentary and hollow or fathoms deep -- either a trifle or among the group's most remarkable work.
© Andy Kellman /TiVo
About the album
- 1 disc(s) - 11 track(s)
- Total length: 00:33:15
- Main artists: The Roots
- Composer: Various Composers
- Label: Def Jam Recordings
- Genre: Hip-Hop/Rap
© 2014 Def Jam Recordings, a division of UMG Recordings, Inc. ℗ 2014 Def Jam Recordings, a division of UMG Recordings, Inc.
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