The Roots

mixed_biscuits

mixed_biscuits

_________________________
The latest album Game Theory is pretty good as far as I remember. Lyrics are interesting and production quite weighty.
 
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sing_minimal

Well-known member
one of best hip hop acts without a doubt : )

i agree, game theory is absolutely brilliant, it's a good place to start too.
 
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crackerjack

Well-known member
Thirded on Game Theory - got slagged by a lot of people, but half of it was great.

Illadelph Halflife and Things Fall Apart are them at their peak. The early stuff was a bit too Gilles for me.
 
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stelfox

Beast of Burden
They are terrific - a lot of people hate on them and lump them in a bracket with pre-kanye common etc, but they're actually one of the best hip-hop acts of all time for my money. illadelph halflife and things fall apart are by far my favourites, but every album is worth having, not because they're uniformly great or even because the good outweighs the bad. they're actually worth getting because even on a complete misfiring mess of a record like phrenology there's "the seed 2.0" with cody chestnutt, which is probably one of my favourite songs of the past 5 years. i guess what i'm saying is that their good moments can be few and far between sometimes, but they are there and when you find them you'll realise that they're actually way better than almost anyone else's
 
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crackerjack

Well-known member
Saw them at Somerset House too this year - the 4th or 5th time in the last 10 y ears. Amazingly, it was the best they've ever been. They bring that ambition and spirit of adventure to the stage that's so conspicuous by its absence from almost every other hip hop act you'll ever see live. A 10-min version of Dylan's Masters Of War, done, a la Hendrix, over the Star Spangled Banner tune was proper 'hairs on the back-of- the neck stuff'.
 
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bassnation

the abyss
stelfox said:
They are terrific - a lot of people hate on them and lump them in a bracket with pre-kanye common etc, but they're actually one of the best hip-hop acts of all time for my money. illadelph halflife and things fall apart are by far my favourites, but every album is worth having, not because they're uniformly great or even because the good outweighs the bad. they're actually worth getting because even on a complete misfiring mess of a record like phrenology there's "the seed 2.0" with cody chestnutt, which is probably one of my favourite songs of the past 5 years. i guess what i'm saying is that their good moments can be few and far between sometimes, but they are there and when you find them you'll realise that they're actually way better than almost anyone else's
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i'm suprised at you lot liking them cos many forums i've seen them roundly slated. i like some stuff from their first album - particularly riding the beatz stuff like "the web" and "boom" - fucking brilliant heavy hip hop.
 
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zhao

there are no accidents
Illadelph Halflife is pretty good but for me very quickly the "100% natural organic underground hiphop" sound wears terribly thin and its borishness shines through.
 
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kidlogic

Member
Illadelph Halflife for sure, Game Theory is really good, Tipping Point as well, Things Fall Apart is one of my favorites, but to really hear them you need to hear them live. They have a live album out,that I really dig, and the're Jay-Z's backing band on his "Unplugged" album which is killer IMO.

Anyone heard more about this rumored 'electronic' album from them?
 
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noel emits

a wonderful wooden reason
Yes 'Water' is an interesting track. Quite prog-rock for a hip-hop song.

Incidentally, what do people think of New Kingdom? I love the 'Paradise Don't Come Cheap' album and a show they did some years ago at the Monarch in Camden was actually one of the best gigs I've ever been to.
 
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28 Gun Nice Boy

Well-known member
Clones

'Clones' - the 12" off 'Illadelph Halflife' is a mid 90s hip hop classic: weird pitched down steel pan drums and snappy verses.
 
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crackerjack

Well-known member
noel emits said:
Incidentally, what do people think of New Kingdom? I love the 'Paradise Don't Come Cheap' album and a show they did some years ago at the Monarch in Camden was actually one of the best gigs I've ever been to.
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One track at a time they're cool. Anything more and I reach for the paracetamol.
 
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fishe

Member
Those who have seen them live, what did you think of Black Thought's performance live?

I've only seen them once, and this might have been a problem with sound setup or just him on that particular night, but he was kind of rubbish - lots of unintelligible semi-rapping - one could hardly make out the words. In comparison to a rap act like J5 live, it was weak.

Everything else was awesome though - esp. the various drum, bass and guitar solos they randomly cranked out.
 
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crackerjack

Well-known member
He's definitely an odd one coz he's the least showy out of the whole band. It's like having Charlie Watts up front, raps with his head down, getting thru the words.

They did a jam around James Brown at that Somerset Hse gig - seeing him going "I'm bad, I'm bad" was funny in a 'yeah, course you are' kinda way.
 
luka

luka

Well-known member
defineitly illadelph and things fall apart but every album has got great stuff, except mayb e organix. do you want more has got a great one with bagpipes on it and a great one with rahzel and a dice raw freestlye. i love thought @ work, water and the seed of phrenology. they're just a great hip-hop group. if you like hiphop then you like the roots reqally. black thought is one of the greats and live in my experience he's allways been well good.
 
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gumdrops

Well-known member
dont really like their albums as a whole since things fall apart - that was their last great one, although theres always 1 or 2 tracks i do like. they seem to be trying to go more rocky or more for their 'people who dont like hip hop' fanbase on the last few ones. still a great band to watch live although yeah, black thought isnt really a typical frontman. questlove is more the 'one to watch' which is a bit odd seeing as hes the drummer. i love things fall apart, parts of illadelph, but i think do you want more is my personal fave as theres a real innocence to the rapping (not in a corny way - black thought just sounds a lot less moody than he does these days, hadnt locked himself into his patented flow yet and was generally just more animated) and its when they still sounded like a live band on record. plus, silent treatment (a favourite of the notorious big's FWIW), and proceed are some of their best singles.
 
Woebot

Woebot

Well-known member
crackerjack said:
too Gilles
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the kiss of death

actually that was what i was afraid of. also the live instrumentation thing.....i've never heard ANY good music made like this. well i suppose that's not entirely true (bulhoone mindsate) but certainly nothing like drum and bass......
 
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Woebot

Woebot

Well-known member
stelfox said:
They are terrific - a lot of people hate on them and lump them in a bracket with pre-kanye common etc, but they're actually one of the best hip-hop acts of all time for my money. illadelph halflife and things fall apart are by far my favourites, but every album is worth having, not because they're uniformly great or even because the good outweighs the bad. they're actually worth getting because even on a complete misfiring mess of a record like phrenology there's "the seed 2.0" with cody chestnutt, which is probably one of my favourite songs of the past 5 years. i guess what i'm saying is that their good moments can be few and far between sometimes, but they are there and when you find them you'll realise that they're actually way better than almost anyone else's
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thanks dave
 
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