Funny, in the IH post I had made the comment that Illadelph was their 'reactionary' record – but now that I'm listening to Phrenology again, this one might take the cake.

The whole Phren record (which, looking back now, is not nearly as bad nor as incredible as it was depicted to be at the time) was a middle-finger to any expectations that might be thrust upon the group with their newfound success and the "formula" that listeners might have attributed to it.

That's a theme that I'll revisit in the other replies in this thread, but yes – they literally had to cut off the "typical Roots sound intro" to let people know what the fuck was up.