Not just because it spoke on a relevant topic that had been creeping into the minds of a lot of Roots fans, but also because BT so often gets pegged as not diving too heavy into topics. So this was definitely appreciated and masterfully done.

I never understood the backlash against the music that followed the traditional part of the song. It wasn't terrible to me, it served its purpose for what they were trying to do...and if you weren't into it (like I often feel when I listen to this track), YOU CAN JUST SKIP IT! It's not like they put it on the front so that you'd have to sift through minutes of noise to get to the song.

That in itself sort of typifies the way I felt and feel about Phrenology. So many people at the time spoke out against it because it was "too weird/too off" but I never found it to be all THAT challenging. I guess I can see if you only ever really listened to hip hop, it would be some unfathomable mindfuck, but the way I saw it, they're a band...lots of bands do lots of different styles/approaches.

Now, just because they went in different lanes doesn't mean that the results were always stellar. I think if I take any points away from this album, it's because some of the songs/results weren't that great. But I never understood holding the fact that they did different things against them off principal alone.