i know times are tough on the band direction and management side, but musically, the roots are swaggering, partly fueled by the young, hungry energy they're getting from khari, dice, truck, porn, kirk, tuba, owen, and knuckles.

but in addition to all the younger newer members' contributions, it's great to include old friends like mos, talib, common, mercedes, and it's always great to hear malik. they all really added something to the songs - not just cameos. the roots' quality control for that has always been high, but it worked really well this time.

"bread and butter" was one of my favorite game theory era songs, and it's great to hear more of the bluesy guitar. it's nice to hear them exploring that side of the music. with the added guitar element to , it makes sense to incorporate the blues into these angsty, stark, serious-toned songs

i can't pick a favorite song yet- i've listened three times. but there's nothing that colors my impression of the album, like the chorus to "in the music" did. though the album is less sonically diverse (though no less adventurous) than game theory, it's a bit tighter overall. i like the heavy straight forward boom-bap, and the groove on these jams is seriously tight funk, even with the open, gated sounds.

i like that they're doing more recording at ?uest's house and scraping things together a bit, rather than sitting and spending so much time polishing mixes at electric lady (though i'm sure they're still putting the hours in). there's something so direct and fast and live and relevant about the newer approach.