First and foremost, every Roots fan who became a fan within the first wave of albums should have already accepted that The Roots went from 'band' to 'brand' after Hub left. No shade to the new niggas but an O.G. drummer and MC plus a gang of other folk cannot be equated with the band that you first fell in love with.

If Hub leaving wasn't enough the Late Nite spot should have sealed the deal for you. Oh sure The Roots have always been able to cover any and everything with excellence, but they were never a cover band. But what is a late night television band except for that. However many years since they first took to TV there's still more discussion about who they are going to cover for walk on music than the little bits of original shit they get to throw in there. Shit we ain't got no new sammiches in a minute and I don't even watch so for all I know those are gone too.

But after that the biggest tell tale was the fact that the brand was being utilized on other people's albums. Not the band, the brand. These were Roots brand albums with other folk in the spotlight. No matter how good the music, it had to feel at least a little awkward. Even the one A&R'd here in The Lesson (wake up) didn't feel quite right as a "The Roots" album. And yet all of those projects are definitively under the brand, not just featuring the band.

The real kicker though is in an archived post in here where 15 in so many words said he didn't give a fuck about hip-hop no more. Now he was talking specifically about outside of The Roots work, but that lack of interest has to flow back in as well, even if your ace boon coon is one of the best MC's still in the game. When you spend five days a week trying to playing majority non-hip-hop and spend your off hours trying to produce projects that will attract Bill Withers back in to the studio while staying in the good graces of the new media regime who can still use your name as a cred points, getting back to that sound that you're talking about... what does that even mean? How does it even make sense?

Now mind you I'm the weirdo lover and so I'm going to go ahead and say I don't mind the new direction. I think it's relevant as shit. Maybe not to you, but to 15 it kinda makes complete sense. It's a novelty killer. It's a direct attack on the notion that they are a cover band. It's deep as shit really. Uncomfortably so, and I applaud anyone in a position like 15's going for making folk uncomfortable. Or at least attempting to. Because at the end of the day I don't think its quite accessible enough to make the people who it should make uncomfortable uncomfortable. It's barely making the only people who can probably get it (aka the folk on this site) register what it is thematically.

This album is black nihilism presented as satire because no one really cares about the nihlism of blackness in 2014 and yet it's so prevalent. It's not even hopelessness, because hoplessness comes with that since of there could be hope. Things are just presented her as is, this is what we do today. Oh and then you shoot your cousin. Just what happens. All folk can do is just stare at it like 'uh huh'. Nobody can do anything about it. But The Roots are at least trying to address it and that to me is more important than stroking your desire for nostalgia.

But it isn't perfect and that's probably what makes it the most difficult. I'm probably not the only one but I'm so tired of hearing plodding drums on Roots projects. Even if they are crisp and strong sounding when they just plod along all sparse I just keep thinking c'mon.... give the drummer some. Then the singers are all so (sorry) tone deaf it just kills me. Like I know that the quirky not quite on key shit is hip right now, but for me its just a huge disconnect. Get some strong vocalists and some fucking harmonies on those hooks and you could sell the message better. Lastly it's hard to believe Black Thought and even Dice on this mainly because they are spitting the same as when they aren't doing the lyrical theme for the album. Like the spit is raw but the content of it doesn't emote proper. Porn is the saving grace in this respect because he is able to embody the emotion of the characterization.

All of that to say I just want 15 to keep making music. I've accepted the fact that I'm not going to like it all at this point, but I feel like he does have a hand on the undercurrent of the state of blackness and a bit of the cynicism to reflect that even if it goes beyond the audience. Sometimes its more important to say these things than to have them be enjoyed.

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Big PEMFin H & z's
"I ain't no entertainer, and ain't trying to be one. I am 1 thing, a musician." © Miles

"When the music stops he falls back in the abyss."