I truly believe that the average hiphop head in the street listening to hot 97 is pretty dumb. They'll hear that word, get intimidated, and say "fuck that wack hippie shit" like they do now.
That title alone will scare off alot of potential consumers...leaving the Roots with their standard pseudo-intellectual, backpacking, white guy freshman in college (sorry steve), Headwrapping audience that they already have.
Those titles ?uest mentioned "____ 2001,"" _____ forever," and Ride or Die are easily understood by the average target market. People can understand what they mean, so they assume that they'll understand whats on the CD when they pop it into their CD player.
It *is* that deep. With the exception of an Outkast...who can get away with naming an album "aquemini" or "stankonia" only because they have a reputation for being a little more on the oddball side of things...the title is a very important part of the marketing and promotion of an album. Phrenology (if thats how you spell it) would probably be great for a rock album...but for the Roots?
I havent heard any of it yet, and I have no idea how much is done. Honestly, it would be great if I heard some of it, and immediately realized *why* this title for the album makes so much sense. But without having heard any of it, all i'm left with is what i've heard from the roots in the past, and this new title that just doesnt seem to fit.
David Geffen would have *loved* the title. But the roots arent Guns N Roses or Whitesnake, either.
Just my opinion.
Naz

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