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XL

Now that they’re backed by Def Jam prez Jay-Z, the Roots should be feeling better than gettin’ head on a Sunday afternoon. With the major marketing dollars afforded by rap’s most respected record company at their disposal, the Philadelphia outfit is finally free to drop ambitious, thinking man’s hip-hop with no qualms. But judging from the glum Game Theory, the group’s seventh studio album, ?uestlove and crew are not exactly in a celebratory mood these days.

From poet Wadud Ahmad’s foreboding spoken-word chorus on “False Media” to the touching J Dilla memorial “Can’t Stop This,” this latest offering from the Roots is a dark ride that starts off agitated, then ends melancholy. Although both the dreamy “Atonement” and the reflective “Clock With No Hands” maintain the mellow vibe, they offer Black Thought a sonic platform to wax poetic. On the latter, he spits, “Sitting in the staircase holding back tears/ Looking over mad years of photographs/Pictures of some places I ain’t never going back.”

The Peedi Peedi-–guested “Longtime,” with its rigorous bass and ?uest’s crashing drums, stands as one of the LP’s most upbeat gems. But on the brilliantly sinister “All in the Music” clanging percussive slaps and a Knight Rider–-like guitar riff set an eerie stage for Thought and a resurrected Malik B. to trade rapid-fire lyrics about Philly’s rugged terrain (“I’m from the illest part of the Western Hemisphere/So if you into sightseeing, don’t visit there”).

On every one of their albums, the Roots have continued to evolve and experiment with their sound. With tracks ranging from high velocity boast fests (“Here I Come”) to spacey jams (“Living in a New World”), Game Theory is still a somber disc with a few bright spots. While Roots loyalists should be pleased with the end results, prospective new fans may be left wanting just a little bit more.—BRETT JOHNSON


i can't wait to cop it and hear everything in context
________________________________________
return to your home citizens

madagascar titties- (c) phontiggalo the rap jiggalo

I would never, ever hit a woman....but i'll beat a bitch (c) wifey

http://www.myspace.com/iltigo

________________________________________
return to your home citizens

madagascar titties- (c) phontiggalo the rap jiggalo

I would never, ever hit a woman....but i'll beat a bitch (c) wifey

http://www.myspace.com/iltigo

(and the rating would likely be XL 1/2)

this sounds like a description with an obligatory XL stamp on it.

i saw the issue. hope big boi dont get mad again like in 94.

Did Game Theory get a better review than Idlewild?

although i never really "cared-cared"

southern-@@@@1/2 source
Dywm-@@@@ source
(rolling stone record guide @@@1/2/@@@1/2)

atl-@@@@
ill-@@@@1/2
(rolling stone-@@@/@@@1/2)
(rs record guide) (@@@1/2/@@@@)
(he was HEATED at the source that we got higher review and the main feature in source)

aqua-@@@@@
tfa-@@@@
(rolling stone @@@@/@@@@)
(rolling stone record guide @@@@1/2/@@@@)
xxl (xl/xl)

i was salty source ain't give us a @@@@1/2---although i never expressed that to the staff of the source the way he did---but then again i'd have a chip after getting dissed at the source awards. for a long time it took him a while to open up to us.---

stank-@@@@
phern-@@@@
(rs-@@@@/@@@@)
(rs record guide @@@@/@@@@1/2)
xxl (xl/xl)

s/tlb-@@@@
ttp-@@@@
(rs-@@@/@@@)
(rs record guide @@@1/2/@@@@)
xxl (xl/xl)

i-?
gt-?
rs-?
(rs record guide-?)
xxl- L/XL


so....let the games begin.

_________________________________________________________
<-----My vida loca was built like Bob Vila, via God(C) Lupe

http://www.myspace.com/verbal_cryogenics

Actually: Aq - 98
TFA - 99
Stank - 2000
Phren - 2002
edit : Speaker/TLB - 2003
TTP - 2005

But yea Illadelph and ATLiens are amongst what I like to call 4 important albums of 2006. Other 2 are Stakes is High and Beats, Rhymes and Life.


**********
anyways..

you mean 1996?

>Actually: Aq - 98
> TFA - 99
> Stank - 2000
> Phren - 2002
>edit : Speaker/TLB - 2003
> TTP - 2005
>
>But yea Illadelph and ATLiens are amongst what I like to call
>4 important albums of 2006. Other 2 are Stakes is High and
>Beats, Rhymes and Life.
>
>
>**********
>anyways..


the tipping point was summer 04
and id consider reasonable doubt and it was written more important (or jsut as important) as de la and tribe called quest

when they took that L from XL

so it was the roots, outkast, common, and snoop dogg who had record deals in 1994 and are still relevant now. right?



make extra money online!
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http://elisiaj.livejournal.com

listening to...
van hunt
head automatica
stevie wonder

He's been around since '94. Snoop is in the public eye, but I don't know if I'd describe him as a relevant artist. He hasn't made good music since then. He's more of a stoned out clown than a relevant musician.

snoop hasn't made good music since 94? have you ever heard "paid the cost" or any of his albums since then? i'm guessing you haven't.

to see the two groups comapred like that.

thanks quest, for your encyclopedicalness.

wasn't there a big boi verse that it seemed could have been a dis to the roots?

there was a post about it in the lesson some time back

sorry, this is vague as all fuck but i can't find any more details

maybe someone else remembers what i'm talking about in more detail

"we talking about sons and daughters not fruits and clones"

but everyone including quest it seems thought he said "roots and clones" ya know the song they had out.

but Quest talk to dre and dre said nah he said fruits.

this is how invisible we are--

boi "i never heard "clones""

case closed.


of anyone in this industry "above" the below underground level i think kweli is the ONLY true fan of hip hop.

i've tested everyone in this industry.

none of them know much except what is popular and their shit.

I remember him talking about Pharoahe Monche in an interview a few years back, which surprised me. He also was talking about Eminem in an interview, before people knew who Eminem was.

one of the highlights of the hip-hop honours show was seeing him geeked out and rapping along to EVERY performance

Seeing LL rapping along to Kane was a dope moment.

he seems to have an ear to everything...at least lately...

using 9th Wonder was a bit outta leftfield....

playing other people's hits live

also, in that song from speakerboxx, that song with jay z where big says "ya live show consist of everybody's shit but ya own's" kinda sounds like a roots diss.

I never knew Outkast even checked for The Roots
thought that ws just Common checking for Andre

>atl-@@@@
>ill-@@@@1/2
>(rolling stone-@@@/@@@1/2)
>(rs record guide) (@@@1/2/@@@@)
>(he was HEATED at the source that we got higher review and the
>main feature in source)

I too was mad as hell that sum group of niggaz from Philly got a better score than the shit I was bumping non-stop "atliens". The only thing I had heard from yall was Procceed (which was cool but sorta 2 soft and jazzy for me at the time).

My cousin from NY was like man its dope you got to check the album out. ITs not an east coast bisas its really good. It might not be better but than Kast it aint' like this some wack album.

So I went and got the album and was impressed and been a fan since then.

I got the new issue in the mail yesterday. I was gonna copy and paste the review, but its not up on their website yet.

Outkast/ Idlewild ****

The world's biggest pop group makes an album about breaking up. It becomes a staggeringly popular crossover hit, winning them so many new fans they have no choice but to forget the solo careers and carry on together. So they come out with a new record where they barely appear on each other's tracks, recorded mostly in seperate studios. And just to show they haven't sold out, the next single is a commercial-suicide showcase for a college marching band. Ladies and gentleman... Fleetwood Mac!

Like the Mac circa Tusk, Oukast respond to the pressures of magastardom with their wierdest music yet. "Morris Brown" might feature the tubas and trombones of the Morris Brown College Band, but it is irresistible-just like Tusk, which went to number one in spite of itself. On Idlewild Andre "3000" Benjamin and Antwan "Big Boi" Patton are on different wavelengths, but they're wild idols, two of the most brilliantly warped music minds we've got, the most unpredictable pop duo since Prince and himself. Last time out, they packaged thier two solo joints together to create Speakerboxxx/The Love Below and you know what happened next: your mom liked Hey Ya more than you did. So when Andre says, "Divorce is not an option, an prenuptial is void," in "Mighty O,"he's probably talking about the group. He's stuck with Big Boi the way he's stuck with Ms. Jackson'sdaughter- they made something major together, and now the dream is gone but the baby is real.They meet up for only four of Idlewild's twenty-five tracks, but it still sounds like the burden of sharing Outkast brings out the fire in their music, by forcing them to try to top each other.

Idlewild is anything but a safe follow up to Speakerboxxx/The Love Below. The Premise is Prince's Parade, one of his nuttiest Eighties albums, chronicling his imaginary life as a 1920s European dandy, as in the movie Under the Cherry Moon. Like Parade, Idlewildis a cinematic Jazz Age fantasy, with Dre and Big Boiat a Georgia speak-easy during Prohibition. The movie has Black History Month staples such as Cicely Tyson and Ben Vereen, but it's been on the shelf for nearly two years while Outkast finished the soundtrack. It was worth it, because Idlewild mixes up swing, blues, hip hop, and R&B without losing a step. "Morris Brown" is a typical highlight, with Earth, Wind, and Fire-style vocalsover the marching band funk - it's so suave on the surface, it takes a few spins to absorb how radical it is.

"Mighty O" combines a 1980s one note electro hook and a 1920s Cab Calloway singalong, with Dre and Big Boi rapping together since the first time since Stankonia. Dre tries acoustic blues in "Idlewild Blue (Don'tchu Worry 'Bout Me)" and Cotton Club jazz in "Call the Law," while tripping out in the low-end freak funk of "Chronomentrophobia," "Makes No Sense at All" and "Life is Like a Musical." Snoop and Lil Wayne join in the dancehall falvored show stopper "Hollywood Divorce," where Lil Wayne raps, "The hurricane come and took my Louisiana home/And all I got in return was a durn country song."

Big Boi goes for smooth-operator soul in "Peaches," "N2U" and "Buggface," and peaks with the melancholic R&B of "The Train," with Al Green-style Memphis horns. Dre and Big Boi unite for the Hendrix-downer finale "A Bad Note," nearly nine minutes of maggot-brain guitar and gospel wails. With Big Boi gearing up for a solo tour and Dre trying to be a cartoon star, the OutKast group identity might be over, but together they turn their run-of-the-mill superstar alienation into the deeply eccentric richness of Idlewild. And like the Stones before them, they'll be OutKast all their lives.

wahhhhh lil sad record


wahhhhhh


*rubs eyes*


fuckin silly

more than say who was featured, who produced and quoted lyrics? i should start writing grassroots reviews and shit... oh wait is that what my blog is for? haha

get your shit right

i dunno why, but rating things as either l, xl, or xxl just seems really, really stupid.

do they only hae the three classifications? i think you would really need 4 or 5.

S - M - L - XL - XXL

My beef with their rating system is there is nothing equivalent to a half rating. Lets say for an album thats better than a 4 but not quite a 5. Thats why you see so many albums getting the same rating when 1 is clearly superior.

I agree with that - but at the same time, it makes the magazine more definite with their shit, making them look like they're taking more of a stance. Essentially, that's hip-hop - putting it out there as is, no in between, and take it or leave it.

For the most part (and you can take it for what it's worth, I just started writing for their web site though haha), aside from the review of Tony Yayo's album, I actually agree with XXL's reviews for the most part. Still, a review is only one person/publication's opinion; I'm going to check for Idlewild regardless, and judge it for myself.

>S - M - L - XL - XXL
>
>My beef with their rating system is there is nothing
>equivalent to a half rating. Lets say for an album thats
>better than a 4 but not quite a 5. Thats why you see so many
>albums getting the same rating when 1 is clearly superior.

When you put it that way it sounds pretty rediculous. But actually leaning more towards the higher ratings though. I mean if an album is getting rated that low will the artist even care that they got a half rating higher than a Small?

between the two ratings, like if something is equivilant to a 3.5, they sould slide it between the L and XL raing, something like this:

http://i104.photobucket.com/albums/m188/kkonel/XXLRating.jpg