By 1998 I was defiantly a huge fan of The Roots.

I had seen them live probably 10-15 times by that point, and I had been running a fan site called Good Music, and I was in touch with Chris Oberlin who ran the Geocities site.

In 1988 The Roots released an astonishing number of songs:
•Why? (From the Ride soundtrack)
•Summertime (with Bobby Womack)
•Don’t See Us 12” (and the Peas and Cues titled version)
•You got Me (featuring Erica) – original and remix 12”
•Adrenaline 12”
•Take it There Remix (Nonchalant + The Roots + Dice Raw)
•Tabou (Remix) – Les Nubians
•Let It Go (From the Down in The Delta soundtrack)
•Common – All Night Long
•Three-Ring Government –Jazzyfatnastees

I had bought every one of those that I could find and my friends were pretty sick of it.

I first heard “Things Fall Apart” because some kind soul sent me an advance cassette in December of 1998 or January 1999 – at least two or three weeks before the record came out . I checked my email archives, I cannot find any record of who sent it to me but I think it was someone who worked at a record store.

That cassette was pretty much the album – but did not have the hidden track (I still call it Still Out Deah –not Act Fore) – but it did include the Jill Scott version of You Got Me.

When Act Won came on I was “clips from old albums with a backward melodica (or something) with Mo Better Blues samples” okay – that fits.

But when Table of Contents 1 came on in was of in shock – what the F*CK was thins? It was so dirty – the bass was odd – the keyboards so simple – the sloppy cymbals , and I knew they changed their sound as much between Illadelph and this as they did between DYWM and this.

Then part 2 starts and it’s clean as shit – I was in shock again.
Then The Next Movement starts – and there’s “real’ scratching on it – but it also sounds jazzy like DYWM.

The Step Into The Relm starts and it’s back to more of an Ilaldelph sound – but the music is fading in and out – and I’m thinking “They are not only changing it up from album to album – but now from song to song – and they are really hitting the dynamics hard.” Some of this album is LOUD as fuck – and some is not. Most hip-hop from this time was just loud.

Dynamite was the track that blew my mind – the first real prominent guitar I can recall on a track by The Roots. And it was sampled!! (I may have seen an early version of this in concert in 1998 with Kamal playing the guitar - but it wasn't the entire sound.)

Double Trouble was my favorite song from the album for at least a year – and the beat switch up was so unexpected and perfect – plus the bass is so good on the track – and Bob James sounding bridges, the rhyme styles from Stoop Rap to RUN DMC to Furious 5 to Afrika Bambaataa – just a great track.

When 100% Dundee came on I thought the cassette had an issue because it was SO MUCH LOUDER than anything else on the record.

Urusla Rucker’s poem was another shock.

I think I was shocked more than anything else.

When it was finally released I went to The Wherehouse and got the “normal cover” but I was interested in seeing if the other covers contained different music-- alas they did not. (The promo versions of the album contain different bonus tracks and slight differences musically – but I think there’s still stuff we have not heard that was prepared for the other covers.)

I ended up at The House Of Blue in Los Angeles I think in early March of 1999 and the place was PACKED and they had large posters of all the album covers (3 of which I’ve seen since that day) and “Things Come Together” CDs all over the place. The energy was insane – they had been on Letterman the month before and You got me was still a huge hit.

Their live show was definitely on point – it was also very dynamic. That's the first time I saw the Relm performed live - and soem people were confused as to what the fuck was happening.

I kind of have some of the tracks on The Legendary mixed in my memory too. I think Table of Contents (Part 3) could/should have been on the record. And The Ultimate (a version of “The Agenda” on an obscure Japanese artist 3” CD single) is a treat too.

I think “The Pros” might have been right around this time too – a track not release except on the iTunes version of HomeGrown.

I listened to it several times in the past 2 months and I think my first impressions still stand – it’s a dirty, clean, loud, soft, new, old mixture of hip-hop. But it’s definitely a big part of my life, and I think my initial post still stands: I liked it.