cats are too comfortable.

plain and simple.


to understand our sound one needs to understand the business of hip-hop.

okay. let's take a classic hip-hop song like hmmm "bonita applebum".

that song could never be made today. why? i'll tell you.

drums- little feat
loop- ramp (roy ayers group)
other loop- minnie riperton's old group on cadet (name escapes me now)

think of a pie.

now back then cats were sampling like there was no tommorow. no clearence needed. just loopin. some were simple (see: marley production, and jungle brothers) some were complex (see: de la, pe, and post "ill" beasties) in time sampling caught the attention of law firms and publishing companies.

time to pay the piper.

so what once was a simple song like "bonita". now could be a problem. why?

to clear a song you need permission from the songwriter, and the record company from which you sampled from. so that means the writer of the little feat song says well i want %30 of the song since the drums are a key part (everyone thinks their part is the "key" part) then warner says well since this came from our master tapes we want $10,000.

that was just the drums y'all

now to clear the loops.

so okay minnie's former group is a lil hip and they charge you a reasonable price cause they want you to come back and use em again (hence the reason why george clinton and the isley bros got used so much) they say give us $7,000 and no publishing (a miricle) but then the label wants to act a fool ("we want y'all to pay $15,000 a year to license this song) then hey if you are dr. dre, sure you can bite the bullet cause you have inter$cope behind you, but what if you are grand daddy iu?

lost?

okay imagine if this was "night of the living baseheads?" and you had to clear 19 songs.

19.

david bowie wants %75 publishing for "fame" ("succatash is a ? for kids who make cash, sellin drugs to the brother man instead of the other man!!" griff's music.)

then what if james brown wants %50 for the horn loop? thats %125 percent.

that can't happen. %100. so no song.

so that has left us with no options in 2000.

sure you'll hear a loop or maybe shawn j. will sneek a sample, or maybe the godzilla cats will never catch on to how phar made a classic this summer. that's the risk you take.

the way we deal with it is .......play

to me i see no diference in jay sampling rhodes, or d playing em

i think y'all are uncomfortable with the singing. but what do you expect from cats who sit around and listen to donny, stevie, and fela 24/7?

you wonder why cats are sounding alike in hip hop?

when you listen to that shit (even in hating) you have it in your system.

hear that song you hate on the radio? in the club? in passing cars? now you singing it?

see? it's in your system

cat's can proclaim "purist" all they want. it's like being a vegetarian, but sneekin a steak in every now and then. that's how you damage yourself. then you start to accept it.

i'm not saying right or wrong. i'm just saying to do another ressurection today is impossible. specially when george benson sued com for the "her" loop.

now the thing i find funny is cats cry no id/ and doug in. but they were sampling shit that sounds as mellow as our shit.

think about it. "communism" could easily be on this album. even "her" music could too.

look. i think it's some idiot shit to say you don't like it cause it sounds like the roots. which says "y'all used instruments". well duh motherfucker, samplers sample instruments too!
so that's idiot shit. and if you pay attention, live music is all in hip hop (dre's 2001 is scott storch son! grand wizzards/soulquarians everywhere!!!!!) all of cash money is keyboards yet i hear no bitching. so cats on that hating shit can suck my dick.

for real. i said it. get off your ass and start a new sampling law, or move out the fucking way.....

bitch.











THE SOULQUARIANS
chewy (quest).....jan
luke (d)........feb
lando (jaydee)......feb
cp30 (james poyser).....jan
r2d2 (jazzy jeff)......jan
hans (chaos)........jan
anakin (lil mike)......feb

honorary members:
kelo- soulacorn.......jan
common- soulcies......march
erykah- soulcies......feb
zack- soulicorn.......feb

(AFTER SEEING MY PERFORMANCE FOR THE FIRST TIME, MY IDOL STEVE FERRONE EMAILED ME THIS LETTER.....)

Opening fill from "person to person". ....... $100.00
Cute fill betwween hi hat, bass drum and snare ....... $1500.00
Horn line from "Love Your Life" ..... $10,000.35
Breakfast with Ferrone.... Gratis

The reason you are being charged for the horn line is that it was probably your idea to use it!

You da man! Great show! Really nice pocket! Call or e-mail sometime, and take care out there.
818-***-****

God Bless,

Stephen Ferrone.

check the resume

organix-93
(from the ground up)-94
do you want more?!!???!-95
illadelph halflife-96
things fall apart-99
(the legendary)-99
the roots come alive-99
phrenology-2002
the tipping point-2004
(the roots present...) 2004
homegrown: the beginne