The Roots - How I Got Over (Album Preview)

Brougham33 · Post by **Brougham33** » Sat Jun 19, 2010 3:53 pm

On 2nd listen, I really like this.

This was dope too:

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eyensteyn · Post by **eyensteyn** » Sat Jun 19, 2010 4:42 pm

dope as hell... a classic roots album fo sho.... i wouldve rather had less features as well

Panama · Post by **Panama** » Sat Jun 19, 2010 8:01 pm

The best Roots record in a long time

YouTube · Post by **Philaflava** » Sat Jun 19, 2010 8:04 pm

Did people not like Game Theory? That dropped in '06. Only Rising Down came after that and even that was pretty good.

Nom Inf · Post by **Nom Inf** » Sat Jun 19, 2010 8:27 pm

Philaflava wrote:Did people not like Game Theory? That dropped in '06. Only Rising Down came after that and even that was pretty good.

I wasn't too keen on the last few records. Back Thought is in my all time top 5 but I just didn't connect with those records like I did with their past releases.

That joint in the video is crazy though. I think I might have to purchase the new album.

Neuro · Post by **Neuro** » Sat Jun 19, 2010 9:01 pm

i do wish malik was on this one though

None · Post by **None** » Sat Jun 19, 2010 10:28 pm

Philaflava wrote:Did people not like Game Theory? That dropped in '06. Only Rising Down came after that and even that was pretty good.

I actually really liked both Game Theory and Rising Down a lot, there were some missteps on each, but pretty great on the whole. This I liked, but I feel that there is something missing. Although it may be that the album has a tone that is out of place in June (summer) and I'll probably love it more once winter comes.

vermillion · Post by **vermillion** » Sat Jun 19, 2010 10:41 pm

Philaflava wrote:Did people not like Game Theory? That dropped in '06. Only Rising Down came after that and even that was pretty good.

This might be premature and it might not age well, but I can say Game Theory is probably their second or third best release.

YouTube · Post by **Philaflava** » Sat Jun 19, 2010 11:23 pm

This album features really good to great tracks but there isn't that "one" track on here like any of their previous albums. No "Get Busy" or "Criminal" or "Here I Come."

chiefbombpro · Post by **chiefbombpro** » Sat Jun 19, 2010 11:44 pm

Philaflava wrote:This album features really good to great tracks but there isn't that "one" track on here like any of their previous albums. No "Get Busy" or "Criminal" or "Here I Come."

That's how I felt too but, this album sounds like the most cohesive album they've done in a long time. Although, They could've done it at the tail end or something.

Truth. · Post by **Truth.** » Sun Jun 20, 2010 3:23 pm

Rappers are land fill, drop the anvil, these are shoes that you can't fill
The day that happens the world 'll stop spinning, and Michael J. Fox'll come to a stand still

Jaz · Post by **Jaz** » Sun Jun 20, 2010 7:09 pm

The only track I don't like is the one with Peedi Crack, I don't like his style or voice at all and lol at the name.

YouTube · Post by **Philaflava** » Sun Jun 20, 2010 8:26 pm

I like how they put a Dilla beat on this album just to get his mom some money. Classy move.

Verge · Post by **Verge** » Sun Jun 20, 2010 8:58 pm

Truth. wrote:
Rappers are land fill, drop the anvil, these are shoes that you can't fill
The day that happens the world 'll stop spinning, and Michael J. Fox'll come to a stand still

Whats that from, "Dont Say Nuthin"?

zombie · Post by **zombie** » Sun Jun 20, 2010 8:59 pm

walk alone is "that one" song. to me.

Verge · Post by **Verge** » Sun Jun 20, 2010 11:27 pm

zombie wrote:walk alone is "that one" song. to me.

Yes. that shit is dope. A definite keeper.

Kalel · Post by **Kalel** » Sun Jun 20, 2010 11:49 pm

Philaflava wrote:I like how they put a Dilla beat on this album just to get his mom some money. Classy move.

They also sneak some Dilla beats in during Jimmy Fallon too. I'm pretty sure she gets a check from those as well.

supnick · Post by **supnick** » Mon Jun 21, 2010 3:04 pm

fuck yeah, lyrics from the BET cypher on "doin it again"

Sucka Ducka · Post by **Sucka Ducka** » Tue Jun 22, 2010 1:52 am

GhostDog · Post by **GhostDog** » Tue Jun 22, 2010 9:42 am

This is the first time in ages I've avoided listening to a Roots album in advance. I plan to pick up the CD today, or later this week. I've checked some reviews online, and they're all positive.

YouTube · Post by **Philaflava** » Tue Jun 22, 2010 9:52 am

$7.99 at Best Buy/

GhostDog · Post by **GhostDog** » Tue Jun 22, 2010 9:58 am

Philaflava wrote:$7.99 at Best Buy/

Damn, there was a time major label releases worth buying were $7.99 up here to. It's $11.99 at the Best Buy in Canada. I'd buy a lot more CDs if they were $7.99.

Website · Post by **Random Sample** » Tue Jun 22, 2010 10:17 am

Album is really dope.

Brougham33 · Post by **Brougham33** » Tue Jun 22, 2010 1:19 pm

Philaflava wrote:$7.99 at Best Buy/

Copped. Great deal. Real solid album.

supnick · Post by **supnick** » Tue Jun 22, 2010 1:25 pm

Philaflava wrote:$7.99 at Best Buy/

definitely getting

spew120 · Post by **spew120** » Tue Jun 22, 2010 8:23 pm

I'm biased because I surround myself with Okayplayer blind-love. I don't think it's coming close to Game Theory. Sounds too clean in some spots. Web 20/20 and both tracks featuring Blu are fire. The rest is just good; not classic.

Kalistoga · Post by **Kalistoga** » Tue Jun 22, 2010 8:44 pm

this album is dope. all the tracks fit well together. but like Phila said, it doesn't have that one stand out track.

GhostDog · Post by **GhostDog** » Tue Jun 22, 2010 11:20 pm

Copped the CD today. Dope album. Not as dope as "Game Theory", and might be just a notch below "Rising Down". I'll have to give it more time.

My fav track is "Doin' It Again", followed by "Now or Never".

The only somewhat dicy track on the album for me is "The Fire", and it's only because of John Legends vocals. That being said, song is by no means horrible.

As dope as the guest rappers are (STS really stood out, Phonte never disappoints lyrically), I wish the Roots would tone down the guest features. Last two albums have been guest happy. I want more Black Thought verses.

I was hoping Malik B would have had a verse or two on this.

I think this will probably easily be the best major label hip-hop release of the year.

YouTube · Post by **Philaflava** » Fri Jun 25, 2010 8:07 am

WSJ interview

By CHRISTOPHER JOHN FARLEY

Hip-hop group the Roots hails from Philadelphia, but since becoming the house band on "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" last year, its members have increasingly embraced New York. The Roots' new album, "How I Got Over," was recorded in Philadelphia and New York, and is the group's first release since taking on the late-night TV gig.
[SPEAKEASY] Getty Images

Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson of the Roots.

The "Fallon" job has also moved the Roots, once cult favorites, closer to the center of the pop universe, jamming each night on the air with such guests as Sheryl Crow, Christopher Cross and Keith Urban. Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson, the septet's drummer and spokesman, says that "doing the sketches on the show, having one-on-one conversations on my Twitter account, that really helps a lot in breaking the myth of the one-dimensional band. So hopefully now we're two-and-a-half dimensions."

Members of the Roots are also working on a number of forthcoming projects, including collaborative albums by soul British soul siren Duffy and American singer John Legend. "Between all those records I've been living out of a hotel, like the lone black member of the cast of 'Dynasty,'" Mr. Thompson said.

The drummer spoke with the Journal about the Roots' new album, reaching middle age, and working in New York City.

The Wall Street Journal: You guys are from Philadelphia but you have a standing gig in New York. Is there any danger of the Roots losing their roots?

Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson: Technically speaking, when people ask me, do I still live in Philadelphia, I say, "My mail still goes there." But we've been living out of a hotel and a tour bus for the last 18 years. I haven't lost my rootsגreally my roots are somewhere behind a drum set anywhere in the world.

WSJ: Has the culture of New York seeped into what you do as a band?

Mr. Thompson: It's always done that. For all intents and purposes, I know that we're marketed as a Philly band, but we've done a majority of our records in New York. A lot of my best music in the last 10 years has been made at Electric Lady Studios [on West 8th Street]גthe work with D'Angelo, Common, Erykah Badu, during that period back in the late-90s, early 2000s.

WSJ: How does location influence your work?

Mr. Thompson: I feel as if I do my best work when I'm in some sort of uncomfortable non-glitzy location. I feel that brings the best out of my performance. If it's too comfortable I might get distracted. We made that mistake once. We took our budget money and renovated our entire studio to resemble that of a strip club. That's one of the perils of watching "MTV Cribs."

WSJ: Why did you decide to record the cover song "Dear God 2.0"?

Mr. Thompson: Hip-hop is 100% machismo. Even for females it's machismo. Because we are men in our late-30s, now approaching 40, there has to be a new role, a new playbook that we have to go by. We're writing it as we go. We wanted to make a record that reflected the tone of the country. "Dear God" is a song about someone holding on with the last fiber of their being to something to believe in. The gentleman singing on it is Jim James, the leader of My Morning Jacket; he was one of the leaders of a supergroup called the Monsters of Folk, which included him and Bright Eyes. They came on the show and I heard the lyrics and it absolutely floored me.

WSJ: There's a line in the song "Now or Never," from your new album that goes, "I'm ready for the next chapter and page / to start acting my age." Do you think hip-hop can be relevant into middle age?

Mr. Thompson: I think that I personally embrace and welcome the idea of being a sage. I think there's a way we can present ourselves that seems genuine without seeming outdated. I sometimes rack my brain to think of ways, approaches we can take as 38, 39, 40-year-olds that seem natural and not corny to someone that's 20. It happens in rock all the time. It's not like Rolling Stones fans were scoffing at "Tattoo You" when it came out [in 1981] and those guys were approaching 40 then.

Brougham33 · Post by **Brougham33** » Sat Jun 26, 2010 12:46 pm

I agree with this, especially about the sequencing.

"Pitchfork: The Roots - How I Got Over - 8.1 "

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/143 ... -got-over/

Above everything else that defines them, the Roots are capital-P Professionals. That's why they're perfect for their "Late Night" job. They don't fit there because, as critics would say, they're easily digestible; they fit because they're versatile and consistently operate at a high level. They're encyclopedic music scholars who're proud of their chops but don't flash them at the expense of an accessible hook. They never compromise, even though they're refined enough to help set the standards for grown-man class in hip-hop. And it's possible to listen to their last few albums without being reminded they're big-idea concept records, even though their themes leave an impression fairly quickly.

So after all the delays and discarded material (whatever happened to that "Peaches En Regalia" cover?), How I Got Over has emerged as a particularly efficient album. It's the Roots' shortest (a lean 42 and a half minutes), one of their most lyrically straightforward, and a work of strong stylistic cohesion. A decade's worth of personnel changes notwithstanding, it's clear that this is the same braintrust that made "The Next Movement" sound so vibrant 11 years ago; the two most prominent instrumental components remain ?uestlove's in-the-pocket drumming and the Ahmad Jamal/Donny Hathaway resonance of Kamal Gray's keyboards. And on the mic, Black Thought maintains his usual level-headed authority, continuing to come across at his best like a down-to-earth version of Rakim.

But what makes How I Got Over work is its sense of purpose. After the jaw-clenching stress rap of their last two excellent Def Jam releases, Game Theory and Rising Down, this record operates as a slow-build mission statement on how to overcome. Everything hinges on the title track, a stirring anthem built from a congas-and-organ backbone that sounds like a funkier, livelier inversion of Steely Dan's "Do It Again". As a showcase for Dice Raw and Black Thought's unexpectedly tender singing voices-- as well as the latter MC's ability to elevate simple sentiments with his delivery-- it feels like the group's usual rigorous standards being met. But it isn't exactly an accurate indication of how the album itself turns out sounding.

Instead, it's a pivot point, where everything before its halfway-mark appearance is the tunnel and everything afterwards is the light. How I Got Over is sequenced with a distinct idea of mood progression, changing from defeated, malaise-stricken piano-ballad dirges to defiant statements of survival and resilience. Black Thought's tough lamentations on early tracks "Walk Alone" and "Radio Daze" pick up where the more introspective moments of Rising Down left off. And even if he pushes a few metaphors past the breaking point or coasts on stating the obvious for a line or two, he doesn't suffer from a lack of relatability.

Once "How I Got Over" breaks through the first half's well-crafted melancholy and transitions into its more resolute second half, the sound shifts from glowing downtempo neo-soul to something more energized. "Right On" pits Joanna Newsom's lilting voice and harp against one of the most commanding drum breaks on the album; John Legend is artfully deployed as both a ghostly sample (the cathedral-sized "Doin' It Again") and an intense live vocalist ("The Fire"); "Web 20/20" upends the minimalist snare-driven charge of its Tipping Point namesake and mutates it into a jury-rigged, elastic-ricochet revamp of snap music. Black Thought ups his mood over the course of things as well, and by the time they reach the record's unlikely final hook-- "Hustla"'s Auto-Tuned crying-baby-- he's turning struggles into strengths for the sake of his next generation.

A lot has been made of the indie rock collaborations on this album, particularly the appearances by Newsom, the Monsters of Folk on "Dear God 2.0", and the wordless a cappella chorus from Amber Coffman, Angel Deradoorian, and Haley Dekle of the Dirty Projectors on the intro track "A Peace of Light". But their crossover efforts land firmly on the Roots' side of the equation, integrating into their Soulquarian aesthetic instead of nudging them the other way. Meanwhile, the guest MCs do just as much to round out How I Got Over's personality. The recurring satellite members that bolstered the ranks on Rising Down reprise their roles here (an on-fire Dice Raw, the low-key sharpness of Truck North and P.O.R.N., the obligatory show-stealing Peedi Peedi appearance). "Right On" and "Hustla" make for a couple of good showcases for promising Philly-via-ATL up-and-comer STS, who's molded his semi-drawl into an agile flow. And there's a couple of fine verses from Little Brother's Phonte and some absolute revelations from L.A. phenom Blu, both of whom sound vital even when they spend most of their time describing their anxiety

How I Got Over has its title for a reason. It alludes to the gospel standard popularized by Clara Ward, and has a similarly spiritual-minded cast to it as its namesake's tribute to the power of belief in helping people reach the promised land. Maybe it's not as explicitly religious, but it regularly alludes to some form of higher power, whether it's God or a more secular sense of things that are simply out of civilization's control. And that's the compelling thing about the Roots on this album: They're not afraid to show humility and frustration when confronted with struggle, operating on the same level of humanity as the people who listen to it. For all the Roots' tight professionalism and clockwork consistency, for all their late-night TV exposure and their status as alt-rap icons, they're not superhuman. But the fact that they know this, that they can make a whole album about coming to terms with it-- that makes them powerful.