The Roots : A discography
 

Hi all, figured i'd start my reviewing with one of my favourite groups discography. Hope you enjoy.

Organix (1993)

The Roots first came to life with a Beatles-esque beginning, moving over to mainland Europe and then London, constantly performing and refining their live show. This first effort, intended as a demo shows their live, spontaneous tendencies in a greater light than any studio LP since. The loose, organic feel of this record is no coincidence, a lot of this record was written, and often recorded during relaxed jamming sessions.

The album itself did it’s job, it got the band signed for a major label debut, but this shouldn’t be all one takes away from the record. The loose, posse cut feeling prevalent on ‘Pass the Popcorn’ and ‘Good Music’ feels like something one would expect from a native tongue single, not exactly surprising considering it was 1993, but definitely a fun alternative to the dark and rowdy jams of later albums, ‘Things Fall Apart’ and most notably, ‘Illadelph Halflife’.

That’s not to say there are not moments which don’t need to be on the album. The final two tracks are pointless and there is a much better version of scat/rap track
‘Essaywhuman??!’ available on the next album. When considered as part of the Roots discography, this will always simply be ‘the start’. The record that hinted at their creative genius without ever really following through (think Nirvana’s ‘Bleach’). Still though, this album deserves a serious listen, if only to see where they came from and to catch the hints of where they’d go.

Best tracks:
‘Good Music’ (including the prelude)
‘Common Dust’
‘Pass the Popcorn’

7/10

Do You Want More??!?? (1994)

Now, this is where the Roots really started to get going. Signed to a major label and ready to make a splash, the group was letting its creative juices flow. The opening track ‘Proceed’ and it’s first line state their intentions. They were going to make you think, and they were going to make you question everything.

‘Just think…what if you could just…just blink away?’

The rest of the track is a tour de force of mid 90’s rap. Beat boxing mixed with Questlove’s live drums, a classic hook and a dreamy piano loop courtesy of Scott Storch. The jazzy jamming session was still very prevalent at this time. The jazz influences were addressed in ‘Dat Skat’ and the revamped ‘Essaywhuman???!?’.

The relaxed vibe is reinforced by ‘Mellow My Man’ and ‘Lazy Afternoon’, a track which features the same verse 3 times with minor differences which give a different picture as to what is happening. Perhaps, however, the most impressive feat of this album is the title track, which, believe it or not, utilises bag pipes excellently.

Unfortunately, the album begins to lose steam with the last 3 songs before finishing on the storming ‘The Lesson Pt. 1’, a freestyle between Black Thought and a 15 year old Dice Raw, laced over the beat boxing of Razhel. This relaxed, playful end closes off the Roots (and I suspect anyone’s) loosest album to date. An absolute masterpiece of summertime driving music if I’ve ever heard one.

Best tracks:

‘Proceed’
‘Do You Want More??!?!’
‘Essaywhuman??!?!?’

9/10

Personally, Illadelph Halflife favorite album by my roots, and that's saying a lot because a lot has strong roots discography.

In this album a lot of different styles of music mixes. Slightly more guitar-oriented album in the first half, while the other half is more jazz influence, and there are shorts in the middle of DJ. Black thought in general does not disappoint with his lyrics.