Album review: The Roots, 'How I Got Over'
Rating: 3.5 stars (out of 4)
This Philadelphia hip-hop ensemble – lately best-known as the house band on the “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” TV talk show --- has been making deeply introspective music for two decades. They’re bohemian street intellectuals, ever ready to philosophize and analyze over a funky beat in a tradition that suggests a 21st Century answer to African griots and hip-hop progenitors such as the Last Poets. But even by their standards, the last couple albums have been particularly dark, and the 2008 release “Rising Down” positively seethed with discontent.
The first half of the Roots’ ninth studio album, “How I Got Over” (Def Jam), sounds like a hangover, a brooding meditation on a world teetering toward anarchy. Its jazz-soul vibe evokes Gil Scott-Heron’s ‘70s albums, where live drums (as played by producer Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson) and keyboards dominate. “Serving in an army of one,” MC Tariq “Black Thought” Trotter raps on “Walk Alone,” which concludes with an ominous knock-knock from Thompson’s snare drum. “Dear God 2.0” deepens Black Thought’s sense of abandonment, ratcheting up the heartache in singer Jim James’ prayer from the 2009 Monsters of Folk album.
But “The Day” dawns with a “clearer vision” and leads into a second half where the mellow melancholy of the album subtly brightens and the beats harden. Questlove’s more pronounced backbeat underpins “Right On,” where Joanna Newsome’s girlish vocal hook balances the gritty determination in the rapped verses. “The Fire” bursts with a robust rhythm and rhymes of resilience. “I’m supposed to reach for the sky/Never let somebody tell you otherwise,” Black Thought says, well aware of the obstacles that still lie ahead while remaining determined to rise above them.
greg@gregkot.com
Sponsored Link: Amazon's The Roots Store
This Philadelphia hip-hop ensemble – lately best-known as the house band on the “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” TV talk show --- has been making deeply introspective music for two decades. They’re bohemian street intellectuals, ever ready to philosophize and analyze over a funky beat in a tradition that suggests a 21st Century answer to African griots and hip-hop progenitors such as the Last Poets. But even by their standards, the last couple albums have been particularly dark, and the 2008 release “Rising Down” positively seethed with discontent.
The first half of the Roots’ ninth studio album, “How I Got Over” (Def Jam), sounds like a hangover, a brooding meditation on a world teetering toward anarchy. Its jazz-soul vibe evokes Gil Scott-Heron’s ‘70s albums, where live drums (as played by producer Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson) and keyboards dominate. “Serving in an army of one,” MC Tariq “Black Thought” Trotter raps on “Walk Alone,” which concludes with an ominous knock-knock from Thompson’s snare drum. “Dear God 2.0” deepens Black Thought’s sense of abandonment, ratcheting up the heartache in singer Jim James’ prayer from the 2009 Monsters of Folk album.
But “The Day” dawns with a “clearer vision” and leads into a second half where the mellow melancholy of the album subtly brightens and the beats harden. Questlove’s more pronounced backbeat underpins “Right On,” where Joanna Newsome’s girlish vocal hook balances the gritty determination in the rapped verses. “The Fire” bursts with a robust rhythm and rhymes of resilience. “I’m supposed to reach for the sky/Never let somebody tell you otherwise,” Black Thought says, well aware of the obstacles that still lie ahead while remaining determined to rise above them.
greg@gregkot.com