The Roots: illadelph halflife ---Ink Blot Magazine

The Roots: illadelph halflife

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The Roots,
"Concerto of the Desperado"

at a glance...

Hometown: Philadelphia, PA
Formed: circa 1992

Members:
?uestlove (Ahmir Thompson) -drums
Black Thought (Tariq Trotter) -lead vocalist
Malik B. (Malik Abdul-Bassit) -vocals
Kamal -keyboards
Leonard Hubbard -bass
Rahzel -vocal percussion, beat box
guests:
Dice Raw -vocals
Scratch -vocal percussion, beat box

Related Artists :
Common, De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest, Bahamadia, Erykah Badu, Black Star, Mos Def, D'Angelo, Jill Scott

Notes:
In the fall of '87, Tariq Trotter (Black Thought) and Ahmir Thompson (?uestlove) met at The Philadelphia High School for Creative and Performing Arts, and an immediate bond was formed. The product of a musical family, Thompson had been drumming since he was a child, while Trotter was always looking for opportunities to drop freestyle lyrics. They entered a talent show (with renowned jazz musician Christian McBride, a childhood friend of Thompson's, on bass), and the response was tremendous. The two then took to the streets, setting up makeshift drum kits on South Philly corners and performing freestyle hip hop sessions. Five years later, with the addition of a second lyricist (Malik B.), keyboards, bass and beatbox master Rahzel and their corner gigs reaching legendary status in Philly, jazz bassist Jamaldeen Tacuma offered to take the crew on his European tour with him. They went, put together Organix, their first LP, to promote on the trip, and returned to a host of offers from major record labels. Their second album, Do You Want More?!!!!, received critical acclaim but limited commercial success, while their third, illadelph halflife, was equally lauded and sold relatively well. Their most recent LP, Things Fall Apart, scored enormous sales while retaining the group's artistic integrity.

The Roots
illadelph halflife
DGC/Geffen, Released 1996

The only problem some hip hop fans had with Do You Want More?!!!, The Roots' second LP, was that the novelty of the group's live instrumentation was wearing thin. The group's response to that criticism on illadelph halflife speaks volumes about the band's artistic prowess. To quell fans' desire for the use of samples and less sparse production, The Roots simply sampled themselves, recording jam sessions and looping those samples within the traditional framework of bass, keys and ?uestlove's drums.

The result is phenomenal, maintaining the raw sound the live instruments provide while bringing clarity, density and some fiercely percussive beats. On "What They Do," a lilting, hypnotic harangue against "the one dimensional/no imagination/excuse for perpetration," Black Thought declares the group's decree to "infinitely go against the grain." This album does just that, incorporating a Euro-operatic style on "Concerto of the Desperado," a heap of brass and Cassandra Wilson's soothing jazz vocals on "One Shine," and the jaw-dropping spoken word delivery of poetress Ursula Rucker on "The Adventures In Wonderland," all while preserving its focus on the traditional elements of hip hop. Other guests include D'Angelo, Q-Tip, Bahamadia, Common, Groove Theory's Amel Laurieux and Toni Tony Tone's Raphael Saadiq.

With constant experimentation and the will to place hip hop at the core of the black arts movement, illadelph exposes the dodgy elements of hip hop culture, and society as a whole, without the slightest hint of hypocrisy.

If you like The Roots, check out:
The Roots The Roots Come Alive
The Roots Things Fall Apart
The Roots Do You Want More ?!!!??!
A Tribe Called Quest The Low End Theory
Jill Scott Who Is Jill Scott?
Common One Day It'll All Make Sense
Erykah Badu Baduizm

-- Jim Welte

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