Who is Hip Hop’s most under rated emcee? Thats right you guessed it the one and only Black Thought of the legendary Roots Crew. He’s not to be toyed with and he proved that point when him and J Period wrecked shop at the True Skool 12th anniversary in San Francisco a few weeks ago. It was a show to remember and Thought came with it..Ya don’t belive me check out his flows..
Q-Tip and the Roots Redo the NWA Classic ‘Straight Outta Compton’
September 20, 2010 By
NWA helped break the stranglehold New York had on Hip Hop. They snatched the spotlight in the early 90s and made Compton Hip Hop's Mecca
I’ve always loved NWA‘s classic track ‘Straight Outta Compton’.. When it dropped back in ’88 it clearly captured the energy and urgent vibe at the time. NWA had broke on the scene and wanted West Coast rap to be heard and respected. At the same time they wanted to shatter all the myths about LA being a place with palm trees and beaches. LA was about hardcore gang bangers, vicious police and cats from Palm tree lined neighborhoods with a fearless attitude. That song and video definitely did the trick in terms of putting all the above mentioned on the table..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJ0_HYuR_fk
Over the years various groups have attempted to recreate that energy by doing their own versions of the song. One of the best parodies was highlighted in the movie Cb4 featuring comedian Chris Rock.. Y’all may recall when he dida video for his fictional gangster rap group ‘Straight Outta Locash‘
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwc4gCVXTcM&feature=related
Q-Tip
Over the past couple of years the Roots have re-done the NWA songs when doing tribute sets.. Usually its been Black Thought and Skillz holding down the vocals. This past weekend tin Chicago, the Roots took it new heights when Q-Tip from Tribe Called Quest hit the stage to join Black Thought with an incredible rendition. Also on the mic doing Eazy lyrics was guitarist Captain Kirk Douglass. Later on in the show Erykah Badu graced the stage..I wish sometime in the future the Roots do a special NWA project with guest emcees like Q-Tip as well as original members and maybe even go on tour..
Since we’re talking about Q-Tip you should know he’s currently producing some tracks for and with Kanye.. He’s also producing tracks for band member Phife Dawg‘s up and coming solo album. He’s also doing stuff for Mary J Blige
Here’s a couple of angles of the group ripping this NWA classic. The first one is an up close angle at the start of the song. The second video is the longer more complete version..which unfortunately missed the beginning.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYiBXvSUb40
I’m Not Afraid of Ice Cube Anymore: Questlove offers some food for thought
May 24, 2010 By
I came across this missive from Questlove of the Roots today on twitter… I read it, then peeped the video he linked to and my mind went racing in a few directions all at once. First, I looked at the video from the perspective of the disgruntled fan. In today’s society so many of us attach ourselves to celebrity so much, that our identity gets caught up in what they do or don’t do. This is especially true if that celebrity fills an important void that society refuses or doesn’t seem to have the capacity to fill.When this happens we don’t want our celebrities to change. When they fall short we take it personal. I seen this happen with everyone from Public Enemy to Jesse Jackson.
The second angle I explored was how so many of us are allowed space to grow and evolve. Sometimes it’s our own fault. We don’t wanna take responsibility. We don’t want to endure the pain that comes with growth so we get caught up in what has often been described as the Peter Pan syndrome.
On the other hand , we live in a society that often doesn’t want us to grow. We’re to forever be child-like in our thinking and entertainment minded versus business minded. We’re to forever be the buffoon and never the scholar. When we stray away we get smacked down into place and severely criticized even from our own. So in this case ice Cube at age 40 is still supposed to be a hardcore gangsta riding around with an AK versus maybe be a family guy…For him to grow, he’s considered a sellout.. and not a fully well-rounded thinking man.
Third and most disturbing, is something that author/scholar Adam Mansbach often talks about. He describes the proverbial suburban white Hip Hop fan who grew up fascinated and intimated by Hip Hop which they fully equated with the totality of Black culture. He talks about how many would live vicariously through the words and videos of street oriented rap groups to the point that they would start mimicking them and adapt a worldview that would be warped to the point that anything not falling into the mold was somehow out-of-pocket.
Mansbach describes how those suburban white kids would listen to these records, watch those videos and not ever have to full experience the realities depicted in the songs. This would lead them to feel comfortable and believing that they were not only part of but definers of the culture. They would become embolden and ‘no longer afraid of the ghettos they vicariously visited..
Here’s what Questlove had to say…
-Davey-D
tryna tell yall: this is why i cry out against the press/blogger minstrelsy embrace of hip hop (if its “scary” or “bright” “clownish”/”funny” or “oversexed” or “watered down apolitically” (no balls/opinion/position/eager to pleaseisms) its minstrel!!!! read this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minstrel_show
point is: this song is cute http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cjx8wg0hmY&feature=player_embedded#
but TRULY it is the answer to all the questions we had about hip hop’s demise.
it would be nice to say “oh…its an art form and treated as such” (remember that@harryallen quote about “hip hop is treated like its disposable. its not even considered ‘art'” on our Things Fall Apart intro?–well this is the dangers of embracing something for the wrong reasons:
hip hop’s MASSIVE success was running on the fumes of the “horror flick/roller coaster” syndrome: something scary and exciting you are curious about…but something you don’t take all that serious.
in other words: lets look at sting and lil wayne:
if both figures (both are massive sales figures in pop music)—if both made announcements that they were quitting music for a career in politics: and them in office position effected your life and you had to chose one—who would you be more inclined to take seriously to run your government?
(ill leave it up to you to get my point….but for those who say wayne, i can pretty much also guess that you too dont take life all that seriously or being contrary is how you differentiate yourself from others)
anywho….watch that clip.
reveals ALOT
Questlove
Questlove of the Roots Speaks on the Importance of Fela Kuti
February 26, 2010 By
?uestlove from The Roots, now an associate producer on the hit musical Fela! on Broadway, talks about when he first discovered Fela Kuti’s music, and walks us through Fela’s influence in yesterday and today’s hip-hop — including works by Mos Def, Macy Gray, D’Angelo, X-Clan, and Leader of the New School.
Breakdown FM: Hip Hop Needs this Man Questlove
June 1, 2006 By
This is an incredible interview we did a few years back with Questlove of the Roots. He opened up and talked to us about the state of Black music, Life at Def Jam, Payola and a host of other things. Very insightful. If you are in the industry this is a must hear interview.. Special shout out to Liberator Magazine who transcribed some of Quest’s words check them out at the link below.. http://weblog.liberatormagazine.com/2006/10/uestlove-most-interesting-mind.html
Listen to the Breakdown FM Interview by clicking the links below..
(part one)
(part two)
Questlove
Davey D: Is Jay-Z pimpin over there? [as president of Def Jam]
?uestlove:
“At the end of the day, it’s like Universal pimps them all. From L.A. [Reid] to Jay-Z, even the other presidents, I think it’s sort of like the illusion of power thing. I think everyone is just tryna hang onto their position to not upset the head honcho of Universal. Like, he really controls it and everyone just wants to keep their job. I don’t think Jay-Z necessarily sweats it, because if he lost his job, he still has like a few hundred million in his back pocket… he can go back to his day job. So I think that’s why he’s a little more adventurous in flaunting the fact that he signed us. Cause he really has nothing to loose. Like if he gets fired it’s like, oh well. L.A. Reid, he looses his job, I don’t know. He already left BMG, there’s only Warner and Lyor [Cohen] ain’t having that.
“The idea of really being cool, is that if this stopped tomorrow, I could at least maintain this particular lifestyle for 10 years. In other words, I got 10 years to find a job. I don’t wanna be in the position in which… you know, well Ja Rule right now is sorta thinking about, ‘ok maybe I should invest in online poker playing’. So I hear he’s dabbling in how to license his image to do online poker playing… no I actually think they’re trying to turn Spades into the new Texas Holdem’ thing for black people. I mean it’s cool, if that’s his passion, you know what I mean, but it’s like I don’t know. I don’t want to set a particular standard for myself that I won’t be able to maintain…
“Even a person like Michael Jackson, just on a minimum, he has to generate $12 million a month just for upkeep. Like, someone has to cut the grass at Neverland, someone has to paint the walls, there might be spider webs growing, someone has to pay the staff. You need new milk every week, someone has to buy good. The electric bills must be crazy $15,000 a month. Someone has to oil the farris wheels. Like, just for maintenance, $12 million a month. And it’s like if you’re not generating that money, you’re gonna be in trouble. I guess Mike thought ‘well ok, my supplies are gonna last forever’… so the way I choose to represent myself in public is just in a very modest way… we are people.
The Roots
“A well known manager recently had to be escorted out of his clients major label home for trashing the place because of the disappointment of the first single of his client’s new album. And the measure that they went through to make sure to make sure that that song gets played… like the song was tested on the radio and at very best, lukewarm results. But because this artist is such a ubiquitous presence… I found out from a friend of mine who works at radio that they have to play this record… even though the audience has totally passed over it… [and this record is super] recent… the reason why the office was torn up was because the label was promised that ‘we will make sure that this particular artist gets at minimum of at least 12 plays a day on all the major market.’ And when they didnt get it he came in a tore up the office… and [now] this will look like one of the highest selling records this year… I seen the soundscan results of this record coming up, I know what it’s projected to do… but that’s the thing, it’s forced and it’s forced and it’s forced… Kids on my block… they don’t have [Apple] Macs, they don’t know about Limewire [downloading software], they don’t know to google ‘new hip hop acts’… when you’re forced into a situation, you’re just doing what you’re told. Unfortunately there’s really no tastemakers to direct people… now the gatekeepers are the new tastemakers.
“But that’s what I’m trying to tell the ‘Little Brothers’ [another upcoming Hip Hop group] of the world right now… there’s a way out of this maze.
“Once you know the nature of your audience you just deal with it. Most black folks are just blinded by celebrity. And celebrity is when your lifestyle sort of supersedes or is more famous than your art. In other words people more concerned with the dress Jennifer Lopez had on last night as oppose to how good she hit that note on this particular concert… this whole winner take all mentality that the black audience, the disenfranchised people have, he [who has celebrity] is seen as a winner. And so that sort of separates your palate for what is good.
“I’ll tell you exactly how it works. You gotta take a significant amount of money… you find an agent… who does not work for the label… he takes the money and he goes to one of the 5 or 6 major radio station owners… [whose] whole goal is to maintain your attention by any means… what he does is he goes to the owner of said company and says… ‘I got a artist here, The Roots. I think you’ll really feel them. What’s the deal?’ He plays it and instantly in 4 seconds they can tell if it’s a hit or not. Now in this case we got denied. Now this is where they have to barter. They say ‘well look, here’s the deal, Jay-Z, a fellow Universal artist is gonna do a few Power 106 Jamz like summer concerts for you…’
“Whenever you hear those Summer Jamz… those are bartered deals… so what happens is the person says ‘I know that you want Jay-Z to headline the Power Jam in Denver next summer… how about this, what if we throw in Lil Jon And The Eastside Boyz and also T.I. We’ll throw them in. We’ll have them appear at your store. This is all I want you to do. I just want you to give me good look on The Roots’ signal. Play this 20 times a week and see what your audience feels…’
“And usually a song like that will get the little litmus test… and if it catches on it automatically gets added. Or you can go a little further and say, well look, here’s some money, how are your kids doing in college…
“At the end of the day my expectation level is so grounded that I’m cool with just stayin relevant…meaning like as long as we makin a living… as in the people still admiring The Roots, and can’t wait for that new record and what the hell they gon do next… as long as that’s still there and we have a home to do it, I’m cool with it.
“There’s still artists in the pop world… Sonic Youth… [Bob] Dylan… those are prestige artists. They’re allowed to make records no matter what. The record will never pressure them… they’ll just let them do them, and it’s all fine because they have respect. There is no artist in black music that has reached that level. Most black artists, their primary goal is generate us money, or else. I kinda wanna be the first artist in the pop realm to do that. I know Wynton Marsalis has that in the Jazz world. Like, Jazz records don’t sell, but it’s prestige and he’s royalty.
On Def Jam Left:
“Def Jam Left was incorporating the idea of… junk bonds, where we’d have a jam session… so you have 18 artists coming to a jam session in San Francisco and a Jill Scott happens to come outta that pack, then we take that Jill Scott and let her do a single. If there’s buzz generated, treat her like an Indie then she gets to make an album… and if it doesn’t work, keep on developin her. And that’s what we wanted to do…
On Scott Storch:
“Scott Storch was with us… once you’re a Root your always a Root… I’ll quote Kanye… ‘the kid that did that, deserves that Maybach’… Scott used to sleep on rat infested floors… I’ve never seen anyone spew out music as quick as he does. He will work on 20 song a day… he has no emotional connection to the rejection. Like me, I’ll get pissed. I’ll work on a beat and if you front on it…. we gon be fightin. With Scott, he’ll work on a beat, you don’t like it: ‘how bout this? how bout this?’ and it’s ‘Cry Me A River’ for Justin Timberlake… then it’s like ‘Baby Boy’ for Beyonce. Like he’s just a machine like that.
Last Thoughts: “I want to really stress to people. Please, please, please, please, please invest in quality music. And put somebody else on to it. That’s the joy in music making. I enjoy sharing music with other people.
Below is our interview w/ Questlove on HardKnock TV
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOmeEpajf6g
Below is the Questlove interview broken up in parts…
Questlove pt1: Game plan, work ethic and Tipping Point
Questlove pt2: Jon Brian, working hard
Questlove pt3: economic well being
Questlove pt4: Michael Jackson, production
Questlove pt5: Disposable music, connecting to fans
Questlove pt6: white audiences, payola, staying relevant
Questlove pt7: Jthe root of the Roots
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