Back to Table of Contents

The Roots Dig Deeper: Philly Hip-Hop Band Returns With Phrenology

By Owen Perry

The wait is over. It's been three long years since the Roots album Things Fall Apart came out. But their new album, Phrenology, proves the years were worth it.

This album offers a new direction for the genre of hip-hop, one that takes it from the realm of street poetry and dance beats, to a higher musical level that other hip-hop groups have yet to achieve.

"Aimin' straight at your minds and blast that weak shit/ The pieces and particles of fragments mad vocabulist," rhymes emcee Black Thought on the first song, "Rock You." The Roots have always made conscious, thoughtful albums, and this one is no exception. But this doesn't take away from the suburb music of their songs.

First and foremost, the Roots are a rap band. ?uestlove's drum and turntable beats are rarely if ever loops and always tight. Leonard Hubbard's bass keeps the machine chugging. Kamal Gray's countermelodies on the keys add color and flow to each track. The newest member of the group, Ben Kenney, quietly brings guitar into the mix but occasionally throws a nice hard rock riff. The most unique member of the group is DJ Scratch, who, despite his moniker, rarely touches the turntables, opting rather for the human beat box that is his mouth. Completed with Black Thought, who is arguably one of the best emcees today, the Roots are a complete sonic package.

While these guys could easily carry the whole album, it is guest performances that really make this album good.

"Break You Off," the album's first single, features Musiq on the chorus of the track that reportedly took five months to finish recording.

Nelly Furtado, who has done her best lately to shed her pop image, sings the chorus of "Sacrifice" in a soulful, sultry style that she hadn't explored on any other recordings. Later, on "Complexity," songstress Jill Scott shows what Neo-Soul should sound like.

Rapper Talib Kweli "pops like Crisco" in his duet with Black thought on "Rolling With Heat" and on the hidden track, "Rhymes and Ammo." That last track turns into a techno song called "Something to See," which features the Roots' former beatbox master, Rahzel.
Ish Butler (from Digables and Cherrywine) and Mos Def join Neo-Soul up-and-comer Cody ChesnuTT for the ode to procreation "The Seed," which contains the best line of the album, "it don't matter the sex, I'm gonna name it Rock n' Roll."

The only complaints about the album are the six minutes of water and static noise at the end of track 10, "Water," and the 24 second hardcore punk song "!!!!!!!," which is clever and interesting in its existence but really doesn't do much for the album as a whole.

Phrenology shows just how far the Roots have come. They have bridged hip-hop with rock and soul unlike any other band, and they have done it with a focus on content and musicality that has not been heard before. But what do I know? Go buy the album and tell me I'm wrong.

Each week Owen spends more money on CDs than he does on food and booze. Email him at operry1@ithaca.edu