It’s hard to believe that having live musicians could be a
\ndetriment, but in the world of hip-hop, The Roots have had to
\nconstantly battle to keep their music at the forefront. Even so,
\nmany critics refuse to write about anything other than drummer
\n?uestlove’s abilities.<\/p>\n
Not that ?uestloves accomplishments DON’T warrant press: he’s
\none of the best drummers in popular music. But far too often, The
\nRoots’ great albums get overshadowed by people obsessing over the
\nfact that they actually have musicians playing instruments.
\nHopefully,
\nPhrenology<\/i> will finally turn people’s ears onto their actual
\noutput.<\/p>\n
Like the title of the album (and its cover),
\nPhrenology<\/i> is incredibly cerebral. At times, the album
\nbreaks into jazzy improvisations, minimalistic hip-hop and finally,
\npunk. The album is The Roots’ hardest album yet. Its title track is
\nsupported by a pulverizing bass line and backed up with Black
\nThought’s boasting of his lyrical (and physical) toughness. It’s a
\ngreat song, but it brings back memories of when A Tribe Called
\nQuest tried to carefully walk the gangsta walk, even though their
\nbest albums were far removed from typical gangsta rap
\nclich\u00e9s.<\/p>\n
\nPhrenology<\/i>‘s greatest strength is its musical ambition: the
\nband incorporates so many elements into the album, yet is somehow
\nare able to keep all their balls in the air. In one glorious moment
\n— “The Seed (2.0)” — The Roots come into their own and produce a
\nsoon-to-be hip-hop classic. Cody Chestnutt drops into the studio
\nand the band glides around Cody’s presence so soulfully that you
\nwould swear that honey was leaking from your speakers.<\/p>\n
\nPhrenology<\/i> does get tangled up in its ambitions, however. In
\nthe epic 11-or-so minute song “Water,” The Roots go full-on
\navant-garde jazz. Once again, I’ll take over-ambition over
\ntimidness any day, but in this case, it smacks of self-indulgence,
\nlike Sonic Youth’s most pretentious works. It also doesn’t have the
\nuniformity of
\nThings Fall Apart<\/i>, their last masterstroke (which, by no
\ncoincidence, contained two or three songs that instantly grabbed
\nyou by the lapels).<\/p>\n
“Water” comes midway through
\nPhrenology<\/i>, violently breaking up its continuity. However,
\nit isn’t a fatal blow. “Pussy Galore” is a provocative examination
\nof relationships, but as usual, the band doesn’t forget their
\ngroove. And Jill Scott proves once again why she’s the ultimate
\nguest vocalist for The Roots on the song “Complexity.”<\/p>\n
The Roots are all about blurring musical lines of perception.
\nYou can’t categorize
\nPhrenology<\/i> as a hip-hop, rap, rock or R&B album. All you
\nare left to do is listen to it as an entire product and come to
\nyour own conclusions. For those who are tired of hearing airwaves
\nfull of songs featuring guest vocals by Ja Rule, this album is
\nworth wading through a few mistakes. In fact, it’s the mess-ups
\nthat make
\nPhrenology<\/i> enduring.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":26329,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[6822],"rating":[5615],"class_list":["post-37557","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-the-roots","rating-rating-b"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37557","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37557"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37557\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26329"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37557"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37557"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=37557"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=37557"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}