I can\u2019t say why Do You Want More?!!!??!<\/i> was recorded, but I have a dubious notion that The Roots were huge A Tribe Called Quest fans. <\/p>\n
For example, after listening to \u201cDistortion To Static\u201d a few times, the stuttering vocal loop reminded me of something, but I couldn\u2019t put my finger on it. Later, I happened to listen to \u201cElectric Relaxation\u201d by A Tribe Called Quest\u2026yeah, almost the same vocal loop. <\/p>\n
But wait, there\u2019s more. Questlove drums for The Roots (though he was known as B.R.O.THER ? on this album). Quest. Hmmmmm.<\/p>\n
Biblical characters Shadrach and Meshach are mentioned in both Tribe\u2019s Midnight Marauders<\/i> and Do You Want More?!!!??!<\/i> (Abednego, who completes the fiery furnace trio, only shows up in the former.)<\/p>\n
Oh yeah, there\u2019s this line from \u201cLazy Afternoon,\u201d four tracks after \u201cDistortion To Static:\u201d \u201cNow it\u2019s 3:37 and I still ain\u2019t left the rest \/ \u2018Electric Relaxation\u2019 from A Tribe Called Quest.\u201d <\/p>\n
I knew it!<\/p>\n
Once you get past this outlandish conspiracy stuff, the jazz rap of Do You Want More?!!!??! <\/i>can be enjoyed \u2013 the cool tracks anyway. I don\u2019t like using the word filler, but it perfectly describes some of these, uh, songs.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
The album opens with an obligatory (translation: boring and unnecessary) introduction before hitting a nice groove with \u201cProceed,\u201d \u201cDistortion To Static,\u201d \u201cMellow My Man,\u201d and \u201cI Remain Calm.\u201d Don\u2019t look for a message in these tracks other than \u201cWe can outdo you lyrically and performance-wise,\u201d which isn\u2019t a bad claim given the evidence: \u201cI make emcees dangle like a bangle \/ Strangled from every angle \/ My lingo jingles and it dangles.\u201d At the same time, Black Thought and Malik B. don\u2019t call out names and have a very improvisational feel throughout this album, so the trash talk is more or less lighthearted and fun, even on a darker track like \u201cDistortion To Static.\u201d <\/p>\n
But lightheartedness can also be a weakness. \u201cDatskat,\u201d \u201cLazy Afternoon,\u201d \u201c? Vs. Rahzel,\u201d and \u201cEssaywhuman?!!!??!\u201d (recorded live) are way too off-the-cuff, and \u201cLazy Afternoon\u201d is the only one out of the bunch that comes across as a song to me. I\u2019m sure some people get into these tracks, but they lack good lyrics, and while The Roots are always solid instrumentally, that doesn\u2019t mean the music is interesting beyond a \u201cWhat the hell is this?\u201d level. \u201cSwept Away\u201d is more of a structured cut, but the theme from the introduction abruptly ends the regular tune\u2026I still don\u2019t get the point. Perhaps the only bright spot in the middle of the album is the title track, but my appreciation of it doesn\u2019t go much farther than thinking it\u2019s neat to hear bagpipes work well in a rap song. <\/p>\n
Thankfully, the album\u2019s last fourth is relatively strong. \u201cYou Ain\u2019t Fly\u201d may not be important or deep, but you get to hear Questlove rap a verse (he has a cool voice), and the song\u2019s verse instrumentation \u2013 particularly the keyboard and bass \u2013 is excellent (boring chorus, though). \u201cSilent Treatment\u201d is another throwaway song, but \u201cThe Lesson Pt. 1\u201d has eerie and effective background vocals, along with rapping from fifteen year old Dice Raw, who is surprisingly impressive. The final track, \u201cThe Unlocking,\u201d is angry and provocative, with a crushing spoken-word performance from Ursula Rucker.<\/p>\n
Although Do You Want More?!!!??!<\/i> isn\u2019t a sophomore slump, it has a piddling midsection and doesn\u2019t consistently show what The Roots are capable of. Some of these tracks are great, but one shouldn\u2019t take the material too seriously for the most part. It\u2019s interesting hearing these guys play around with the style A Tribe Called Quest pioneered, but this release isn\u2019t essential. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":73,"featured_media":30252,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[6822],"rating":[5612],"class_list":["post-41904","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-the-roots","rating-rating-b-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/41904","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\/73"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41904"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/41904\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30252"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41904"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41904"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=41904"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=41904"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}