I've been in a sort of musical funk lately. No, I don't consider
myself a musician by any stretch of the imagination. By "musical
funk", I mean that the music that has had the distinct pleasure of
entering my ear holes has mostly been un-inspired, sub-par aural
drivel. Ok, that might be a little harsh, but that's how I've felt.
Especially when listening to hip-hop music. I'm not going to make
myself out to be some sort of KRS-One-esque philosopher on all things
hip-hoptical (yes, it's a word), but I consider myself to have fairly
impeccable taste in "good" hip-hop music. I try to distance myself
from most of the Top 40 stuff. Most of the time, the beats are either
painfully generic or "catchy, teetering on over-played". Don't get me
wrong; if there's some cutlet doing the booty-shake thing up against
me, my personal thoughts on how crappy Lil Wayne's "Lollipop" is become
irrelevant (funny, how that happens, I know). But if I had my choice,
I would rather have said cutlet doing said booty-shake to Talib Kweli's
"Never Been In Love". (This is the point in the blog where you would google Talib
Kweli - Never Been In Love, then leave a comment thanking me for broadening your musical horizons. But fear not, just click this.)
Given that, what I've heard coming through the speakers for the
past couple of months has been less-than-interesting to say the least.
Sure, there have been a few gems here and there, most notably, two anthems coming out of the South. One is T.I.'s "No Matter What" off his forth-coming Paper Trail. He's been through a lot in the past year, and it shows in this track. The other song from the South is Bun B's "You're Everything" from his newly released II Trill. A couple of thoughts on this track: It is an uncompromising banger. If some of the South's hottest rappers got together and made a love song dedicated to the best part of the country, it would hope to sound like this. It also happens to be one of the best Jodeci samples I've heard. Ever.
But I digress. Aside from these shining examples of what hip-hop used to and should be (to me, at least), there really hasn't been anything out there that has grabbed a hold of my ears and screamed, "Jam this as loud as possible immediately, good sir!" And then I picked this up.
Without going into too much detail about this album, let me be as clear as possible when I say that in my opinion, this is their best album since the Grammy award-winning Things Fall Apart. This is one of those cover-to-cover albums. The type where you just pop it in your CD player and just let it go. The album as a whole flows nicely from song to song, yet each individual track leaves its own unique impression on the listener. From solid guest spots by artists ranging from well-known to not-so-well-known, to the refined musicality The Legendary Roots Crew has nearly trademarked, Rising Down deserves all the critical praise it's received since it's April 29th release.
But if you're lazy, uncivilized, and don't want to burden yourself with experiencing this aural masterpiece, then I humbly submit this for your approval. After you hear this song once, you just can't not want to immediately replay it. What is in this song that makes it ok to love hip-hop again? Is it Chrisette Michele's sultry chorus? Perhaps. Is it Black Thought's commanding flow? Could be. Maybe it's Wale's penchant for riding such a jive beat. Getting closer. How about the symbiotic mix of guitar, bass, drums, and other instruments? Warmer. Is it that damn cowbell? Bingo. That cowbell and the simple, repetitive beat it cycles throughout the song is the single reason it's ok to love hip-hop again. In an almost reflexive action, your shoulders begin to shake and your head begins to nod when cowbell is on the track. Just listen to the opening of "Rapper's Delight". How can you listen to that and not want to shake your posterior? The same rings true for this first single off of Rising Down. By deftly making use of the cowbell, The Roots have succeeded in making hip-hop fun again. You should thank them by buying their album. Notice I went this entire post without once referencing this. Oh wait, I just did. Dammit.
But I digress. Aside from these shining examples of what hip-hop used to and should be (to me, at least), there really hasn't been anything out there that has grabbed a hold of my ears and screamed, "Jam this as loud as possible immediately, good sir!" And then I picked this up.
Without going into too much detail about this album, let me be as clear as possible when I say that in my opinion, this is their best album since the Grammy award-winning Things Fall Apart. This is one of those cover-to-cover albums. The type where you just pop it in your CD player and just let it go. The album as a whole flows nicely from song to song, yet each individual track leaves its own unique impression on the listener. From solid guest spots by artists ranging from well-known to not-so-well-known, to the refined musicality The Legendary Roots Crew has nearly trademarked, Rising Down deserves all the critical praise it's received since it's April 29th release.
But if you're lazy, uncivilized, and don't want to burden yourself with experiencing this aural masterpiece, then I humbly submit this for your approval. After you hear this song once, you just can't not want to immediately replay it. What is in this song that makes it ok to love hip-hop again? Is it Chrisette Michele's sultry chorus? Perhaps. Is it Black Thought's commanding flow? Could be. Maybe it's Wale's penchant for riding such a jive beat. Getting closer. How about the symbiotic mix of guitar, bass, drums, and other instruments? Warmer. Is it that damn cowbell? Bingo. That cowbell and the simple, repetitive beat it cycles throughout the song is the single reason it's ok to love hip-hop again. In an almost reflexive action, your shoulders begin to shake and your head begins to nod when cowbell is on the track. Just listen to the opening of "Rapper's Delight". How can you listen to that and not want to shake your posterior? The same rings true for this first single off of Rising Down. By deftly making use of the cowbell, The Roots have succeeded in making hip-hop fun again. You should thank them by buying their album. Notice I went this entire post without once referencing this. Oh wait, I just did. Dammit.
