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Jan 5, 2011100I love sampled beats. But 90 percent of the time I'd rather ride Ahmir Thompson's hand, feet, and brain.
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The venerable hip-hop band's first effort since joining NBC's late-night lineup delivers all the funk/soul/jazz vibes fans have come to expect.
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How I Got Over hearkens back to the neo-soul mellowness of The Roots' mid-'90s output, while songs like the infectious title track retain Tipping Point's pop savvy.
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As the title suggests, it's a record which marks a transition for The Roots but which, like the America it addresses, is still aware of the burden of the recent past.
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90While How I Got Over is cut from the same cloth as their last album, the fabric of it is unique to itself. It's dark and tragic in places, but also enlightening and empowering.
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The Roots aren't just cashing in from their newfound Jimmy Fallon fame, they're doing what they do best that nobody else in or outside the Illadeph-side can do.
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The first half of the Roots' ninth studio album, How I Got Over, sounds like a hangover, a brooding meditation on a world teetering toward anarchy.
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81What makes How I Got Over work is its sense of purpose. After the jaw-clenching stress rap of their last two excellent Def Jam releases, Game Theory and Rising Down, this record operates as a slow-build mission statement on how to overcome.
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80It's another rock-solid album from one of rap's most consistently great collectives, with no discernable weak spots to attack.
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80The message is, essentially, Times are hard, but let's make things better. As honest and uplifting statements of intent go, it's hard to fault – just like this album.
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80How I Got Over is also the Roots' best listening experience since Things Fall Apart over ten years ago (a rap eternity).
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The blood doesn't really get pumping until the fifth track. Up to that point, however, the band creates some of its most downcast and alluring material, covering solitude, self-destruction, and just about every planetary ill.
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80The title of the Roots' ninth studio full-length suggests a more fulfilled mood (Obama victory, gig as America's favorite late-night house band), at least compared to the screw-faced abyss of their last two records.
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80Their ninth album finds the Philadelphia veterans a unique voice in hip-hop.
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80On their ninth studio album, the veteran Philly crew adds indie rock to its formula, and after two straight downer albums, it has them sounding positively re-energized.
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From those opening, gorgeous, chords – their sultry delivery, their soulful demeanor, their jazzy glean, everything – signals that The Roots are back.
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Even in its boasts, How I Got Over is selfless: an album of doubts, parables and pep talks.
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80This disconnect actually amps up the album's tension and energy, as if that first half was the uphill struggle, and the rest is the triumphant sound coming down from the summit.
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Gone are the frantic raps, menacing synths, and general hardness of the band's past three albums. In their place is a mellow approximation of the jazzy, old-school charm of The Roots circa Things Fall Apart.
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How I Got Over finds the Roots acting as elder statesmen in hip-hop, but its mix of nifty experiments and straightforward rap eliminates any sense of predictability.
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A bit slight to be among their best handful of releases, it's still their most immediate, another album that transcends any attempts at categorization.
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When they come back to Roy Ayers-style funk ("Radio Daze"), they prove nobody does it better. Let's hear it for steady employment.
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They're driven, even though their latest venture is stylistically the most inert, contemplative, offputtingly soft music they've possibly ever released.