The Roots - Summary

Meet them


The Roots wer formed in 1987 by rapper Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter and drummer Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson. Tariq and Ahmir went to school together at Philadelphia High School for Creative Peforming Arts in Pennsylvania. Black Thought began attending Millersville Universaity in 1991 and estasbliehed The Square Roots. The name was later changed to The Roots.

Over its history, Questlove, and Black Thought have always remained with The Roots while their lineup of backing musicians has changed. The current members of The Roots are Black Thought (MC), Questlove (drums), Kamal (keyboard), Frank Knuckles (percussion), and Cap'n Kirk (guitar). 

This band recreated what it meant to be a hip/hop band. They mixed together rap, jazz, live instruments, and hip/hop. 


Things Fall Apart

The band's 4th album, Things Fall Apart was named after a novel about apartheid by Chinua Achebe  1999. 

Chinua Achebe

The album's opening track, "Act Won", contains an excerpt from the film, Mo Better Blues  The excerpt is from a scene where Denzel Washington and Wesley Snipes are discussing the current state of African American music and culture after a gig. It focuses on how music is classified as “White” “Japanese” and “African” (the racism in music).

For a limited time, Things Fall Apart was made available with a choice of five different front covers. One cover was a  black-and-white photo of riot police chasing two black teenagers on the streets of Bedford-Stuyvesant.

Is it music? Or is it like the “lawn mower” music we heard earlier this year. Or is it just a medium through which they push their political views.  Notice the fear in the girls face.

Game theory is a mathematical method for analyzing calculated circumstances, such as in games, where a person’s success is based upon the choices of others. It makes sense then that this album deals with changing the system by choosing not to accept the choices of others.

Game theory - Don’t Feel Right - Is a song about not letting the system control you. Do not let others choose for you, make your own choices. If it doesn’t feel right, change it.

On October 30, 2010, Questlove played at Rally to restore sanity and/or fear. The rally was held at the National Mall in Washington, D.C  Its stated purpose was to provide a venue for attendees to be heard above the more vocal and extreme 15–20% of Americans who "control the conversation" of United States politics. 

Think about: congress, election debates/advertisements

Tip the Scale

undun is The Roots newest album that was released on 12/06/11. The album retells the story of Redford Stephens (1974-1999).

In the words of The Roots, "undun is the story of this kid who becomes criminal, but he wasn't born criminal. He's no the nouveau exotic primitive bug-eyed gunrunner... he's actually thoughtful and is neither victim nor hero. Just some kid who begins to order his world in a way that makes the most sense to him at a given moment... At the end of the day... isn't that what we all do?"

Becoming undun

undun is The Roots newest album that will be released on 12/06/11. The album retells the story of Redford Stephens (1974-1999) through the use of emotives and Redford’s internal dialogues. The album seeks to illustrate the intersection of free will and prescribed destiny as it plays out ‘on the corner’.


In the words of The Roots, "undun is the story of this kid who becomes criminal, but he wasn't born criminal. He's no the nouveau exotic primitive bug-eyed gunrunner... he's actually thoughtful and is neither victim nor hero. Just some kid who begins to order his world in a way that makes the most sense to him at a given moment... At the end of the day... isn't that what we all do?"

I believe this to be true. As we go through our lives we have to respond and react to things in certain ways in order to keep going. Sometimes these choices are easy, but other times we have to choose the lesser of two evils and base our decision on the circumstance at the time.


I believe that the purpose of this album is to show that "bad" people don't always have a choice, and that they only do what they know and it is not their fault, they do not know any better. 

The Roots - Early history (Beginnings to 1996)

 The Roots is an American hip hop/neo soul band formed in 1987 by rapper Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter and drummer Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson. The two were friends at the Philadelphia High School for Creative Performing Arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 
They are famed for beginning with a jazzy, eclectic approach to hip hop which still includes live instrumentals. In 1993, the Roots recorded an album Organix. 


The Roots' first album for DGC, Do You Want More?!!!??!, was released in 1995. It was a moderate hit among alternative music fans due in part to the group's appearance at Lollapalooza. 


The band also performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival that year. Two guest performers on Do You Want More?!!!??!, Rahzel and Scott Storch joined the group. 

Scratch

Dice Raw

Soon after, Storch left the band and was replaced by Kamal Gray.  Their next album, Illadelph Halflife, was released in 1996. With Illadelph Halflife the band added two more members, Scratch and Dice Raw. 
Illadelph Halflife was the group's first album to crack the Top 40 on the Billboard 200 chart.

Going Gaga Over Bill

Lady Gaga, who is known not only for her music, but for her political and social activism as well, was able to show her political support for the Clintons with her performance at A Decade of Difference.

Lady Gaga always has a few surprises for her fans who come to see her perform. Her performance for Bill Clinton’s ‘Decade of Difference’ was no exception. Although she was performing for government officials, Gaga didn’t let it stop her from censoring her performance as she dropped a few F-bombs and sexual comments during her show.

Reaction to "Bill Romance"

Gaga got her Marilyn Monroe on with a personalized birthday song for the 42nd U.S. president. She slightly altered her song ‘Bad Romance’ by saying, “So tonight I just thought we all would get caught up in a little Bill romance.” The whole Clinton family was overjoyed by this change in the song, and could not help but smile, laugh, and clap for their new favorite artist. She then proceeded to give a full-blown stage show, complete with backup dancers, an elaborate light show, and her signature ‘Bad Romance’ choreography.

Plato kills Frosty and discourages Wind Painting!

Frosty the Snowman and Colors of the Wind are songs that many people today heard growing up and no doubt, so have their children. However, these songs would be banned if they had existed in Plato's Republic.

According to Plato, "Tales must be strictly censored because young children are malleable and absorb all to which they are exposed…Through the telling of carefully crafted tales, mothers and nurses will shape their children's souls. Moreover, children are expected to accept whatever they are told with little free-thought." It is for this reason that these songs would have been banned in Plato's Republic.

Frosty the Snowman leads children to believe in magic and inanimate objects coming to life. This lie, would be believed by many children in the republic and would have devasting effects as children will start trying to put magical hats on objects such as snowmen believe that they will come to life.

Colors of the Wind teaches children falsehoods such as "The earth is not just a dead thing you can claim, every rock, tree, and creature…has a life, has a spirit, has a name." Lastly, the song encourages children to become friends with otters and herons and to paint with the wind.

Boom!

Boom! is song by System of a Down that was released in 2002 as a protest song. It was released at a time when America was going through conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. Before the US invaded Iraq, there were massive worldwide protests. The music video was real footage of these protests, with people reciting the words to the song and voicing their opinions. The song is about how money is spent on military purposes such as weapons and bombs for war, when instead it could be spent on feeding the homeless and providing assistance to people in need.

The song supports the idea that government spends more money on death than on preserving life. I feel that people are starving, seriously ill, and need help and more money should be spent on helping people then killing them.

"Boom, boom, boom, boom,
Every time you drop the bomb,
You kill the God your child has born.
Boom, boom, boom, boom. "

It is clear to see that the chorus refers to warring nations dropping bombs and causing death. However, the words also relate to the business world. In business terms the boom refers to the boom in the business cycle (slump, growth, boom, recession), and  means that stocks have gone up, businesses are doing well. Every time we earn money causing a financial boom we kill the god our child has born, which means that with every financial boom we overwork to hide our insecurities and worries leaving our children with our parents to help them.

Dear Mr. President

Dear Mr President,

Come take a walk with me. Let’s pretend we’re just two people and you’re no better than me. I’d like to ask you some questions if we can speak honestly. 

P1nks letter (song) to the president openly addresses her personal disappointment in President George W Bush. She attacks several of the issues that defined his presidency, from education reform with No Child Left Behind to equal rights for gays and lesbians.

“How can you say no child is left behind? We’re not dumb and we’re not blind. They’re all sitting in your cells while you pave the road to hell. What kind of father would take his own daughter’s rights away? And what kind of father might hate his own daughter is she were gay?”

I agree that No Child Left Behind is a failed attempt at education reform. The law provides additional help to students, who are not making adequate progress, but it also imposes punitive measures on the school, thus the school sets requirements lower. This results in students succeeding, however since they are only meeting lower standards the program is a failure.

P1nk  also points out that it is the families who working over 40 a weeks earning minimum wage trying to pay their bills while also preparing to have child who know about hard work, it is our brothers, sisters, sons an daughters who are fighting in overseas, it is our American people who are living in cardboard boxes. I feel that this song targets the idea of politicians hiding behind their desks while everyone else are the ones who are actually doing the work and being effected by the decisions made by our politicians.  I think P1nk is right – it is time to hold our country’s leaders accountable.

“Let me tell about hard work – minimum wage with a baby on the way

Let me tell you bout hard work - rebuilding your house after the bombs took them away

Let me tell you bout hard work – building a bed out of a cardboard box”

I also feel that a federal minimum wage is more destructive than if the states enforced their own min. wage laws. Since the Federal Min wage is based on the average of the states, it does not help those people who live in states where the cost of living is high. People should not have to work 40+ hour weeks and still live pay check to pay check. About 20% of American adults who have jobs are earning only $10.65 an hour or less, according to Osterman's analysis. Even at 40 hours a week, that amounts to less than $22,314, the poverty level for a family of four. There is also no reason why we should have homelessness in our country. We have the capabilities of providing shelter for these people while also helping them become an asset to our society, rather than just giving them government handouts.