Archive for The Roots

Common Performs “Celebrate” on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon

Posted in Media, Video with tags , , , , , , on Friday, January 13, 2012 by Tim Althaus


Common recently dropped by Late Night With Jimmy Fallon to perform his most recent single “Celebrate” off his latest album The Dreamer/The Believer; as usual, the Roots did an amazing job of bringing the instrumentals put forth by No I.D. to life. “Celebrate” is by far my favorite track off of The Dreamer/The Believer; to me, it’s the epitome of a feel-good song, and furthermore, it’s the type of track that makes me proud to be a fan of Hip-Hop.

Even though The Dreamer/The Believer was a late entry into the releases of 2011, it was arguably one of the best albums of the year, and I haven’t stopped listening to it since I got my hands on it; the album truly takes me back to the days of Like Water for Chocolate. The chemistry displayed between Common and No I.D. is unreal.

Spotted @HipHopDX

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My 2010 Dilla Day Mix

Posted in Audio, Downloads, Media with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on Thursday, February 18, 2010 by Tim Althaus

I don’t know if you guys were readers last year around this time, but I did this exact same thing. I am a huge fan of J Dilla; he is a huge inspiration to me. I actually made this mix on what would have been Dilla’s 36th birthday. I took a lot of time thinking about what tracks would go smoothly together, but I also thought about what tracks of his were among my favorites. The outcome? 23 tracks of straight unadulterated Jay Dee goodness.

I figured I would post this mix here because I really want everyone to be able to have it; it’s nothing big, but if one more person starts to listen to Dilla because of it, then I’ve done my job. James Yancey really was the king of the beats, and his presence is strongly missed in the music world. All of the tracks on this mix are either produced by or featuring J Dilla (with the exception of one).

(R.I.P. J Dilla February 7th, 1974 – February 10th, 2006)

Tracklisting:

1.) Words from Ma Dukes

2.) Reality Check (Feat. Black Thought) (J Dilla)

3.) House of Flying Daggers (Raekwon) (Prod. By J Dilla)

4.) Raise it Up (Slum Village)

5.) Love Movin’ (Feat. Black Thought) (J Dilla)

6.) Stakes is High (De La Soul) (Prod. By J Dilla)

7.) Find a Way (A Tribe Called Quest) (Prod. By J Dilla)

8.) Diamonds (J Dilla)

9.) Let’s Grow (Royce Da 5’9″) (Prod. By J Dilla)

10.) It’s Dope (J Dilla)

11.) It’s Goin Down (Skillz) (Prod. By J Dilla)

12.) Gazillion Ear (DOOM) (Prod. By J Dilla)

13.) Gobstopper (J Dilla)

14.) Survival Test (Jaylib)

15.) Dynamite! (The Roots) (Prod. By J Dilla)

16.) Wild (J Dilla)

17.) Whip You With a Strap (Ghostface Killah) (Prod. By J Dilla)

18.) Nag Champa (Afrodisiac for the World) (Common) (Prod. By J Dilla)

19.) Move (Oh No) (Prod. By J Dilla)

20.) Secrets of the Sand (Jay Dee Remix) (MOOD)

21.) Game Over (Flying Lotus Remix) (Dabrye) (Feat. Phat Kat & JayDee)

22.) History (Mos Def) (Prod. By J Dilla)

23.) Paid Homage (Finale)

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The Roots, “How I Got Over” (Trailer)

Posted in Media, Video with tags , , , on Friday, September 25, 2009 by Tim Althaus

Vodpod videos no longer available.

It looks like The Roots are about to take things to a whole new level yet again. Here is the teaser trailer for the track “How I Got Over”, off of their forthcoming LP of the same name. According to 2DopeBoyz, the album has a release date of November 17th even though they still haven’t turned in the final copy. As you can tell from the video, this track (and album) is fucking awesome. Black Thought is one of those emcees that most people just can’t touch. Keep your eye out for more information on the Illadelphians.

Wild Style Wednesday Review: The Roots, Things Fall Apart

Posted in Music Reviews, Wildstyle Wednesdays with tags , , , , , on Wednesday, July 22, 2009 by Tim Althaus

the-roots_things-fall-apart-album-cover The Roots will forever be one of my favorite groups in Hip-Hop because I love their utilization of a live band and their natural sound. Not to mention that Black Thought is also one of my top five emcees, the guy is pretty much a god emcee on the microphone. I like every single album in The Roots catalog, but Things Fall Apart is the album that introduced me to them. I look at this album that came out ten years ago and part of me still feels like even now this album would still be ahead of its time. This album, to this day, is one of the most sound albums I have ever heard and there is no doubt that it will forever be considered a classic. Even though this album didn’t make my top 10 most influential albums, I would still say it ranks among my top 10-20 favorite albums without a doubt.

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The Roots Tell You “How I Got Over”

Posted in Audio, Downloads with tags , , , on Monday, July 20, 2009 by Tim Althaus

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Man it’s great to hear some new music from the Classic Illadelphians. The Roots just dropped a new single, “How I Got Over”, which will also be the name of their new album dropping September 29th on Def Jam. On this track you will get to hear Black Thought testing out his vocals doing some singing, which is very refreshing. Just another outing that is going to turn heads, to say the least. You can see The Roots doing their thing with Jimmy Fallon every night on Late Night.

Download: The Roots, “How I Got Over”

Spotted @ Hip Hop Official

Rock The Bells 2009

Posted in Music News with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on Wednesday, April 8, 2009 by Tim Althaus

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Ummm wow. That was my initial reaction when I saw this post at Hip Hop DX. With the initial artist lineup, this looks like (to me) that this is going to be the concert of the year. I know for sure that I am going to be trying like hell to make the Chicago show, because this is something I definitely don’t want to miss. This looks like the most studded Hip-Hop lineup I’ve seen for a show this year, and there are still more to be announced. If you get a chance to get tickets, please do not pass up your chance. Rock The Bells (Guerilla Union) has been putting together some of the finest Hip-Hop shows for the last 5 years and apparently they are looking to follow suit very strongly. To be honest I would probably pay one hundred dollars to see The Roots or Reflection Eternal. That means that even if tickets are one hundred (we don’t know as of yet) that this concert is absolutely killer for price. If you are able to make it to one of these shows, you are going to be catching the best Hip-Hop shows of this year.

Make sure you stay tuned for dates and ticket prices, as well as any updates that have to pertain to this series because we will let you know right away.

The Roots jam “The Next Movement”

Posted in Media, Video with tags , , on Sunday, March 29, 2009 by Tim Althaus

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This video is a testament as to why I want to see The Roots so damn bad. These guys pack so much energy live on stage, and from what I’ve heard these guys put on one of the best shows you will ever see. In this video Black Thought is spitting the track “The Next Movement” over a super jazzy uptempo beat that ?uestlove and the other members have concocted. The one thing that impresses me so much about these guys is that every single thing that they do seems completely natural. This video is something that is a must watch for any music fan in general. Make sure you peep The Roots alongside Jimmy Fallon every weeknight on NBC.

Public Enemy with The Roots perform live on Late Night W/ Jimmy Fallon

Posted in Music News, Video with tags , , , , , on Tuesday, March 17, 2009 by Erik Burg

Jimmy Fallon’s got a few things going for him with his new late night tv show. The Roots as his house band, and now this. Chuck D, Flava Flav, Black Thought, and crew team up with the roots to do “Bring The Noise”. It all sounds awesome too, so check it out below for sure!

The Roots’ tourbus crashes in Europe, Everyone is ok!

Posted in Music News with tags , , on Friday, November 21, 2008 by Tim Althaus

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According to Okayplayer the Roots’ tour bus crashed last night in Paris. Thankfully everyone that was on the bus was ok. The thing about the situation is that the Roots’ European tour bus is a double decker bus and could have done some really serious damage. I’m glad to hear these guys are all okay, they are definitely innovators and legends, they need to stay around for a long time.

I don’t really need to say much more than that. You can read ?uestlove’s blog and recall of the situation here.