Vibe.com, January 28th, 2005
There's a lyric on the Roots' new album, Phrenology, that lays out lead singer Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter's philosophy. "A real raw nigga won't fold or forfeit / Fuck getting money for real / Get freedom," he spits on "Thought At Work." But it's not always easy to hold true to that standard. What if a major corporation dangles a potential fortune in front of you? And where do you draw the line if a higher-up starts treating you like the hired help-even if for a premium price?
Those are the questions riling Black Thought one warm night in June, when the Roots are set to play a private publicity party in the old-money bastion of Southampton, N.Y. Play-Station 2 has commandeered a mansion in which an almost entirely white, Sex and the City-style crowd sips free cocktails and waits patiently for the entertainment. But Black Thought is in foul spirits.
"Fuck this, and fuck you!" he fumes at the master of the house, who declines to be identified, right before show time. "I don't like the energy out here at all. I don't like the way we've been treated, and we're leaving. I'm not a fucking jester." He wants it understood that the Roots are not the black-faced Alabama Porch Monkeys band they portrayed in Spike Lee's 2000 satire Bamboozled.
The band's collective blowup had been building for hours. The Roots thought they were going to have a fun weekend performing and creating a little advance buzz for Phrenology among such invited guests as Damon Dash and TV chef Bobby Flay. But when the group arrived, there weren't enough rooms to go around, and the band members were expected to bunk together. The Roots had been promised a personal chef, and there was none. There wasn't even a washcloth in the bathroom, says Black Thought. (In fairness, Matt Heien, one of the event's sponsors, insists there was a chef on the premises-if it really matters-and adds, "We're kind of confused about what happened. This is not a hotel.")
After a jittery company flack announces that the featured guests will not go on, an overzealous wigger near the stage freely drops the N-bomb, almost coming to blows with frequent Roots contributor Dice Raw. In the end, the Roots' six members-including Black Thought, 28; Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson, 31; Kamal Gray, 25; Kyle "Scratch" Jones, 29; Leonard "Hub" Hubbard, 34; and Ben Kenney, 25-are too dejected and disgusted to stick around. They walk out.
The world's undisputed greatest hip hop band is no stranger to controversy, even with its core fans. As the group emerges from a three-year hiatus with its sixth album and gets ready to tour the globe for the umpteenth time, its sound has changed again, although the basic formula remains. Five critically acclaimed LPs and 10 years into their career, the Roots continue to create and confuse, produce and perplex, innovate and change the game. For instance, on "Pussy Galore," from the new CD, they rail against the advertising industry's exploitation of women.
The disc's title comes from an article Thought saw in a scientific journal-phrenology was a 19th-century pseudoscience that measured people's heads with calipers to prove that race and skull size determined intelligence. The Roots appropriated the term, not only for its political irony, Thought says, but in order to graft on their own phonetic associations: The "ph" became an allusion to Philly; "re" hints at re-entering the game; "nology" represents the quest for knowledge.
Drummer ?uestlove first met Black Thought in 1987, when the two were students at Philadelphia's High School for the Creative and Performing Arts. He describes Phrenology as their "shortest, fastest, most aggressive album to date," adding that "people have preconceived notions on what they want us to be-this jazzy, neo-soul-esque hip hop band-and we're not going to do that. I get some sort of comfort in not being too predictable."
The album's ambience of despair is a radical departure from the innocence of the Roots' 1993 debut, Organix. The group was then comprised of Thought, ?uestlove, and vocalist Malik B., who only performs in the studio (the Phrenology cut "Water" takes him to task for his reluctance to tour and his pharmacological proclivities). Organix offered upbeat, nearly giddy lyrics, acoustic bass, lots of poetry, and a daisy-age vibe. (?uestlove cites De La Soul as a major influence.) It also sealed a bohemian image that the group, in its evolution, has found difficult to shake.
On the strength of their breezy single "Proceed," their second album, 1995's Do You Want More?!!!??!, catapulted the Roots stylistically from the underground quagmire into the hip hop canon. Still, the album rejected sampling in favor of strings, horns, and spoken word. Their fan base of hip hop bohemians would soon see the band's musical direction shift toward a more orthodox rap sound on 1996's Illadelph Halflife. That album and 1999's Things Fall Apart were more expertly produced and lyrically bellicose-defiantly bucking the incense-burning stereotype. On Halflife's "UNIverse At War," Common and Thought trade sophisticated wordplay, while Things' "The Next Movement" prophesies a dismal new world order: "Yo the whole state of things in the world about to change / Why black rain falling from the sky look strange / The ghetto is red hot / We steppin' on flames."
But the Roots haven't been able to transcend the first impression they made on listeners and fans. After all, their initial boho style helped pollinate the neo-soul movement, influencing the likes of Slum Village, Black Star, Amel Larrieux, D'Angelo, Jill Scott, and Musiq. In the late '90s, ?uestlove formed the Soulquarians production crew, which produced organic, jazzy beats for Bilal, Common, and Erykah Badu. By 1999, the troupe was sponsoring the thriving Black Lily soul showcase in Phil-adelphia as well as creating their hugely successful Web site, okayplayer.com-cyber headquarters for the neo-soul scene.
Singer Jaguar Wright, a Black Lily alum, calls the Roots "family," and says, "It's important to have that kind of loving institution because this game is so rough." Guitarist and vocalist Cody Chesnutt, who jams on Phrenology and was set to rock with the Roots in the Hamptons, calls working with them "a blessing." They represent "the next evolution of what music should be," he says. "And I want to be a part of it."
The Roots are justifiably proud of their musical impact-now rappers such as Mos Def, Q-Tip, and Cee-Lo jam with bands. "When we came out, it was not cool to be rhyming with live instrumentation," Thought says. "We paid a lot of dues to make that cool. Now anybody can rock with anything."
But like many strong-willed artists, the Roots have chafed under their label's direction, beginning with their 1999 Grammy Award,Äìwinning single "You Got Me" on Things Fall Apart. The band wanted Jill Scott to sing the chorus she'd written, but MCA insisted on featuring the more famous Erykah Badu. (Scott still feels grateful for other opportunities the Roots have given her. "They took me to a respected writer's position before I even had an album out," she says. "I can't thank them enough.") Nevertheless, that was the first of many incidents in which the Roots felt that outsiders were telling them how they were supposed to sound and act.
Controversy erupted again last winter when Nas openly dissed them for backing Jay-Z on his Unplugged MTV special. Here was the very group whose 1996 video "What They Do" parodied the champagne-and-ice lifestyle, and now, Nas pointed out, they were collaborating with the Prince of Pimpin'-on MTV, no less.
But the Roots say they accompanied Jay-Z because, as ?uest puts it, they were "the only band that could make that shit come off like gangbusters." Black Thought adds, "I don't have any issues with diamonds or jewelry. I like that shit, too." The Roots see nothing wrong with musicians-even brainy, soulful ones-making a living. "If I'm not compromising myself or any of my beliefs, I'm going to bite at that," Thought says, "especially if the price is right." (The Roots have nothing else to say about Nas for the moment, and he, too, declines further comment.)
After the Hamptons incident, the Roots and entourage-including Chesnutt, managers, and friends-decamp to a large summer rental not far from the PlayStation 2 party. A giant-screen TV glows with B-movies indoors, while outside, people soak in a hot tub and discuss race relations and religion. Folks dressed in T-shirts and shorts knock back Heinekens, roll L's, grill veggie burgers, and tuck into fresh salads. Scratch leans over the wide banister on the second floor, arms akimbo in the hip hop "what-what" fashion to hype up his folks. It could all be a scene from the "What They Do" video.
As these real-life "extras" lounge in their socks, sharing ideas about the Hamptons debacle and artists who sell out, it appears the Roots have no intention of living up to the expectations of others. They're constantly reinventing who they are. And at least for tonight, they have it all-artistic freedom, gold-record sales, and the Hamptons-but on their own terms. Which means no disrespectful wiggers, something soft for each guest to sleep on, and, not for nothing, a washcloth in every bathroom.
