Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.In their early days, as the drummer Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson explains in his detailed annotations, The Roots suffered somewhat from their decision to use real instruments rather than rely solely on samples, an approach that many hardcore hip-hoppers apparently thought "too soft". But it has paid off artistically a hundredfold since then, as this matched pair of compilations demonstrates. Certainly, there are few other rap crews whose assorted out-takes, abandoned experiments, soundcheck jams and radio broadcasts would prove as fascinating as these. There's still room for samples notably, the Sly Stone groove behind "Star" but there are great instrumental flourishes throughout, many from guests, such as the glistening vibes runs that Roy Ayers adds to "Proceed 2", and gorgeous soul guitar fills that Spanky Chalmer entwines around " What They Do". And not content with having such an articulate rapper in frontman Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter, vocal collaborators abound: Common, Mos Def, D'Angelo and Jill Scott, among others.
DOWNLOAD THIS: 'Quicksand Millennium', 'What They Do', 'Act Too (Love of My Life)', 'The Hypnotic', 'Break You Off'
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments