Overground Sewer

Throwback Thursdays: The Roots

So it’s a pretty rainy day here in Montreal and this brought me to singing The Roots’ “Lazy Afternoon” and so I felt they were the perfect choice for the launch of my weekly column: Throwback Thursdays. Why throwback? I here reference a time travel into some of the best years/groups/tracks/videos (I don’t want to limit myself) in Hip-Hop. Why Thursdays? because it’s catchy! Also, I have nothing scheduled on the Tank on this day of the week so be it!

Proceed: One of my favorite tracks off the amazing Do You Want More!???!! launched late in ‘95. You can see The Roots as a family enjoying playing music with this mellow beat and fun lyrics by Black Thought & Malik B. (i.e.: I can make Conan and the Titans clash/and I can make Metallica and Guns ‘N Roses trash).

What They Do: Pursuing in the same vein as Do You Want More?!!!??! on this song from 1997’s Illadelph Halflife, The Roots talk about the shadyness of the Rap industry. They kick it up a notch with this video full of clichés as the typical rap video circa mid-90’s but add some captions to highlight the reality behind the images. Backed by a simple but so effective chorus by the great Raphael Saadiq, this song stands out as one the best in The Roots’ large catalogue.

Concerto of the Desperado: This is the first Roots song that reached my ears. Also off Illadelph Halflife, we get the raw side of The Roots. This pretty much shows the versatility of the band to adapt to Black Thought’s lyricism. At the same time, this plays as showcase of Thought as a well-versed capable MC and statement of his stature among the top MCs at the time.
Lazy Afternoon: I’ll finish with the song that made me start this thing off. From the album Do You Want More?!!!??!
No video for this one though. Lazy Afternoon represents one of those afternoons where the day just doesn’t seem to start. The Lazyness even appears in thhe song form as Black Thought repeats the same verse 3 times on 3 different beats. A classic for those hangover days.

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