An Open Letter To Questlove From A Fan

When I initially heard about the concept behind Undun, I was really excited.  It sounded like I was about to get some of that grit that I have been begging for from The Roots.  With such a grim subject, I figured that I would get more than one or two songs with the heart of a Lost Desire, 75 Bars, Here I Come or Water.  Tracks like these are when Black Thought gets to shine most.

The Roots - Sleep (Music Video)

Sleep is featured on The Roots forthcoming release, Undun.

Questlove Paiinting By Tatyana Fazlalizadeh

You can watch the artist at work after the jump.

The Roots - Undun (Cover Art, Track Listing & Interview)

Track Listing:

Just Listen: Aisha Tyler Interviews Questlove

Aisha Tyler started her own weekly podcast in July called Girl On Guy.  I love Aisha, but the podcast really didn't do too much for me in the first eleven weeks.  The guests weren't all that interesting and were all white men.  Nonetheless I kept my subscription to her RSS feed hoping to see someone eye catching cross my Google Reader.  Thankfully, ?uestlove of The Roots to the rescue!  The interview is incredible.  It's less comedy and more of a story of the origin of The Roots as well as some details about their upcoming album, Undun.  It's a long listen, but it's definitely worth it.

The Best of A Tribe Called Quest Mixed By DJ M-Rock (@MRockGotBeats)

@BedstuyBetty Reviews Mara Hruby's From Her Eyes

On a late Sunday night I find myself restless, perhaps it’s because I can finally feel those notes of Spring drifting into my window or the more likely reason is because I’m an insomniac.  However, I was pleasantly surprised by From Her Eyes, the debut EP of West Coast artist Mara Hruby.  Originally from Oakland, CA she began performing in 2010 all over the Bay Area before then taking nine solid months to work on her first release, even going as far as to record as well as arrange & engineer her vocals.  The 22-year-old artist has compiled seven tracks of covers originally recorded by male artists and as music has a tendency of doing, each song has touched her life in some monumental way.

Her ethereal notes pull us in on the first track “Stereolab (Lose Myself)”, a song originally recorded by The Roots for the Dilla Joints tribute album. Her simple but beautiful voice leaves haunting harmonies over chill guitar riffs and an austere beat. This track is also Mara’s first single and there’s video out for it now directed by none other than singer/songwriter Jesse Boykins III. A following track covering Jamiroquai’s “Alright” is totally stripped down and smooth. She maintains a fine line between funk and chill jazz that I’m sure would even make Jay Kay proud. Her tonality does remind me slightly of Amel Larrieaux but that merely adds another facet to this track.

@LupeFiasco - The Show Goes On (Featuring The Roots)

Video courtesy of Jose 3030.

J.Period & Cornerstone Mixtape #134 Rising Artists & New Heat For 2011

Guest Blog - Fledgling Fashionista Examines 'Late Night With The Roots'

Late Night with The Roots

Review by Athena Dixon-DeMary

I entered my listen of Late Night with The Roots with a bias. A long time ago I deemed Do You Want More?! to be their best work. Consequently, I compare everything else stamped with their name to it.  However, in recent years my ears have had to adjust to increasingly dark albums and collaborations. On this album I expected some new jazz infused hip-hop, a Black Thought verse here and there and perhaps a drum solo or two.  I thought that I would hear small soundbites meant to be sandwiched between commercial breaks and witty banter, but what I got was nothing I expected.  Despite my yearning for a Roots album, and my bias notwithstanding, I did appreciate the highs and find fault with the lows on Late Night with The Roots, but unfortunately most of the LP is fair to middlin'.

“How I Got Over” opens the album on a lukewarm note. I feel like I've heard this all before. It's a sped up, old soul sound that after a frenetic opening settles into a decent enough groove. What's missing is the grit, the urgency of the album version. Somehow the energy captured in the studio is more alive than an up close and personal rendition.

The Legendary: A Film About The Roots

The Grammy Awards Get It Wrong Again

Normally I don't watch award shows, but with there being no more Sunday Night Football and the fact that 70% of my Twitter timeline would be tweeting about it, I decided to watch the Grammys. I had grown tired of award shows in entertainment in the late 90's or early 2000's. Most of the time none of the artists that I cared about wouldn't sniff a nomination, let alone perform.

At this point I only check for the best rap album to see who got snubbed for a nomination. This year the nominees were Drake's Thank Me Later, Eminem's Recovery, B.o.B.'s The Adventures Of Bobby Ray, Jay-Z's Blueprint 3 & The Roots' How I Got Over.  I had no problem with Eminem winning for Recovery.

I thought it was the best of the available choices.  If I were given run of the Grammy Awards, my nominees would be:

Ghostface Killah - Apollo Kids
Skyzoo & Illmind - Live From The Tape Deck
Meth, Ghost & Rae's - Wu-Massacre
Eminem - Recovery
Black Milk - Album Of The Year




My winner would be Live From The Tape Deck with Black Milk's AOTY a CLOSE second.

If it were up to you, who would've been your nominees and who would you have given the Grammy to?




Thanks for stopping by,

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J.Period, John Legend & The Roots - Wake Up! Radio Mixtape

Click Here To Download

Money Making Jam Boys - The Prestige: Jam Boy Magic Mixtape

Click Here To Download

or

Click Here To Download

Truck North On The Genesis Of Money Making Jam Boys

New: Money Making Jam Boys - Tear It Down (Audio)

Money Making Jam Boys - Tear It Down

J.Period & Black Thought Present The Live Mixtape (Illadelph Edition)

Click Here To Download

Truelements + Lyrics to Go present the “J.Period Live Mixtape (Illadelph Edition)” EP — a first-of-its-kind J.Period mixtape RECORDED LIVE ONSTAGE at Toronto’s premiere hip hop festival, The Manifesto, Sept. 26, 2010. Starring legendary MC Black Thought (The Roots), the “J.Period Live Mixtape (Illadelph Edition)” EP features a 30-minute barrage of LIVE J.Period remixes with Black Thought ripping rhymes over new and classic hip hop hits, Roots fan favorites, plus a finale segment where Thought pays tribute to his favorite MCs by impersonating them (see: The Roots’ “Boom”).

Music Reviews In A Minute: The Roots - How I Got Over

This week, 8thlight introduced Music Reviews In A Minute as our new feature to the blog and now we are back with another installment. This time, we are reviewing The Roots’ How I Got Over.

Again, to keep you familiar with the process, we rated each song on the album on a scale of one to five stars to come up with the final score (as we will do with all other album reviews from here on out, for both current and classic albums). Furthermore - in fairness, album intros, outros, interludes, and skits are not included in the ratings.

The set of red stars are my ratings and the set of black stars are 8thlight’s.

Kanye West - G.O.O.D. Ass Mixtape

Click Here To Download

Free Show: The Roots & Talib Kweli In New York On 7/11/10

Looks like ?uestlove was inspired by the World Cup being hosted in Africa and has decided to launch OkayAfrica.com. In conjunction with the unveiling of the site The Roots have decided to do what they do best, have a concert.

Okayplayer describes OkayAfrica.com as:

. . .the new channel from okayplayer that highlights all that is new, cool, and happening in Africa, from new artists influenced by Africa to new African artists, from dance crazes from the Niger Delta to Fela parties in Brooklyn, from heavy metal in Kenya to electronica from Mali to hip-hop from Sierra Leone, and much more.

SonicLiving Event Listing

or

Last.fm Event Listing

They are also giving away 2 Backstage Passes.


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