The Roots – How I got Over (Album Review)
The Roots – How I got Over
(Release Date: June 22, 2010)
out of
Music is going through a renaissance of sorts, much like the 80s when everybody got synth happy everything today is done on some sort of keyboard. It wouldn’t be so bad if more of these people creating music could actually play but sadly a keyboard with 88 keys is reduced to 3 notes played in succession, the same three damn notes. The variety is gone, the feeling is gone, everybody strives to sound the same, rap the same, sing the same, over the same drums, over the same synth, to the same style, to the same people. It is a giant bowl of sameness and frankly I’m pretty sick of it. I probably listen to it more now than ever before when I spin records, but the bodiless soulless zombie that we call hip-hop is raging out of control looking for brains.
The Roots, built in the 90s as a alternative to gangsta hip-hop and as the name implies the whole point of the group was to get back to musical roots meaning real instruments, no samples, no auto tune, no wackness. While there might be some sequencing trickery here and there they have remained true to the cause, and it is a breath of fresh air today. It’s kinda funny to me listing to a song and hearing the other notes on the keyboard for a change, it almost sets you back like a shock to the system, like ohh yeah this is what it sounds like when somebody can actually play a instrument. I’ll even take it a step further and say this is what it sounds like when somebody grabs the microphone and has a firm grasp on the English language… 
Yeah I said it. No scratch that I’ll go one further Black Thought should be in everybody’s top ten dead or alive if you rank Lil Wayne higher than him you are a idiot, it isn’t even up for debate, something is clearly wrong with your reading comprehension or you suffer from a really (I’m talking of mice and men) low IQ.
The reason why I liked this album more than usual is because from the first interlude on to the final song, every note, every lyric, every song was filled with emotion. After Drake’s 3 note lifeless opus I was looking for something that was the polar opposite that could explain precisely what it was that he was missing and here come The Roots. ?uestlove and Black Thought must have read my review (or not) either way they proved my point in spades. There is no doubt that this is a grownup album and if you were looking for songs to make your booty clap this probably isn’t it (not that there is anything wrong with that). It’s just that sometimes I would like to use these fancy brain cells for a change when I listen to a album.
How I got Over isn’t perfect, nothing ever really is with me, but it moves with purpose and emotion and that is something I can really get behind. There are thought provoking lyrics here mixed with hard drums just like the olden days back when I was growing up. There are also a few features from Dice Raw, Blu, Phonte, and John Legend but you never ever question whose album this is or who is on the microphone and I would credit that to Black Thought for stamping his flag on the CD letting listeners know who is really running things. When most people go Hollywood and get a good paying gig on TV they usually go soft, and make a lackluster album, while smashing atoms, cymbals, and ear drums the Roots did the opposite and that my friends is the difference between great bands and simply good ones… buy this damn album, in a store or zune marketplace, itunes, Amazon etc.
