the roots
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It Turns Out, Hip-Hop Will Probably Always Be the Love of My Life
A few weeks back, I attended an album talk for noted hip-hop lyricist and producer Pharoahe Monch’s 1999 album, Internal Affairs (released on seminal label, Rawkus Records), at The REACH, the new arts and culture center that’s part of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. The talk, part of…
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30 Days of Musical Blackness With VSB, Days 2 and 3: Tank and The Bangas, 'Spaceships' + The Roots 'Act Too (The Love Of My Life)'
You’re getting a twofer today; it’s a celebration, bitches! This weekend I made my way up to Philadelphia for the 12th annual Roots Picnic (whole article comin’) to celebrate my 40th birthday (more on this coming soon, too) and because of the amount of drinking and shenanigans I participated in, Day 2 got lost in…
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Made for Now? 2019 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Nominees Include Janet Jackson and LL Cool J
Will this be the year Janet Jackson finally gets her due as one of the most important icons in music? After four prior nominations, will LL Cool J be formally recognized as one of hip-hop’s pioneers? And nearly 40 years after their last platinum-selling release, Masterjam, will Rufus and Chaka Khan finally take their rightful…
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MC Lyte Talks Racial Bias, Female Rap Beef and the Longevity of Hip-Hop
MC Lyte recently performed with a nostalgic lineup at the Cincinnati Music Festival, proving once again that black don’t crack. Lyte (born Lana Michelle Moorer) looks and sounds like what happens when you mind your business and drink water. As one of the largest R&B music festivals in America, CMF caters to the grown and…
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The 10 Most Awesome Parts of The Roots x Backstreet Boys x Jimmy Fallon's 'I Want It That Way' Classroom-Instruments Video
1. Black Thought—possibly the greatest rapper of all time, in the back row in a white, cat-daddy ensemble, complete with white, cat-daddy hat—getting his entire life with a triangle. 2. Black Thought having possibly more fun than anybody else singing the greatest song to ever come out of the white boy-band phenomenon of the late…
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Perfect Music Moments in Black History: The Roots and Common ‘Act Too (The Love of My Life)’
The Roots’ fourth album, 1999’s Things Fall Apart, is largely regarded as the album that put them over the top. While Organix, Do You Want More?!!!??! (personal fave) and Illadelph Halflife were all dope albums with superb hits—“Silent Treatment,” “Clones,” “Proceed” and “What They Do” immediately come to mind—Things Fall Apart is the one where…
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From the Roots to Chris Rock: How Tina Farris Launched a Successful Tour-Management Company—and Now Wants to Empower Women
It was a cold morning in Washington, D.C. Before Tina Farris landed at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, she texted me that she had left her scarf in Los Angeles, which she wouldn’t need after leaving D.C., so I offered to bring her mine, as we planned for me to shadow her for the day.…
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How I Barely Survived #GrammyWeek
It’s Grammy Week here in New York City. I’ve RSVP’d for and attended about six events. Once the Grammys are over, I will be taking a nap until further notice. This girl is exhausted. The Grammy Awards have returned to the Big Apple for the first time since 2003, and as a New Yorker (by…
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Why Black Thought Doesn’t Rank As High on Rap GOAT Lists as He Should
Last week, Tariq Trotter, aka Black Thought, frontman for the Roots, tried to break the rapper-nets with a 10-minute freestyle with Funkmaster Flex over the Mobb Deep “Burn” instrumental that even had people who think Kevin Gates is the best rapper of all time impressed. Even calling his performance impressive undersells it. For my money,…