“Purest Hip Hop song the Roots have made.” THEY HAVE TONS OF THEM! From What They Do to 75 Bars, The Roots made dozens of outstanding tunes and not even one of them sounded whack. Concerto Of The Desperado for an example portrayed as one of the reinforced tracks in the history of hip hop, It contains two amazing verses that plug the audiences attention and it truthfully puts that hip hop spell on the music industry. I wouldn’t say that its the most commercial album that The Roots ever made because you won’t here anyone mentioning that album nowadays and on Youtube you will never see someone ranking that album in his top 10 or top 50 great albums of all time. Sure they did sell a lot of copies in one week, but……for me the album is still one of the most underrated albums, not just the album Black Thought and The Roots in general.

Foh

I feel like this song is really the first time Black Thought showcases his ability to outclass other rappers. Before this album, especially when Malik B was still part of the group, Thought would go hard but more so to the topic at hand. Though he of course has a lot to say (as one comes to expect from him), this really showcases his Olympic level cadence and breath control that sets the bar even higher for emcees.

“And it’s weighing a ton and I’m a son of a gun” third verse from The Seed 2.0 off Phrenology (the album before this). BT and the roots as a whole have been honing the perfect stage for his rhymes. Less is more for Thought’s rhymes when it comes to beats.

Where do you get your sources? Have you listened to any of the albums? Popcorn? Concerto of the Desperado?

I understand that he might not have been the focal point in their tight-nit but extraordinarily dexterous group, but they have literally redefined the dynamic and capability of each other. I mean EVERY SINGLE MEMBER, when they were there or not. From Scott Storch’s amazing talent with keys to the ubiquitous touches of ?uestlove. “Black Thought generally comes off as a sideman sparely filling the spacious pockets that drummer Questlove delivers.”

ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?!

If anything, ?uestlove is deliberately paving the way for the vocals to shine bright on the stage he created. I was mesmerized with the elegant medley of clashing between Black Thought and Malik B. on 100% DUNDEE, the flow was so sickly and the feeling quickly turned to two emcees hitting with hardcore energy. If you don’t understand this by now then you either need to listen again or learn to appreciate the art.

This is a great example of the chemistry between the two founders of this legendary group. Both of them doing what they do best. I like to imagine that this is what the freestyle sessions and rehearsals at there high school were like.

fam