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This song is about living life in a daze, and how hard it is to see truth through all the pain and multimedia distractions.

Pay attention to the rhyme schemes, especially Blu’s and P.O.R.N.’s. Both verses are filled with internal rhymes and alliterations!

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With a sampled hook from singer Joanna Newsom, Black Thought puts in a nice solid verse while new Roots affiliate STS runs with the first line of the chorus and cleverly builds his entire verse around lights

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The track “Web” on The Roots album The Tipping Point features Black Thought spitting straight for three minutes with no hooks. This track is a sequel of sorts (with a similar no-hook format), only the work is shared with two other rappers (Truck North and Peedi Peedi)

This song might serve as a precursor to the debut album by The Roots spin off rap supergroup The Money Making Jam Boys

Jam boy magic!

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A plea to the man upstairs. The Roots and newfound collaborators, Monsters of Folk combine to remix “Dear God (Sincerely M.O.F)”.

“2.0” versions aren’t a new thing for The Roots, “The Seed 2.0” from 2002 album Phrenology is one of their most popular songs to date.

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Blu, Phonte (of Little Brother and The Foreign Exchange), and Black Thought talk about their days. Eating, hitting the gym, checking yourself out in the mirror and other topics are explored

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The Roots released, Do You Want More!!? in 1995 doyouwant

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“Einstein” is another step in the continually-evolving slang for oral sex, beginning with “head,” then to “brain,” and now to a man with a famously powerful brain.

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Black Thought, Truck North, and P.O.R.N (sounding like J-Kwon) collaborate on this soulful, piano-heavy track. Dice Raw provides to the vocals to the hook and makes himself sound like a really old jazz musician

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Legendary jazz musician, Charlie Parker composed many solos and did a lot of jazz-walking

“Get my Charlie Parker on” is also a reference to Parker’s incessant drug use. Black Thought feels the need to resort to drugs in his struggle.

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Robert Guillaume is an accomplished actor, who was by far the best thing about Aaron Sorkin’s Sports Night

robertg

He’s known for his role in “Benson” and “Soap”, where in both shows he played a butler.

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