By Leslie Seaforth
The Roots, the latest hip-hop group with a jazz slant to their music, recently visited Toronto for what turned out to be a slamming concert at the Opera House. Already known for playing long sets, the group performed for approximately 90 minutes; absolutely unheard of in a hip-hop community notorious for making patrons wait until 2 a.m. to witness a 4-song, 25-minute set. The reason for the group’s stamina is simple: They’re a live band.
This point of view was actually reinforced in an interview before the show by lead vocalist Black Thought. “We don’t have the kind of sound problems other brothers do, since we don’t use a DAT (Digital Analog Tape) machine. If I wanna’ check rums, I can do that now. If I wanna’ do a new song, you don’t have to wait for the track (sequenced song) to change. We’ve got versatility.”
“We’ve used samples in the past but it takes too long to put them together (in a studio). It was quicker and easier for us to make this album with live music,” adds Roots’ drummer B.R.O.THER?.
With a group consisting of two vocalists (Thought and Malik B.), a keyboardist (Kamal), a bass player (HUB), a drummer (?) and a “vocal sound effects man” (Rahzel), The Roots have no reason to turn to samples. Calling themselves “jazz enthusiasts,” members of the group have musical backgrounds in the Philadelphia School of Performing Arts. Their first album, Organic, was release on an independent label, Remedy Records, in Germany and features samples. The North American release Do You Want More?!!??!, however, features nothing but live music, in an attempt to “take hip-hop to the next level.” The group itself is a part of a larger organization (including De La Soul’s protege Shortie No Mass) called Foreign Objects, dedicated to using the human voice like an instrument.
“Jazz is an improvisational style of music, and so is hip-hop,” says ?. “Hip-hop was founded on freestyle (spontaneous delivery of lyrics), but a lot of rappers don’t do it these days because it’s harder than writing. But we believe in being spontaneous.” A good example of this mentality is the song “The Lesson Part 1,” on which guest rapper Dice Raw freestyles for 16 bars. “He originally wrote his verse for the song, but we thought it would be better if he freestyled. He did it in one take,” says ?.
Although The Roots are well received by hip-hipo fans, ? says they are interested in things other than performing and recording. “Black Thought runs a freestyling session at a club in Philly called ‘The Coffee Drop’ that gives other rappers the chance to show their skills. I’m interested in having my own radio show someday. We know that hip-hop is constantly changing; we could be a flash-in-the-pan for all we know…”
However, odds are the live music format of The Roots is going to become a trend that will be followed by hip-hop critics and creators alike.
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