The roots of illadelph

Tuesday, February 23, 1999

The roots of illadelph

MUSIC: ‘Things Fall Apart’ gives listeners

a chance to hear live hip hop

come together with original beats

By Tenoch Flores

Daily Bruin Contributor

One of the first words people utter after they see Rahzel, the
Godfather of Noyze, perform is, "Amazing."

The beat boxer for The Roots crew is known to orchestrate
unbelievable sounds ranging from vocal effects to entire beats –
with his mouth. With skill far exceeding early beat boxers, Rahzel
has effectively upped the ante in the art of beat boxing. In short,
unless you’ve seen him live, you wouldn’t believe it.

With a new album out, a single in heavy rotation, and upcoming
tour dates, The Roots seems poised to take back the hip-hop world
for the underground.

"With every other genre everybody has their time to shine," says
Rahzel, "and I think right now it’s just really time for the
purists. I think between 1995 and 1998 it was really questionable
(referring to the stagnant, commercial state of hip hop), like,
wow, is it really going there? But it’s just like a scale. You got
to have both sides of the scale in order for it to balance."

To many hip-hop purists, The Roots is one of only a handful of
groups that makes it worthwhile to continue listening to music.
This small contingency within the hip-hop community has had just
about all it can take with the present state of hip-hop music.
While the media and the public continue to fall for gimmicky,
chart-topping, no-skill "artists," The Roots provides a much needed
remedy for many, a break from the norm.

"My main goal is basically to give people options," says Rahzel.
"To open that door and pull in those people who think it’s negative
(hip-hop) when it’s not. That’s my main thing, to expose the world
to the side of hip-hop that doesn’t get that much attention."

Unique in its own right, The Roots is often singled out as "that
live hip-hop band." Though not the first hip-hop group to use a
live band instead of a DJ, The Roots has definitely been the most
successful. Do they worry about being stereotyped as a "live band"
and not as a hip-hop group?

"Being typecast as a live band, I mean, it’s whatever," he
says.

"It says ‘The Roots,’ so you know it’s a good product. It’s
cool, you can call us what you want, just make sure when you finish
(you know) it’s the (best thing you’ve ever seen)."

In fact, it is The Roots’ live routine that has steadily
expanded the group’s following. The Roots is always on tour and it
is not uncommon to find people who have seen the performance many
times.

There are only two certainties about a Roots show: it is close
to impossible to find a disappointed ticket holder, and it’s
different every time. One would think that always being on tour
would wear thin on the group’s desire to continually put on great
shows.

"That’s a part of the equation," says Rahzel. "You have to do
that.

"People go out and buy your records, they want to see you
perform the record too. You have to give them that angle if they
just bought your record and (they’ve) never seen you or never seen
you live, (otherwise) I think they feel a little cheated."

Their new album, "Things Fall Apart," derives its title from a
book written by Chinua Achebe. In the book, a man leaves his
village only to return and find that it has changed beyond
comprehension.

The Roots adopted that concept to fit its views on the music
scene.

"The town (village) is actually hip-hop," he says. "When he was
living there, it was a certain way; he had the freedom and
everything was fine. Then when he left and returned, everything was
changed, it was chaotic and it threw him off. He wasn’t able to
explain what happened to his town."

For this, their fourth album, the group has decided to issue
five alternate covers. Originally, five alternate endings were
supposed to accompany each alternate cover, but a manufacturing
problem prevented that from happening.

Each cover features a photograph of a very disturbing, chaotic
scene.

"The purpose (of the five covers) is for people to ‘get the
picture,’" Rahzel says. "To let them know the chaos that people
feel hip-hop is (in); or hip-hop can be headed (toward)."

"Things Fall Apart" proves to be everything it was expected to
be; no easy task when one considers the unrealistically high
expectations most people have when it comes to The Roots.

The group’s new album is closer to its third effort ("Illadeph
Halflife") than its second ("Do You Want More?!!!??!"). Guest
appearances include Common, Mos Def and Erykah Badu.

The current single, "You Got Me", is currently enjoying heavy
rotation on most urban radio stations. Many thought it could not
happen, but believe it or not, that is the sound of The Roots
coming through your radio, and surprisingly, in the daytime.

The song features Erykah Badu and deals with the subject of
long-distance relationships (in this case, cross-continental
relationships).

Black Thought continues to show why he is considered one of the
best lyricists in hip hop as he explains his situation with a love
he meets overseas.

Over a soothing, introspective beat he says, "We use to live in
the same building on the same floor / And never meet before until
I’m overseas on tour and peeped this Ethiopian queen from Philly
takin’ classes abroad / She studying film and photo flash focus
record, says she’s workin’ on a flick and can my click do the
score? / She said she loved my show in Paris at Allese Momar / And
that I stepped off the stage and took a piece of her heart."

The track ends with ?love(pronounced Questlove) relentlessly
pounding the drums as the track fades.

Other songs to check for include, "Double Trouble," featuring
Mos Def, "Ain’t Sayin’ Nothing New," "Step Into The Realm" and
"100% Dundee." The track that everyone is waiting for, however,
proves to be one of the best, if not the best, on the album.

The Common collaboration, "Act Two (The Love Of My Life)," is
phenomenal. The song is a dedication to the music which both
artists feel so strongly about. It was Common who first personified
hip hop as a girl he fell in love with then became disgusted with,
and this song builds on that idea.

As the horns come in, it is obvious that the listener is about
to go on a trip to hip-hop heaven. Black Thought drops a tight
verse but Common takes the cake with his dedication.

As he proceeds to drop line after line on the subject, it
becomes even more obvious how much he loves this music.

One of the lines that will have the hip-hop heads looking for
that rewind button is, "Her Daddy would beat her, eyes all Puff"
(read between the lines for those who don’t know).

Just when you think Common can’t top his last line, he comes
through with gems like, "With her I found peace (like who?) / Like
Malcolm in the East". This song alone makes the whole album.

For those who have been waiting, the remedy is here, but many
more are about to discover the other side of hip hop.

Rahzel says, "I think people need to have options, I don’t think
I should be ‘This is hip-hop … take it or leave it.’"

MUSIC:"Things Fall Apart" hit stores today.MCA Records

Rahzel, the Godfather of Noyze, talks about The Roots’ newest
album, "Things Fall Apart," and the state of hip-hop music
today.

Comments, feedback, problems?

© 1998 ASUCLA Communications Board[Home]