Page 4
December 1,1999
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Focus
The Roots plant seeds and branch out in the new harvest of hip-hop music
Bi F el ic ia L. S lid e »
F or T he P ortland O bserver
Like The Roots fourth titled project,
yes, sometimes, things fall apart,
but by no means are the brothas
from The city o f Brotherly Love,
about to fall, fall off, or apart.
Philly Phill-lay is certainly off da’
hook these days. Correction... these
decades.
Whether it be Portland Trailblazer
Rasheed W allace’s birth place or
Allen Iverson’s ghetto-fabulous
sty le w ith the P h ila d e lp h ia
76ers...Philly is hoopin’ it up.
Or is it the infamous New York City
slice o f cheese pizza or the landmark
Geno’s Philly cheese steak hoagies
that salivates you?
The Fresh Prince and DJ Jazzy Jeff
or LL Cool J and Cut Creator?
Eve and Charli Baltimore or Lil
Kim and Foxy Brow n....
But as the old cliche' asks, but still
remains to be proven, It’s not where
ya from .. .it’s where ya at? True or
untrue.. .you be the judge.
But just to be safe, w e’re going to
go with both; the bom and bred.
With the exception o f The Roots
Godfather o f Noyze and beat-box
battle-star, Rahzel; who hails from
KRS-One territory, the boogie down
Bronx (NY that is...), this Philly-
based hip-hop potpourri has and
continue to co llectiv ely com e
together in representing hip-hop on
a higher level.
After a ll.. home is where the heart
is.. .or should I say . . .your roots.
But in this case, it’s the musical and
m u ltita le n te d
R o o ts;
the
Philadelphia-based brothers who
bring freestyle lyrical philosophy
into a whole new realm o f live hip-
hop. All the way live!
Philadelphia definitely is one of
America’s cities that knows how to
serve entertainment at its best., or,
as rap the Philly native rapstress
Eve would say givin’ the crowd
...’’What Ya Want.”
And that's exactly what The Roots
gave Portland fans during their
November 22nd performance at
Portland’s Roseland Theatre. They
gave us want we wanted and needed.
In all the meaning of: all-the-way-
live music.
The success o f The Roots fourth
album titled “Things Fall Apart”
comes from a brigade o f talented
Philadelphia-based musicians and
lovers ofhip hop. And the Portland-
based Direct Production promoters
made sure NW fans received just
that.
They blended bold lyrics into a live
bowl full o f bodacious beats. All of
this while still, educating listeners
to the art o f live music and hip-hop.
As lead emcee Black Thought (aka
Tariq Trotter) stated during a recent
press release “as we approach the
millennium, there are a lot o f things
in the world that are about to
drastically change... things fall apart
is dealing with that change...”
So, as far as hip-hop is concerned;
if CD ’s suddenly go through a
Y2Kmeltdown; orifm ixing boards
and dats suddenly go through a
digital overload or techno warfare,
it’s the five brothers who have been
giving life back to art o f the “live
band” again...who will take the
essence o f live hip-hop into the
Y2K or G and beyond. Thus,
making sure that whatever parts do
fall apart, The Roots will get things
in order and on the right track.
And on the right track is where The
Roots were at Monday night’s sold-
out performance.
Black Thought (aka Tariq Trotter)
and drummer/bandleaderquestlove
(aka Ahmir Thompson) must have
been geniuses back in 80’s when
they first met w hile attending
Philadelphia’s High School for the
Performing Arts. Who but they,
along with their bandmate beat-box
Scratch, emcee Malik B., bassist
L eo n ard
(H U B )
H u bbard,
keyboardist Kamal and “Godfather
o f N o y z e ” hum an b eat-b o x
entertainer Rahzel, knew that hip-
hop could and would go from
recorded dats to live hand-claps.
In performing a melody o f the
g ro u p ’s h its,
T he
R oots
“Redemption Tour” was and is one
performance not to miss headin into
the millennium. Ifyou weren’t able
to catch this true definition o f a
band, then you’ve got to peep their
newest project “Come Alive.” Not
only is this performed-live project a
lyrical-gumbo o f some o f their
greatest hits, but for those who
missed this or any o f the other NW
shows The Roots have been blessin’
us with, then this project will at
least give you a foot in the door
comparison o f the live rendition
that was served.
Hopefully you were able to catch
last year’s out the box Roots and
Goodie Mob visit to the Crystal
Ballroom. In a time where hip-hop
is highly looped over songs from
y este ry e a r and sam pled from
b asem en t c ra te s, T he R oots
continue to give their audiences
back- in-day-day real emceeing, but
at the same time, merging a live
band for live sounds.
Touring is something that The Roots
call, states drummer “Tuestlove”,
“our bread and butter... w e’ve been
doing it so much; about 250 nights
a y ear...” And with their recent
stop in P o rtlan d , all ears in
attendance gave a no contest and
m uch overdue Source Award,
,Grammy, etc., in recognizing that
they deserve every bread and butter,
dime and Benjamin they earn.
While peeping The Roots official
web site okayplayer.com, it’s easy
to see that fans as close as Sea-Tac
and P o rtla n d all the w ay to
Amsterdam and beyond know The
Roots can rock a show. Rock until
you can barely stand anymore. No
matter where they’re a t.. .no matter
how large or small the venue... they
bring the hits until they bring the
house down.
And with a grandstand finale to die
for, audience members can’t help
but to ask for more.
For more on theunderground artist
go to: http://www.okayplayer.com
Think globally
Act locally
.
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Boogie
Ring in the M illennium at *
M cM enam ins Kennedy School
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»
Dance Party
w ith live R&B artist
N orm an S\ K ester and his band
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