Talented, overrated, pretentious?

b.o.r.i.n.g.

Talented and somewhat pretentious, as a group of musicians they are more than capable of playing any style with maybe the exception of high end jazz ( early Coltrane, Miles and his many collaborations pre Bitches Brew or Wynton Marsalis ) or country. Black Thought is one of the best MCs currently and much like Guru ( RIP ) he may be too smart for pop ears.

Talented. no doubt!

I LOVED their early releases, their first 3 albums being my favorite. Since they have gone "commercial", I stopped listening to them.

More talent at this moment than Prince.

RKJCNE said:

Talented. no doubt!

I love, love, love that song, but I also like Cody's original version without the Roots .

Serious said:

BobGeorge909 said:

Serious said:

I love, love, love that song, but I also like Cody's original version without the Roots .

ME TOO! the original is nice. The whole 2-disc album was overtly-minimalist...which I think was a comment on the "sonic" state of both hip-hop and popular music in general.

The whole album is great IMO!

Talented besides that Quest is a nut job

No, Quest is like your 75 year granny, who runs her damn mouth 24/7.

Great group. Can be a little pretentious. Big catalog, and I don't love everything, but there's SO much there to like. My favorites:

Organix

Do You Want More

Things Fall Apart

Home Grown Vol. 2.

A lot of other good music, but those are at the top for me.

After "Do You Want More" was released, the Roots were touring in Chicago. I had the opportunity to go to their concert, but was also asked to go to a Buckshot LeFonque concert the same night. I opted for the latter and have regretted it ever eince, as the Buckshot (a Brandford Marsalis project) concert was fairly lame. Everyone I knew who went to the Roots concernt couldn't stop talking about it.

Serious said:

I tried to get into their music a few times but I just can't connect witht them.

Boring.

I actually bought 'Rising Down' and I probably only listened to it twice. It wasn't bad, just didn't have repeat value to me.

While I personally really like the Roots and appreciate their musicianship, I am surprised by how many people, people who I generally respect in regards to music, think that they are "boring" or "meh."

They're definitely a critics band, in the sense that music writers always gush and fawn over them, as they do any number of groups from other genres. Critics bands are always upheld as a standard in whatever genre, a representation of music in its highest form, and if you disagree with the assessment, you're just not smart enough and you "don't get it." Again, while I personally like the Roots, this context in which they exist can get a little annoying.

LOVE em, seen em several times and they're incredible live. Do You Want More is a nostalgic favorite of mine, but methinks they are a group for REAL hip hop heads, meaning if you don't like cerebral lyricism, they're not you're cup. I don't think that translates into "boredom" per se (I wonder if that word is some people's euphemism for not liking The Roots' deeper cultural commentary) Their style rarely gets "mainstream" traction for long if at all. (De La had limited success, and PE had their sonic experimentation and provocative titles to help them). Quest once said "he's tired of being the best band no one has ever heard of" right around the time they had their biggest hit You Got Me with Badu on vocals.

Quest's platform for his mouth is kinda surprising. He didn't start that way, but their consistent critical acclaim and longevity has given that to him. He could stand to shut it more often. But Black Thought is in my top 10 of MCs and definitely top 5 slept on!! Soooo are The Roots too political/deep for the non-black, non-hip hop mainstream AND African Americans too?? The Black Eyes are their antithesis content wise and get trashed here, so I'm confused as to how ppl here like their hip hop. Deep but "catchy" enough to produce a few "hits" here and there or what?