Common & The Roots... Your Thoughts

[Big La]

Hey Y'all.

I'm new here, so I don't know if anyone ask this question before.

It seems like there's a consensus here that Hip-Hop's not exactly in it's better days. I'd heard more than a few posts stating they think most of the stuff passing for 'hip-hop' is garbage. I agree.

And so do a number of established artists. Most notably, Common and The Roots tried to do something different with their latest CD's.

For Common and Roots fans, what do you think of their latest CD's? The Roots actually grew on me. But I don't know what the hell happened with Common.

Help me out.

 

[BeatTRibe]

I dug Phrenology right away, but I'm still digesting Electric Circus, so I don't really have a verdict on it yet.

 

[Briellz]

There both very talented.

There CD's are cool. They're a good example of real hip hop. They aren't on that flashy shit.

 

[Fade]

Actually I haven't heard either CD's just yet but I'm sure it's much more refreshing than the average rap CD today.

For their older stuff, The Roots' Illdelph LP is one of my favorite all time. Common always comes with good tracks, but for some reason he can't come with a hot LP.

 

[Big La]

The Roots didn't really stray from their formula that much. Common on the otherhand, flipped everything. Kinda pissed me off cause I bought the CD on the strength of 'Come Close' and the rest of the CD was crazy. Still trying to find some redemption in it.

 

[vitaminman]

Hey,

I don't know who Common is, but I do own a copy of the Roots live album recorded 2-3 years ago. That album is amazing, I couldn't believe how good a live perfomance could be for hip hop, everyone played their instruments so well...

Nick

 

[BeatTRibe]

Originally posted by vitaminman
I don't know who Common is

Common Sense

 

[Big La]

yeah. that shocked me too.

 

[Copenhagen]

I would agree that The Roots didn't stray too much from their style...but Common, what the hell happened.

I love the new Roots, but being a producer, there isn't one track of Common's that I really like yet. Funny, cause Black Thought did a lot of it.
It seems that everyone Erykah Badu starts an intimate relationship with change their clothes to 70's and use obscure beats (read Andre from Outkast).

Common's flow and lyrics though, that's still the shit.

 

[BeatTRibe]

Originally posted by Copenhagen
It seems that everyone Erykah Badu starts an intimate relationship with change their clothes to 70's and use obscure beats (read Andre from Outkast).

True, nothing wrong with that...obscure beats that is...if it's done right. I mean some of the beats on Stankonia are the shit, but I'm not sure about the 1-2 beats on Electric Circus.

 

[Copenhagen]

True again, nothing wrong with obscure beats if they are good, but a lot of peeps nowadays make obscure shit that's...shit!
I understand that people are trying to revolutionize Hip-Hop etc, but some of those beats sound like beats I've made and then deleted or saved under unfinished beats.

 

[Prophet]

Common now has a hit song with Mary J. Blige and is making more money. the Roots look like artists of rap music, they will not be very big but have cult.

 

[BeatTRibe]

Actually Phrenology has a cut "Sacrifice" with Nellie on it that sounds like a hit and it seems they're blowing up in the mainstream...let's just hope they can stick to the roots.

Even though Common has MaryJ singing the hit that all record companies demand, the rest of the album is decidedly non-commericial and does not sound like all the r&b pap out there now.

 

[Cold Truth]

hey cope- the production on electric circus was handled mostly by ?uestlove, Jay Dee, and the Neptunes. I dont even think that Thought is anywhere on it.... i think the roots did change things up quite a bit, actually. regarding sacrifice, that song is WEAK.... Thoughts lyrics are at a very low point. the concept and content was nice, but-? the way he worded it all sounded very ameteur. the beat was nothing special. the best track, the seed, was actually Cody Chestnut's song and they just covered it. "Water" was the most original track they have ever done. i thought that was a very good album that flopped in a few places, however. "break u off" seemed like such a blatant attempt at radio play. "Do You Want More??!!" still stands as the pinacle of The Roots in my opinion. as far as Common.... thats a damn shame. dudes buggin nowadays... i applaude him for taking the risk of changing so drastically, but-.... hmmm..... he's just not as pleasing to listen to for me anymore. i think he is kind of jynxed by his earlier work. and those beats are simply ghastly!!(a paraphrase from "American Idol") oh well.... where have all the great ones gone? looks like some of as at ILLMUZIK need to step it up and make an impact before its to late!!! best of luck to all you guys. its nice to have this type of community. keeps the mind fresh.

 

[Encore]

The roots phrenology was different but i still liked it.The song break you off wasnt bad, just cause it was a love song doesn't make it an attempt for radio.Speaking of love songs I dont know about Common anymore it seems thats all he does on his latest shit.I guess after "the light" he thought he would get more play off making songs aimed at females.

 

[Cold Truth]

it had nothing to do with it being a love song. "Brown Skin" lady was a love song; "the light" was nice as hell (Pharoahes song called "the light" was just as good.) i dont care what it was about- it was a radio song if i ever heard one, right down to the beat, the hook, the verse, (bad misses/ throwin rasberry kisses on me?) EVERYTHING about the song was MADE for radio. also, the inter views i have read go (roughly) like this: "we are definetly more concious of the demographic thats buying records right now"- ?uestlove, XXL magazine. Encore, your wack and should never put a post up again. (encore my boy- just a joke! by the way, my version is STILL better!!! i dont give a DAMN WHAT Johnny thinks!!!!lol....) so between the sound and the interview, i am fairly certain it was meant to be a RADIO SINGLE.

 

[Encore]

first off my version was better.lol,second i thought the break you off beat was a good beat.Just cause the song had radio appeal doesn't mean it was directly aimed towards the radio.I do admit the hook was a little radio-ish, but other than that the song was dope.

 

[Cold Truth]

um.. you need to catch up on your reading. THEY SAID IT WAS MADE AS A RADIO SINGLE. encore... got a question. why dont we learn how to post beats, and then we will each remake our beats for that sample, and let them decide???

 

[Fade]

Not in here. If you guys want to go head 2 head then let me know and I'll set up a thread for it.

 

[Cold Truth]

yeaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy.
how do we do that?
Encore happens to be my partner, just so you know. you know, like batman (myself) and robin(encore). lol... just messin encore. its just a friendly rivalry there, thats all. he made a beat with a very good sample, and i felt that he could have flipped way better than he did; so i made one of my own. we both think our versions were better- bearing in mind that neither one of them were finished products, i suggest we both completely revamp what we each did and place the results here on ILLMUZIK and let the community in here make a call.... its a nice sample and i'd like to use it for our demo, so the version that gets put needs to be CRAZY. so how do we do this?