The Roots: "How I Got Over"

[Deleted]

The Roots' ninth studio album hits stores on June 23.

[gimmethatFUNK]

I wonder if this'll be their last album for a while now that they have the Fallon gig keeping them fairly busy

[Coin-Operated [Boy]]

A new album this soon! Interesting.

[areyoureadytojump]

Billboard.com:

The Roots Ready New Album

June 10, 2009

by Mariel Concepcion, N.Y.

Just a little over a year since the release of "Rising Down," Philadelphia's the Roots are working on their 11th album, entitled "How I Got Over." The Def Jam release is slated for an October street date, as per a recent update on drummer ?uestLove's twitter page. While the first single, "I Walk Alone," has not been serviced yet, the legendary hip-hop band shot the accompanying video for it just yesterday (June 10) in New York.

The Roots is currently the house band for the "Late Night With Jimmy Fallon" show, where they have performed with numerous musical guests like Paul Simon, Mos Def, Booker T. Jones and Amadou & Mariam.

The Roots will join opera singer Jessye Norman, jazz singer Nnenna Freelon and the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra Aug. 30 in the West Coast premiere of author/poet Langston Hughes' "Ask Your Mama: 12 Moods for Jazz." First presented in 1961, the revamped version of "Ask Mama" - a collaboration between Norman and Emmy Award-winning composer Laura Karpman - features a score encompassing orchestral music, hip-hop and jazz.

In related news, the second annual Roots Picnic at Philadelphia's Festival Pier took place this past Saturday and included performances by Asher Roth, Busdriver, Black Keys, TV On the Radio and Public Enemy.

"Rising Down" has sold 166,000 copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

[Cautionme11/16]

This is something I definitely look forward to.

[busyboy]

The "How I Got Over" video:

videos.onsmash.com/v/jzLUmJUVausjmsZN

I've seen a bunch of different release dates for the album: 10/13; 10/20; 10/27; 11/17. Which one is it?

[SHOOTER]

Oct 4, 2009 11:22:02 GMT -5 @busyboy said:

The "How I Got Over" video:

videos.onsmash.com/v/jzLUmJUVausjmsZN

I've seen a bunch of different release dates for the album: 10/13; 10/20; 10/27; 11/17. Which one is it?

February 2010.

[busyboy]

This should be released on June 8th.

[sdot23]

The Roots, John Legend Refresh Sixties Protest Songs on 'Wake Up'

"I was trying to make something that was sample-able like a '70s soul record," ?uestlove says.

What started as a plan to reinvent one Arcade Fire song has become a full-blown covers project for John Legend and the Roots, who are "90 percent done" with a full album, ?uestlove tells Rolling Stone. "People tend to frown on the cover album," the Roots' drummer says, "so I wanted to choose cover songs that were so under the radar, so uniquely interpreted, that it would take you a second to realize that these are cover songs."

In the end, the Arcade Fire song that inspired it all didn't even make the final cut. Wake Up, due in September, will instead feature "songs from the '60s and '70s," Legend says, "like protest songs, songs about social uplift." Legend and ?uestlove didn't want to take on usual suspects like Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On," so they selected "Wholy Holy." Other tracks off the beaten path include "Compared to What" (by Les McCann and Eddie Harris, recorded by Roberta Flack), "I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free" (by Billy Taylor and Richard Lamb, recorded by Nina Simone), "Love (The Way It Should Be)" (by Prince Lincoln and the Royal Rasses), and "Little Ghetto Boy" (by Donny Hathaway).

"I was trying to make something that was sample-able," ?uestlove says, "like a '70s soul record." As Legend points out, "Some of it has been sampled. Pete Rock and CL sampled 'Our Generation' years ago on 'Straighten It Out,' so we did a new version of 'Our Generation' with CL."

Common guests on the album's title track "Wake Up Everybody" (originally by Harold Melvin and the Bluenotes) and Black Thought takes the lead on "Hard Times" (by Baby Huey and the Babysitters).

"Everything is certainly inspired by the original," Legend says, "but we took our own creative license with it."

One notable difference is that Legend's voice doesn't have his usual polish, because ?uestlove urged him "to get dirty" this time around. "I wanted this to be his worst performance ever," ?uestlove explains. "The side I wanted to expose was very raw, so for every vocal take he did, I tried to choose the one with the cracks."

While the Roots were recording covers with Legend, they were also working on their own album, How I Got Over. Legend guests on two songs, "The Fire" — which ?uestlove calls "a modern-day Rocky-like sports anthem" — and "Again" from Legend's Once Again album. "We did 'Again' again," ?uestlove laughs.

?uestlove said that he thinks of the two albums as two sides of the same coin, with How I Got Over dealing with what he calls the "midlife crisis of America," and Wake Up representing the more hopeful, inspirational side, "the spoonful of sugar that helps the medicine go down." How I Got Over is slated to come out first ("We're pushing for June," ?uestlove says) but is slightly less finished than Wake Up despite the earlier deadline.

"We play it very close to the edge," ?uestlove says. "I won't turn in any record before its time, before I get goose bumps and I get that feeling in my stomach. I definitely have it with both albums."

[a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/;kw=[13193,149368]"]http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/;kw=[13193,149368][/a]

[busyboy]

June 22nd.

[sdot23]

First single "Dear God 2.0":



Great song.

[busyboy]

01. A Peace Of Light
02. Walk Alone
03. Dear God 2.0
04. Radio Daze
05. Now Or Never
06. How I Got Over
07. Dillatude: The Flight Of Titus
08. The Day
09. Right On
10. Doin' It Again
11. The Fire
12. Tunnel Vision
13. Web 20/20
14. Hustla

Samples.

[SHOOTER]

1. A Peace of Light feat. Amber Coffman, Angel Deradoorian, and Haley Dekle
2. Walk Alone feat. Truck North, P.O.R.N. & Dice Raw
3. Dear God 2.0 feat. Monsters of Folk
4. Radio Daze feat. Blu, P.O.R.N. & Dice Raw
5. Now or Never feat. Phonte & Dice Raw
6. How I Got Over feat. Dice Raw
7. DillaTUDE (The Flight of Titus)
8. The Day feat. Blu, Phonte & Petty Crash
9. Right On feat. Joanna Newsom & STS
10. Doin' It Again feat. John Legend
11. The Fire feat. John Legend
12. Tunnel Vision
13. Web 20/20 feat. Peedi Peedi & Truck North
14. Hustla feat. STS

[marcjm]

It seems like they release a CD every 12-18 months.

[areyoureadytojump]

I'm late with this this week.

Out now.

Target $9.99
Best Buy $7.99

[Minimalism]

I'm not exactly familiar with their past work, but I'm loving this album. So... smooth.