“The Roots are from Philly which is the murder capital of America yet neither Questlove nor Black Thought have ever killed anybody. If they want to rep Philly they have to catch a body.”
~ The Source {taken from the sig of an okayplayer post}

This quote was going through my mind as I was watching the new online Roots video for “75 Bars”

It took me two listens to get into the song, where the best parts are the drumming and the subtle backing music. I’m at an age where I’m not excited by the N-word being every line’s exclamation point. But even worse, the video is just lackluster. It made me {and some of the okayplayers on the boards ask, “What’s the point?!”

And so I started to think about how I would have done the video. This is what I came up with: “75 Bars: Riqonstruction”

On a completely different note, this made me smile. “You crazy for this one Barack!”

Leave me a comment and let me know what you think.
o:

My love affair as of late has been with the mighty J-Rocc. Beat Junkie president and maestro DJ. He can do no wrong and he is one of the best reasons to subscribe to the Stones Throw podcast. But it really began with a free CD promo mix for the Jaylib album that collected the past classics of both Jay Dee and Madlib as well as introduced the new collaborative material. And the mix was seamlessly beautiful! That one CD got so much run in my car that it became just a pile of scratches. I would gladly pay money for it now and am happy to find that Jaylib vs. J-Rocc mix on his mySpace.

But if that wasn’t enough, I woke up this morning to find an okayplayer link to the new Blue Note “Droppin’ Science” compilation {which I will buy just for the ?uestlove liner notes. I’ll be happy when this dude just writes a book} and lo and behold there is this excellent J-Rocc mix of the songs and samples. Priceless.

Big Pooh and Phonte of Little Brother on the cover of their soon-to-be-released third album “Get Back“.

Tigallo goes to the movies

I always find myself checking in on the blogs of Phonte Coleman. A major creative force as part of Little Brother and The Foriegn Exchange, he has been guesting heavy on a variety of projects of late. My favorite being 4Hero‘s “Give In“. And credit has to be given to his inspired rendition of Toto’s “Africa” with Zo! (stick around to the end where the magic begins!).

What i really appreciate is that he is a true multimedia artist, like ?uestlove before him and now kanYe and even Just Blaze have followed.

Phonte gives so much more to his fans than just the music. Track back on the above link and you’ll find videos and diary-like entries from LB’s experiences on tour in Europe as well as Phonte’s music recommendations and championing of the work and web presence of Nine Inch Nail’s Trent Reznor.

Now that’s a multi-layered portrait of an artist and a scholar. This Coleman boy’s done good! (boy as in no-relation fam, not as in “white racist word!” ©Michael “Good Times” Evans)

“…I think it’s fear” – ?uestlove
besides the loss of life and liberty, i think this is the worst effect of war.

Gilles Peterson and Questlove talk music and politics.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/gillespeterson/questlovevideo.shtml