The roots
| The roots | |
|---|---|
 The Roots live in Toronto (2007) |
|
| General information | |
| Genre (s) | Alternative hip-hop , jazz rap |
| founding | 1987 |
| Website | theroots.com |
| Founding members | |
| Black Thought | |
| Questlove | |
| Current occupation | |
Keyboard , rap |
Kamal Gray |
| Captain Kirk Douglas | |
Keyboard |
Ray Angry |
rap |
Black Thought |
Drums |
Questlove |
| Mark Kelley | |
| Damon "Tuba Gooding Jr." Bryson | |
| David Guy | |
| Ian Hendrickson-Smith | |
Keyboard |
James Poyser |
| former members | |
rap |
Dice Raw |
Electric bass |
Owen Biddle |
Electric bass |
Hub |
Vocals , guitar |
Martin Luther |
| Rahzel | |
guitar |
Ben Kenney |
rap |
Malik B. († 2020) |
Beatbox |
Scratch |
Keyboard |
Scott stork |
| Josh Abrams | |
rap |
Kenyatta Warren |
| F. Knuckles | |
The Roots is an American hip hop band that was formed in Philadelphia in 1987 . They call their style "Organic Hip-Hop". This initially consisted of a mix of jazz and rap . Towards the end of the 90s, however, they developed more towards Neo Soul and have also been experimenting with various other styles since the new millennium.
Beginnings and members
The Roots were founded by rapper Black Thought (actually Tariq Trotter) and drummer Questlove (actually Ahmir Khalib Thompson), who met at the Philadelphia High School for Creative Performing Arts. At first their music consisted only of rap and percussion . Together with bassist Josh Abrams and rapper Kenyatta "Kid Crumbs" Warren, they made street music as Square Roots . In this composition they recorded their first three songs. Abrams was later replaced by electric bassist Leonard "Hub" Hubbard and Warren by Malik B. The debut album Organix was recorded by the group at their own expense and sold on their first appearance outside of Philadelphia - in Germany at the Moers Festival . You were invited to visit Germany by Jamaaladeen Tacuma .
The line-up of the group changed several times over time. Members were, at least temporarily, Scott Storch , Ben Kenney, Rahzel , Scratch , Martin Luther, Owen Biddle. Currently the band consists of Questlove, Black Thought, Cpt. Kirk ( guitar ), Freddie Knuckles ( percussion ), Tuba Gooding Jr. ( sousaphone ), Mark Kelley ( electric bass ), Kamal ( keyboard ) and James Poyser ( Rhodes ).
Richard Nichols, who was the executive producer on all The Roots albums and is co-manager of the group, can be counted as an additional (founding) member.
Career
Their first album Organix was released in 1993, largely unnoticed by the public at the time. In 1994 they got a record publisher at Geffen Records . With Do You Want More? !!! ??! In 1995 they expanded their level of awareness and with Illadelph Halflife they made their breakthrough within the scene one year later, which is probably due to the no longer consistently live sound and the addition of well-known guest musicians ( Common , D'Angelo , Q-Tip ). At that time the band also consisted of the two beatboxers Rahzel and Scratch, but the then unknown producer Scott Storch , who played on the first two albums of the Roots Keyboard , decided to pursue his own career. He was replaced by Kamal Gray.
Their single You Got Me with Erykah Badu from the album Things Fall Apart became an international commercial success, and they also won the Grammy for the best rap performance in 2000. The rock crosso song The Seed (2.0) was similarly successful in 2002 with Cody ChesnuTT , whose original The Seed they covered with it . The song can be heard at the beginning of the film Collateral and on the accompanying soundtrack .
In 2005 they were signed by Jay-Z , on whose Unplugged album they played, for his label Def Jam . There they released Game Theory in 2006 , the sound of which sounded far less commercial than its catchy predecessor The Tipping Point , which is why it was largely more positively received by the critics. The album also paid homage to the recently deceased J Dilla and to the hometown of the band's founding members, Philadelphia , which was struggling with brutal gang wars at the time. The 8th studio album by the Roots with the title Rising Down was released on April 29, 2008 and was characterized by an even darker sound and more political lyrics than its predecessor, which was already tending in this direction. It is a reaction to the racist campaign against then-presidential candidate Barack Obama . Due to this concept, the single Birthday Girl with Patrick Stump from Fall Out Boy is not included on the album in the USA . In addition, Common, Mos Def , Talib Kweli , Styles P. , Jazzy Jeff and Saigon participated . In the June issue of the German hip-hop magazine Juice , Rising Down was named “Album of the Month”.
The single How I Got Over from the 2010 album with the same title was presented live at Late Night with Jimmy Fallon , where The Roots are also active as a house band , at the end of June 2009 . The band performed since the first issue on 2 March 2009 to February 2014 as a show band in the NBC - late-night talk show on. Since Fallon's move to the Tonight Show in the same month, the band has acted as a studio band there.
On December 2, 2011, the group released their tenth studio album, Undun , with the first single Make My . The concept album tells in reverse chronological order the story of a boy who slips into crime. For Undun , the band created a short film, which is underlain by five songs from the album.
In September 2013, Blue Note Records released an album called Wise Up Ghost , which The Roots conceived and recorded together with Elvis Costello .
Discography
Studio albums
| year | title |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 DE
|
 AT
|
 CH
|
 UK
|
 US
|
|||
| 1993 | Organix | - | - | - | - | - |
First published: May 19, 1993
|
| 1994 | Do You Want More? !!! ??! | - | - | - | - |
US104  (10 weeks)US |
First published: October 24, 1994
Sales: + 500,000 |
| 1996 | Illadelph Halflife | - | - | - | - |
US21 (16 weeks) US |
First published: September 24, 1996
|
| 1999 | Things Fall Apart |
DE64 (11 weeks) DE |
- |
CH40 (2 weeks) CH |
UK84  (1 week)UK |
US4th  (18 weeks)US |
First published: February 23, 1999
Sales: + 1,060,000 |
| 2002 | Phrenology | - | - |
CH57 (20 weeks) CH |
UK- |
US28 (38 weeks)US |
First published: November 26, 2002
Sales: + 560,000 |
| 2004 | The tipping point |
DE44 (7 weeks) DE |
AT57 (4 weeks) AT |
CH3 (11 weeks) CH |
UK71 (1 week) UK |
US4 (13 weeks) US |
First published: July 13, 2004
|
| 2006 | Game theory |
DE95 (1 week) DE |
- |
CH7 (7 weeks) CH |
UK76 (1 week) UK |
US9 (7 weeks) US |
First published: August 29, 2006
|
| 2008 | Rising Down | - | - |
CH10 (5 weeks) CH |
UK95 (1 week) UK |
US6 (9 weeks) US |
First published: April 29, 2008
|
| 2010 | How I Got Over |
DE70 (1 week) DE |
- |
CH3 (10 weeks) CH |
- |
US6 (15 weeks) US |
First published: June 22, 2010
|
| 2011 | Undun | - | - |
CH30 (4 weeks) CH |
- |
US17 (8 weeks) US |
First published: December 6, 2011
|
| 2014 | ... And Then You Shoot Your Cousin |
DE79 (1 week) DE |
- |
CH9 (3 weeks) CH |
- |
US11 (3 weeks) US |
First published: May 13, 2014
|
Collab albums
| year | title |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
DE
|
AT
|
CH
|
UK
|
US
|
|||
| 2010 | Wake up! |
DE69 (1 week) DE |
- |
CH15 (5 weeks) CH |
UK26 (2 weeks) UK |
US8 (14 weeks) US |
First published: September 21, 2010
with John Legend |
| 2011 | Betty Wright: The Movie | - | - | - | - |
US197 (1 week) US |
First published: November 15, 2011
with Betty Wright |
| 2013 | Wise Up Ghost |
DE29 (2 weeks) DE |
AT48 (1 week) AT |
CH12 (4 weeks) CH |
UK28 (2 weeks) UK |
US16 (4 weeks) US |
First published: September 17, 2013
with Elvis Costello |
EPs
- 1994: From the Ground Up
- 1999: The Legendary
Compilations
| year | title |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
DE
|
AT
|
CH
|
UK
|
US
|
|||
| 2005 | Home Grown! The Beginners Guide to Understanding The Roots, Vol. 1 |
- | - | - | - |
US161 (1 week) US |
First published: November 15, 2005
|
| Home Grown! The Beginners Guide to Understanding The Roots, Vol. 2 |
- | - | - | - |
US187 (1 week) US |
First published: November 15, 2005
|
|
Live albums
| year | title |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
DE
|
AT
|
CH
|
UK
|
US
|
|||
| 1999 | The Roots Come Alive | - | - | - | - |
US50 (3 weeks) US |
First published: November 2, 1999
|
| 2003 | Nagoya Blue Note: Live in Japan | - | - | - | - | - |
First published: 2003
|
Mix tapes
- 2010: Dilla Jawns (cover by J Dilla )
Singles
| year | Title album |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
DE
|
AT
|
CH
|
UK
|
US
|
|||
| 1996 | What They Do Illadelph Halflife |
- | - | - |
UK49 (2 weeks) UK |
US34 (15 weeks) US |
feat. Raphael Saadiq
|
| 1998 | You Got Me Things Fall Apart |
DE25 (9 weeks) DE |
- |
CH15 (8 weeks) CH |
UK31 (2 weeks) UK |
US39 (14 weeks) US |
feat. Erykah Badu and Eve
|
| 2002 | Break You Off Phrenology |
- | - | - |
UK59 (2 weeks) UK |
US99 (1 week) US |
feat. Musiq Soulchild
|
| 2003 | The Seed (2.0) Phrenology |
DE67 (9 weeks) DE |
- |
CH22 (16 weeks) CH |
UK33 (2 weeks) UK |
- |
feat. Cody ChesnuTT
|
| 2004 | Don't Say Nuthin The Tipping Point |
DE66 (5 weeks) DE |
- |
CH27 (12 weeks) CH |
UK97 (1 week) UK |
- | |
| I don't care the tipping point |
- | - |
CH54 (5 weeks) CH |
UK92 (1 week) UK |
- |
feat. Dom
|
|
| 2010 | Let It Be Hope for Haiti Now |
- | - | - |
UK97 (1 week) UK |
US98 (1 week) US |
with Jennifer Hudson
|
| Wake Up Everybody Wake Up! |
- | - |
CH62 (2 weeks) CH |
- | - | ||
More singles
- 1994: Distortion to Static
- 1995: Proceed
- 1995: Silent Treatment
- 1996: Clones
- 1998: adrenaline!
- 1999: The Next Movement ( feat.DJ Jazzy Jeff and Jazzyfatnastees)
- 1999: Don't See Us
- 1999: What You Want
- 2004: Stay Cool
- 2006: Don't Feel Right (feat.Maimouna Youssef)
- 2008: Birthday Girl (feat.Patrick Stump )
- 2008: Rising Up ( feat.Chrisette Michele and Wale )
- 2009: How I Got Over (feat.Dice Raw)
- 2010: Dear God 2.0 (feat. Monsters of Folk)
- 2010: The Fire (feat. John Legend )
- 2010: Hard Times (with John Legend)
- 2011: Shine (with John Legend)
- 2011: Make My (feat.Big KRIT)
- 2011: Tip the Scale (feat. Dice Raw)
- 2014: When the People Cheer
Music videos
- 1993: Pass the Popcorn
- 1994: Distortion to Static
- 1994: Proceed
- 1994: Proceed II
- 1995: Silent Treatment
- 1996: Clones
- 1996: Concerto of the Desperado
- 1996: What They Do
- 1999: You Got Me
- 1999: The Next Movement
- 1999: What You Want
- 2000: glitches
- 2002: Break You Off
- 2003: The Seed 2.0
- 2004: Don't Say Nuthin
- 2004: Star
- 2004: I Don't Care
- 2006: In the Music / Here I Come / Don't Feel Right
- 2008: 75 bars (Black's Reconstruction)
- 2008: Get Busy
- 2008: Birthday Girl
- 2008: Rising Up
- 2009: How I Got Over
- 2010: Dear God 2.0
- 2010: The Fire
- 2010: Hard Times (studio video)
- 2010: I Can't Write Left Handed (studio video)
- 2010: Wake Up Everybody
- 2011: Undun: The Short Clips (Make My, Stomp, Tip the Scale, Sleep)
- 2014: When the People Cheer
- 2014: Understand
Awards for music sales
-
Canada
- 1999: for the album Things Fall Apart
Note: Awards in countries from the chart tables or chart boxes can be found in these.
| Country / Region |
silver |
gold |
platinum
|
Sales | swell |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Awards for music sales (country / region, awards, sales, sources) |
|||||
|
Canada (MC)
|
- |
gold1
|
- | 50,000 | musiccanada.com |
|
United States (RIAA)
|
- |
2 × gold2
|
platinum1
|
2,000,000 | riaa.com |
|
United Kingdom (BPI)
|
2 × silver2
|
- | - | 120,000 | bpi.co.uk |
| All in all |
2 × silver2
|
3 × gold3
|
platinum1
|
||
Artist awards
-
Grammy Awards
- 2000: Award for Best Rap Performance By A Duo Or Group - "You Got Me" (feat. Erykah Badu and Eve) Grammy Awards 2000 # Rap
- 2002: Nominated for Best Rap Album - "Phrenology"
- 2004: Nominated for Best Urban / Alternative Performance , nominated for Best Rap Performance By A Duo Or Group - "Don't Say Nuthin '"
- 2007: Nominated for Best Rap Album - Game Theory , nominated for Best Rap Performance By A Duo Or Group - "Don't Feel Right"
- 2010: Nominated for Best Rap Album - How I Got Over
- 2011: Awarded together with John Legend for Best Traditional R&B Performance - "Hang on in There"
-
MTV Video Music Awards
- 2003 : Nominated for the MTV2 Award - "The Seed 2.0"
- mtvU Woodie Awards
- 2004: Nominated for Road Woodie and Welcome Back Woodie
-
BET Awards
- 2005: Nominated for Best Group
-
NAACP Image Awards
- 2005: Nominated for Outstanding Duo or Group
- 2007: Award for Outstanding Duo or Group
Web links
- Official website
- The Roots at laut.de
- The Roots at Discogs (English)
- The Roots at Allmusic (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson, Ben Greenman: Mo 'Meta Blues: The World According to Questlove . Grand Central Publishing, New York 2013, ISBN 978-1-4555-0135-9 , pp. 6-7 .
- ^ Rapreviews.com: Review of Game Theory
- ^ "The Roots Bump 'Birthday' From New Album" , April 8, 2008
- ↑ "The Roots Vs. Def Jam, As Each Album Goes By, The Risk Of Annihilation Becomes Closer, ” April 29, 2008
- ↑ The Roots-Undun | laut.de
- ↑ http://www.rollingstone.de/news/mektiven/article127591/the-roots-hier-den-kurzfilm-zum-album-undun-schauen.html
- ↑ Archived copy ( Memento from September 17, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ a b c d e Chart sources: DE AT CH UK US