The Roots: Things Fall Apart Review

The Roots – Things Fall Apart

            “Check it out! You’re now in tune to the/sounds of the/ R to the/double O to the/T - S and I stretch limits to this profession” was all I remembered hearing in the 4-hour drive from Newark to Washington, D.C. during summer 2011. My mom, grandpa, classmate Denise, and I were on our way to my 3-week residency at Georgetown University for a summer college prep program. I was one of two students from my high school to be accepted. The other student was Denise. It was my first time *really* listening to The Roots’ third studio album (fourth if you count their demo Organix from 1993 as their debut). I literally just got it in the mail from Amazon.com the day before, and boy was I stressed out at the fact that I would not be able to listen to it while at Georgetown. I was on a quest to get deeper into the music of The Roots, and I read online that this was their best-known project and considered a hip-hop classic. Things Fall Apart’s production began in 1997, and it was released February 23, 1999.

            Here’s a bit of background information: The Roots, at this point of time, consisted of about 8 members. They each have various nicknames that they’ve given each other and that the fans lovingly call them; I will list their most prominent stage name first in quotations (brace yourself!). The co-founders of The Roots are Tariq “Black Thought a.k.a. Riq Gees” Trotter, the lead emcee, and drummer and band leader Ahmir Khalib “Questlove a.k.a. ?uestlove a.k.a. B.R.o.The R. ? (Beat Recycler of The Rhythm) a.k.a. Questo aka Cornell Quest a.k.a. Mark a.k.a. DJ Questlove a.k.a. Professor Questlove a.k.a. Roots” Thompson. The rest of the members are emcee Malik “Malik B” Abdul-Basset; emcee Karl “Dice Raw” Jenkins; bassist Leonard “Hub” Hubbard; keyboardist James “Kamal a.k.a. Kamal on the Keys a.k.a. Mal-Dog a.k.a. Calzone a.k.a. Klang” Gray; keyboardist James Poyser, beat boxer Rahzel “Rahzel the Godfather of Noyze” Brown; and beat boxer Kyle “Scratch” Jones. They have a handful of managers, producers, and engineers who live in the Roots camp. Their late manager Richard “dixpop” Nichols was the executive producer. Scott Storch, a producer who has been affiliated with The Roots since 1993 had his hand in constructing some songs from the album. 

The Roots have a production group for their albums, called The Grand Wizzards, who consist of Richard Nichols, Questlove, Black Thought, Kamal, Scott Storch, James Poyser, Hub, Dice Raw, Kenyatta “Kelo” Williams, who is one of their more prominent producers, and Chaos and Wigs, two other producers. Other important members are managers Shawn Gee, A.J. Shine, and musicians and engineers Anthony Tidd, Steve Mandel, and Bob Power. Guest appearances include rappers Common, Eve, Elo the Cosmic Eye, Beenie Siegal, singers Erykah Badu, D’Angelo, Jill Scott, spoken word artist Ursula Rucker, and producers Jay Dee a.k.a. J Dilla and DJ Jazzy Jeff.

I broke down the album in 5 different categories: Production, music, lyrics, mood/theme, and impact. 

Production: The Grand Wizzards done it again! Or, should I say, the Soulquarians done it again? Although The Grand Wizzards produced this album, most fans would consider this a Soulquarians produced album. Considering how Things Fall Apart was recorded from 1997- 1999 in Jimi Hendrix’s Electric Lady Land studios in NYC alongside D’angleo’s Voodoo, Erykah Badu’s Mama’s Gun, Bilal’s First Born Second, Mos Def’s Black on Both Sides, Common’s Like Water for Chocolate and a handful of others with similar sounds and ideologies, and that most of the artist from said albums contributed to Things, and vice versa, and the fact that most of these musicians were born under the sign Aquarius, it’s safe to call it a Soulquarians production. While being interviewed for Vibe Magazine, Questlove came up with the name Soulquarians. The name stuck with Vibe, and they ran with it. 

Mood/Theme: The title Things Fall Apart was inspired by Nigerian author Chinua Achebe’s book of the same name. His book follows the story of a Nigerian man who returns to his village only to see that it has changed; Western ways were wiping out the traditions of his culture. Questlove mentions in his autobiography Mo Meta Blues that he saw that as some sort of an analogy for what happened to hip hop. When constructing an album and especially when coming up with a title, The Roots usually have three key aspects they take into consideration: What is happening with the group musically and personally at that period of time, the state of hip hop in that period of time, and then the vast changes the world is going through. In this case, the dawn of a new millennium was approaching, and so were major conspiracy theories (see: Y2K). Hip-hop was about 3 years out of its prime years, its golden age, and it was moving into a more popular and glossy landscape. Terrorism, racism, and other major political issues were tearing American citizens apart. 

I always felt that the album artwork helps give a visual to the music. What we see is pretty close to what we’ll hear. Things Fall Apart was originally released with five different album covers. The main cover that is seen on all of the current releases of the album was a woman running during a riot in Brooklyn in the 60s. The other four are a crying child, the inside of a burned church, an infant crying in the rubble of Shanghai following Japanese attacks during World War II, and the bloodied arm and hand of mafia boss Giuseppe Masseria after his shooting death in 1931. Each and every cover represented a theme of failure in society: fear, famine, murder, destruction, poverty, and police brutality, among other issues. 

The mood of the album was also due to how The Roots were being “accepted” to hip hop fans. They were, at this point, still seen as that weird hip-hop band that plays instruments. As Questlove put it, The Roots were like the Down syndrome cousin at the family reunion that everyone picked last to participate in the games. They weren’t the new kids to the music industry, but they weren’t the group with tenure. They were still finding themselves, but on this record, the fans finally found The Roots. The album has a dark cloud over it, ready to pour down and flood the streets with lyrical and musical hail stones. The album should be listened to, dissected, regurgitated, and ingested again. It will leave you with a funny taste in your mouth the first time you listen; yet you would want to go back for more, until that funny taste becomes your favorite flavor. 

Lyrics: comparing this to The Roots two prior albums, I would consider this a battle rap album with conscious elements. People love to label The Roots as conscious hip hop, mainly because they aren’t mainstream and played on the radio and have had songs that dealt with more social issues versus materialistic, misogynistic, violent subjects. Overall, Black Thought raps more about how other rappers are sub par and are sellouts, and that The Roots are the best crew around. BT spits fury and verbally rips apart each track he’s on. Normally, he raps about how much pride he has for his city, Philadelphia, and more specifically, his neighborhood, South Philly. He has various nicknames for Philly and The Roots’ affiliation with it, such as illadelph, 215 (the area code), ill-a-5^th dynasty (the 5 representing power). All of the rappers also usually name drop various locations in Philly, which does help if you’re visiting one day and would like to know where to go or stay away from. Black Thought, for years has been considered one of the most underrated rappers and one of the greatest rappers of all time. The way he constructs his rhymes to perfectly flow within the music still stuns listeners. He is able to alter the pronunciations of words in order to make them work for his rhymes.

             

Black Thought also has a way of creating lush, intricate rhymes for his love songs. There are only two such songs on this album: “Act Too”, an ode to hip hop, and on “You Got Me”, a song expressing how he will never leave his lady’s side, regardless of where his career takes him. He proves he can battle rappers into the ground as well as make women swoon with his words. Regardless of who or what he rhymes about, he’s the man. His rap from “The Next Movement” sums it up perfectly: “Listen close to my poetry, I examine this/Like an analyst, to see if you can/handle this”.

Music: There are many rumors that surround The Roots, one of them being they do not sample. They’ve been sampling since their inception! Questlove has mentioned in countless interviews that they incorporate various elements from other songs into their music in almost every record. They just have a very good way of hiding it. Because they are a live band and do not use turntables and a DJ, listeners may not realize that the beat Quest is pumping out is an obscure Prince beat, or that the cowbells from “Without a Doubt” is a sample from gangsta rapper Schooly D’s song “Saturday Night”. A majority of their music are new creations inspired by recycled materials, which could be lyrics or music. Rahzel the Godfather of Noyze and Scratch share beat boxing duties throughout the album. They provide sound effects, most notably the sounds of a record scratching, bass lines, glass shattering, engines, and everything else under the sun. On the song “100% Dundee”, Rahzel takes on the bass and drum at the same time! “3rd Acts: ? vs Scratch 2...Electric Boogaloo” features Scratch acting as turntables and performing vocal snippets of older hip hop songs. Questlove keeps the groove going and gets the rhythmic details precise. He likes to make listeners believe that it is in fact a drum machine playing the beats rather than a drummer, so he keeps his drumming so rigid, yet lively. He keeps in time while also reminding you that there is a person creating this music with an instrument rather than a drum machine. Kamal and James use a Fender Rhodes on most of the songs, and this helps the recordings have a lush, almost comforting feeling to it. On harder tracks, the keyboardists accompany Questlove and Hub with sharp, lively chords. Hub keeps listeners on lock with his smooth and bouncy bass lines. Behind Questlove, Hub is usually everyone’s favorite member. Some tracks include other percussion, guitar and orchestral instruments, to add layers to the music and to the album as a whole. The album is recognized for it’s seamless, fluid sequencing. It is organized into four acts, as if it were a theater production. They wanted to have “sonic, artistic thoughts” end and the next begin.

Impact: Things Fall Apart finally went platinum on April 24, 2013, after 14 years. Plenty of music writers consider this their greatest work; their breakthrough album. It was the first Roots album to sell over 500,000 copies. The album was nominated in the 2000 Grammys for Best Rap Album, but the only win The Roots saw that night was for Best Rap Performance by Duo or Group for the song and single “You Got Me”. Roots fans are still arguing today about if and why this is their best or greatest album; some, like me, say that it is indeed their breakthrough, but not their best, and it is not my favorite. No one can ever deny that this is their classic album. Alternative rap fans put it high on a pedestal, and mainstream fans at least know it from the lead singles “The Next Movement” and “You Got Me”. This is the last Roots album featuring all of the original line up from 1994, so it allows fans to go back and hear them as a solid unit.

Track list: (I rated it on a scale of 1-10, ten being the best). The Roots love to continue where they left off from the last album, so they have a continuing track numbering for their albums (normally this would be numbered 1-19).

54. Act Won (Things Fall Apart): 10
55. Table of Contents, Pts. 1 & 2: Part 1 gets a 9, Part 2 gets a 4.

56. The Next Movement: 8

57. Step into the Realm: 9
58. The Spark: 5

59. Dynamite!: 8
60. Without a Doubt: 7
61. Ain't Sayin' Nothin' New: 10
62. Double Trouble (Mos Def): 10

63. Act Too (The Love of My Life): 10
64. 100% Dundee: 8

65. Diedre vs. Dice: 5

66. Adrenaline!: 7
67. 3rd Acts: ? vs Scratch 2...Electric Boogaloo: meh. 5
68. You Got Me: 9
69. Don't See Us: 5
70. The Return to Innocence Lost (spoken word accompanied with music by Ursula Rucker): 6

71. Act Fore (Still Out There): 9 (this is the hidden track).

On a scale of A to F, I would give Things Fall Apart an A-. As with all other Roots albums, this took me a few months to a year to fully digest and appreciate. I always say that I have a favorite Roots album, a most cherished Roots album, and a most appreciated Roots album, which this is. I appreciate how the album was conceived and born, and how it grew and aged like fine wine. This is probably the first album I would introduce someone to if they would like to hear something from The Roots, especially since it features the strongest lineup The Roots have ever seen. For me, this album is kind of like the peanut butter in between the bread of their two prior albums. Although the priors are my favorites, this one is stuck in the middle musically and sonically. It incorporates jazzy instrumentation that was prominent on their first album Do You Want More?!!!??! as well as the hardcore, grimy, boom bap of their sophomore effort (and my all time favorite) illadelph Halflife (1996). Things meets these albums dead in the middle. Things may have fallen apart, but The Roots brought Things together with this album (was that corny?).

Musical Self Reflection

I have gone through three significant phases of having a favorite music. The first phase, and the phase that allowed me to seek knowledge of other genres of music, was Classic Rock. As a young African American girl attending a small inner city Catholic high school in predominantly Black Newark, NJ, that was pretty odd. I had a handful of friends who were into Rock in high school, so they were my primary influence into getting into Rock music. My friends told me that listening to Classic Rock REALLY helps them get their history homework done, so that’s what I started doing. I ended up liking a few songs and buying them for myself. Classic Rock came to me in kind of a strange way. Besides having a handful of friends who were into that and Alternative Rock, I still barely paid it any attention, besides the fact that I loved the band Paramore. One day in my religion class during sophomore year, my super cool teacher Mr. Gambone had us write down a list of 25 of our favorite songs for some reason I don’t remember. I got excited and listed down my favorites. It was a list of vastly different genres, and I took pride in that. After I read my list aloud, my teacher, Mr. Gambone, freaked out. His jaw hit the floor once he heard me read Led Zeppelin’s “Fool in the Rain”, a few Jimi Hendrix songs, and about two or three prominent Rock musicians’ songs. He told me I should go tell our principal about me liking Led Zep and Jimi, because he has a collection of their discography that he is sure he would love to give me. I was like “…. okay” and Mr. Gambone actually ended taking me to Mr. Cuddihy, our principal, himself. He excitedly told Mr. Cuddihy about my list, and Mr. Cuddihy got excited too. He told me to come back after school so he can give me copies of four Led Zeppelin albums, and a Jimi Hendrix compilation CD. I told my parents about my awesome day, and my father laughed and made sure to thank my principal and teacher the next day when he took me to school.

My second phase was and still is the music I listen to the most now. I discovered Hip Hop right when I was about to give up on it. I have always hated mainstream Hip Hop, because of my dad. He used to DJ and produce House music, and he was the first person in my life to leave a musical influence on me. Whenever he would turn on the radio, he would quickly get irritated because the music that would be on the radio usually sounded the same and had little to no lyrical quality and was either vulgar or senseless. I began to understand what he meant as I got older. I did try to get into mainstream Pop and Hip Hop music when I got into high school, but I gave up quickly because the music did not allow me to connect to it and I the only emotion I had while listening to it was anger. It was just boring to me. As time went on, I started to discover older Hip Hop acts. I also discovered a few underground and Alternative Hip Hop. I did not know Hip Hop had a past that was so rich with history and knowledge! Once I started learning about Hip Hop’s past, I fell in love. I gravitated to the older recordings, specifically to Hip Hop of the 1990’s. The was the music was created through sampling, the way emcees/rappers would speak on their records, and all of the knowledge some of the emcees would give to the listeners hit my heart. There was an exact day that I fell in love with Hip Hop music, too. It was December 26, 2011, the day after Christmas. This was during my senior year of high school, and I was 17 years old. I got a couple of iTunes gift cards for Christmas and was itching to buy some new music. I decided to try and get some good Hip Hop songs or albums and add to my growing interest of “real” Hip Hop music. (I was introduced to “real” Hip Hop the year prior; Aesop Rock’s song “None Shall Pass” changed my life and encouraged me to look for more lyricists.)

I Googled things such as “alternative hip hop” and “best hip hop songs of all time” to see what gems I could dig up. I went on a bunch of random sites and saw a common thing: Common Sense (who now just goes by Common)’s song “I Used to Love H.E.R.” It was listed on many different sites as one of the greatest Hip Hop songs ever. I HAD to check it out. I proceeded to look at the Wikipedia article for the song. I read yet again about its prominence in the genre. Then, I glanced at something that said the song held a double meaning. He raps as if he is speaking about a lost love, but really, he is talking about Hip Hop. I shouldn’t have read on!! I have a tendency to ruin things for myself. I went on ruining things by reading the lyrics before I thought of listening to the song. I read, and felt “meh” about it. Love song with an interesting twist… but THE LAST LINES OF THE SONG! What?? He’s talking about Hip Hop? (I finally understood that Wiki article, sort of).

          

  I quickly decided to actually listen to the song. I went on YouTube and searched “Common I Used to Love Her”. First thought: “Sheesh this vid is so old and grainy and low quality!” But I enjoyed it very much. I loved the visuals and loved how it was an actual video, not some la di la in a big room with a green screen and other “music video” clichés. Then I started really listening. I truly enjoyed the music! The piano was soothing, the guitar was smooth, the drums were TIGHT, and the bass. THE BASS. Now, I’m a sucker for bass lines. I think I started bobbing my head. His flow, the way he rode the “I Used to Love H.E.R.” beat, was all too cool. His words dove into the track with pure grace. I loved how connected his voice was to the music. During the while, I tried to pay close attention to the lyrics; I was drawn in. Hearing him actually say the words was more impactful than reading them. During my listen, I was impressed. It was a typical love song, but at the same time, it wasn’t. The way he spoke and the words he rapped were different than anything else I’ve heard. Listening to the lyrics was also sad, because his first love, from whom he know from age 10, basically became someone who changed herself for popularity. Then… we get to the end of the song. That last line. 

“But I’ma take it back y’all and let this _ stop/ ‘cause who I’m talkin’ ‘bout, y’all, is HIP HOP”

I was mesmerized. I just knew I had to play it again. I was in trouble now. I found an actual song that made all the sense in the world. I was “grounded”, and my punishment was to find even more music like this. December 26, 2011. The day my life changed. I now had a favorite song of all time. I now have a song that expressed all of my feelings towards a genre that I thought I knew, but didn’t. This was the only time in my life I truly vividly remember a moment in my musical memory. This was significant because this was the very song that introduced me to a genre that I had initially turned my back on.

The Hip Hop band The Roots also helped me fall in love with Hip Hop music. They are an actual band of musicians from Philadelphia that was created in 1987 and released their first album in 1993. I also discovered The Roots via a Google search for “alternative hip hop”.  What made them stand out to me was the fact that they were a band that played Hip Hop music! I had no idea that the two can be combined. The Roots showed me that you should never let anything restrict you from doing what you love. Once I heard a few songs of theirs when I was about 15, I became hooked. I ended up collecting their whole discography over time. They became my first favorite musicians, group, and band (because there are major differences between the three in Hip Hop music). I loved how innovative they were, and how they challenged themselves on every album and in every show. They are known for their amazing live shows, and have been said to be one of the greatest live acts of all time in music. The founders of The Roots, Black Thought the emcee and Questlove, the drummer, are one of the greatest in the genre. Black Thought is usually put into the list of “All Time Greatest” for emcees/rappers and Questlove is known for being a tastemaker and continuously impressing fans and peers with his talent. The Roots are now on the Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, which was a great move for them and for Hip Hop. This allowed people to see that The Roots are absolutely a household name and that Hip Hop is more than just hits. The Roots do not make music for attaining hits, they create albums for an experience. They have critical acclaim rather than star status.

Questlove became my all time favorite musician because of the way he is able to craft albums and shows with ease. Questlove is also responsible helping me fall into my third phase of my favorite music: Neo Soul. Not many Neo Soul musicians actually like that term, but many fans love to use that term to differentiate them from regular R&B acts. Neo Soul is a genre that has musicians who truly appreciate the Soul and Jazz music of the past. They create music that encompasses those two genres as well as include Hip Hop grooves, as well as include lyrics that are more personal and more in tune to social issues. Questlove, a long with a few more of my favorite musicians, created a Neo Soul and Hip Hop group called the Soulquarians. The Soulquarians are responsible for a few albums that were recorded in Jimi Hendrix’s Electric Ladyland studio between 1996-2003. Some of the albums were The Roots’ Things Fall Apart, D’angleo’s Voodoo, Erykah Badu’s Mama’s Gun, Bilal’s First Born Second, Mos Def’s Black on Both Sides, Common’s Like Water for Chocolate and a handful of others. The Soulquarians helped establish Neo Soul and were a collective of like-minded musicians, singers, and rappers that had a knack for their craft and a passion for true music from the soul. They loved offbeat rhythms and irregular chords, and Motown. Although the Soulquarians did not put out an official Soulquarians and are not exactly working on music together as the official collective, they still live on and helped spin off a well loved genre.

The Soulquarians and The Roots, as well as a few Jazz musicians, also helped me find my favorite musical instrument, which is the Fender Rhodes. They incorporate the Rhodes in almost every song and album they have ever made. The moment I found out that it was the Rhodes that was creating that beautiful melody that sounded like it was coming from a weird piano, I told myself I don’t want to learn how to play the piano until I get my hands on a Rhodes. The sound of the Rhodes smacks me in the face and encompasses my head in such a way I cannot explain.

The one song I would program for an “end of the world” ceremony has to be The Roots’ “Make My” from their 2011 album Undun. Undun is a concept story told in reverse chronological order. It is based on the unfortunate tale of a fictional young Black male, Redford Stevens, who subsequently walked down the wrong path. The beginning of the album represents his death and the very end represents his struggles living as a Black man trying to survive. On “Make My”, the third track, Stevens is in the throes of death. The end of the song includes an instrumental coda, signifying the death of Stevens. The listener is brought into a sonic whirlwind with the complexity of a rolling synth bass and “oooh’s” of the piano synth. The coda signifies Redford Steven’s “departure from the world” (this phrase is a part of the hook of the song). The music and the lyrics capture the pain and agony that Stevens is enduring while he is dying. It is a dark, somber piece, and it captures the essence of what happens when one is at the end of the road and on the brink of death. I find that it would be the perfect song for the end of the world!

I feel that I have finally come to understand who I am and what I like and love. I am at a place where I do not have to explain to people why I do and don’t like certain types of music. I don’t have to explain to people that “I just don’t like Pop music” or “I just can’t get into Country” and “I don’t care for EDM”. Just because I don’t like these genres doesn’t mean I am a bad person. I’m just a person who simply doesn’t want to hear those genres. I’m my own little person and I deserve to have my own opinions. I have never told a person that they were weird or strange for liking a certain kind of music, because I’ve been there. I’ve been criticized for liking what I like, and it truly does hurt being virtually the only person who listens to certain genres or artists. You feel that you are alone in your tastes and you will never have anyone to talk about your passions with. This is why I always encourage people to love what they love, even if I don’t love it. Yes, I wouldn’t want to hear it, but I will never criticize someone for their tastes. I believe this says that I am a person who continues to understand that humans are completely complex creatures. My musical identity is strictly unique to me and only me. There will never be another Mesha who is obsessed with The Roots the way I am. My musical identity is made up of random bits and pieces that come together and say “she loves left of center music that speaks on social issues and is built from the inspiration of past musicians and the future of self expression”.