The Roots
Phrenology

THE REVIEW

I have already expressed, in my early days with DeBaser, my visceral love for the Roots when talking about "Things Fall Apart," a great album from 1999. Well, I want to talk about this band again, and this time I'll do it with another equally fantastic album titled "Phrenology" from 2002. I admit I am not a huge fan of hip-hop, but the Roots do not leave me indifferent; in fact, I adore them... Compared to its predecessor, this work presents more nuances and here and there, we also find flashes of rock.

Tracks like the soft soul of Sacrifice, featuring Nelly Furtado in the chorus, do not go unnoticed, nor does the driven funk-rock of The Seed (2.0), which was popular in our country during the summer of 2003 and is embellished by the warm voice of Cody ChesnuTT.

The soulful Break You Off is also remarkable, with featuring Musiq Soulchild and a velvety string tail at the end, as well as Complexity enhanced by the voice of Jill Scott.

Water is characterized by funk/blues improvisations and is dedicated to the rapper Malik B, who left the band due to drug-related issues, while the conscious poetry of Something In The Way Of Things hosts the African-American poet Amiri Baraka.

What else can I say about "Phrenology"? It is a varied work rich in ingenious ideas and enriched by Questlove's flair on drums, Black Thought's impactful rhymes, as well as the presence of other talented musicians involved.

This album represents an excellent starting point for discovering the Roots, and I warmly recommend it to all lovers of original and never banal sounds. Hats off to this band which, over its long career, has managed to give dignity to a genre like hip-hop that often falls into predictability.