Lazy Afternoon – Quest and the fellas put together a laidback funk groove that Thought uses to repeat the same verse three times about a lazy Saturday afternoon. Thought and Malik use it to play double agents as rappers and scatters. This shit was, is and will always be, ill.ĭatskat – Another dope jazz groove brought to you courtesy of the The Roots. Malik bats first and doubles with a solid verse, then Thought steps up to the mic and knocks this shit dead out of the stadium on the first pitch with his stellar verse. I Remain Calm – The band hooks up a high energy banger (that the liner notes mention includes an “irritating what the hell is she saying background” vocal courtesy of Shorty No Mas, who also appeared on Organix) for Malik and Thought to feast on. Thought and Malik sound good, but the jazzy groove carries this one. Mellow My Man – Quest and dem slide Thought and Malik a smooth mid-tempo groove that the duo use to take turns spitting freestyle bars over. This one sounds just as great today as it did back in ’95. Thought completely annihilates the instrumentation with his verse and Malik holds his own on the second verse (Quest hilariously pokes fun at one of Malik’s lines in the liner notes for this song, calling him “the only man to ever witness “cattle in the steeple”). Quest provides the drums and sinister laugh, Hub, the nasty bass line and Scott Storch brings the dark chords on the keys. This is a classic record that’s great for consoling you when you’ve got a bad case of the Mondays.ĭistortion To Static – This was the lead single from Do You Want More? and the song that introduced most people (including myself) to The Roots. Questlove and the gang hook up a beautiful melancholy jazz groove that Black Thought and Malik B use to warm up on for the evening. Proceed – This was the second single released from Do You Want More?. Then Leonard Hubbard (aka Hub) drops a thick drowsy bass line, backed by Quest’s scarce drums, while he, Black Thought and Malik B repeat “There’s something goin’ on” over and over again, in different tones. Intro/There’s Something Goin’ On – Do You Want More?!!!?! opens with a quick snippet taken from one of The Roots live shows (performing “I’m Out Deah”, which is also on Organix), letting the listener know they’re about to experience “some organic hip-hop jazz”. I’m sure they’ll make you chuckle at least once. Let’s revisit Do You Want More?!!!?! together, and if you still have a physical copy, pull out the very detailed liners notes (one of the many things I love about the majority of The Roots albums) and check ’em out while you listen. Even slower would be the album’s commercial success, as it would take 20 years for it to reach gold status. Do You Want More?!!!?! would slowly build momentum, becoming a critical darling, as many straddled the line of accepting The Roots as a true hip-hop group (once upon a time live instrumentation and bands were frowned upon by a lot of so-called true hip-hop heads). The album builds on Organix’ formula of live jazz infused hip-hop instrumentation, or as Black Thought once so elegantly called it: organic hip-hop jazz. The Roots released Organix independently in 1993 (you can read my thoughts on that album here), but their official label release (on Geffen) wouldn’t come until 1995 in the form of Do You Want More?!!!?!ĭo You Want More?!!!?! was my first introduction to The Roots, as I wouldn’t hear Organix until 20 years after it was released. Since the mid-nineties, hip-hop’s first official band (I know Stetsasonic came first, but does a drummer and keyboardist qualify as a band?) has seen many line-up changes, but has consistently given the world quality music (well, there were a couple of questionable moments, like Rising Down and …And Then You Shoot Your Cousin, but that’s a discussion for another day), led by their two cornerstones, Questlove (on the drums) and emcee extraordinaire, Black Thought (who ya’ll might want to start putting on your greatest of all-time lists). I’ve mentioned before on this blog that The Roots are my second favorite hip-hop group of all-time, next to who I’m sure you can figure out if you read this blog with any regularity.
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