The Roots Jam is Grammy Week’s Best Party
Mos Def, Jay Electronica, John Legend, Estelle and others help show why The Roots are the best jam band around.
Back in the mid ’90s when The Roots were unknowns on the national music scene but already buzzing in the underground, they were criticized in the pages of URB. Even though we had recently published a glowing multi-page feature on the band in 1994, another writer later ridiculed them for playing covers of classic hip-hop tracks in their live show. A Roots member by the name of Brother Question—soon to be known as ?uestlove, the de facto band leader and icon—took umbrage to say the least and wrote an angry letter to the editor which we published. 15 years later and The Roots are one of music’s most enduring hip-hop bands, precisely because of their chameleon-like musical artistry perfected over a decade and a half.
Saturday night, at the Sunset Strip’s Key Club, ?uestlove and co. proved once again why they are one of a kind in modern music, hip-hop or otherwise. The 6th Annual Roots Jam Session was absolutely on fire from midnight on. It hit me while watching from the crowd that, without any shade of gimmickry or second fiddling, The Roots are simply the best jam band around. And I don’t mean that in the Phish or even Grateful Dead sense, but in terms of amazing live collaborative improvisation and all around on-stage teamwork that stretches beyond into an industry family that runs the musical gamut. Last night’s line-up of wall-to-wall Grammy winners and nominees—from John Legend to Mos Def to Foreign Exchange—cut loose for three hours.
Ahmir “?uestlove” Thompson, the Twitterati luminary with over a million followers barely put his drum sticks down the whole night, seemingly only to tweet a few updates. Meanwhile lyricist Black Thought paired with Mos Def and other MCs throughout the night, but this was far more than a hip-hop show. D. Woods from Diddy’s Danity Kane, after asking the crowd if she do some alternative rock, unleashed a stellar Linda Perry a la Four Non Blonde’s “What’s Up”. Big spending platinum producer and former Roots keyboardist Scott Storch joined his bandmates on stage with notes so perfect you forgot what a mess his life was a year ago. And even though previous Jam participants Erykah Badu and Jill Scott weren’t there, mainstays like neo-soul vocalist Bilal and Grammy nominee Estelle more than apply stole the night. Roots guitarist the virtuosic Captain Kirk Douglas absolutely channeled Hendrix while playing a solo through the legs of the Estelle at the close of her set. Or maybe he was just impressing audience member Slash Hudson, who ?uestlove tweeted the next morning after seeing his Facebook post, saying, “Dude, next time come onstage.”
The Roots are, in the simplest terms, glue to what is ordinarily a fragmented industry of competing artists, bands, MCs and musicians. As a backup group or even with just ?uestlove on drums, they give a continuity of sound and jam band camaraderie that hasn’t been heard in decades–all while never becoming background noise. When I tweeted last night asking what bands from the 60s and 70s were the equivalent to the Roots ambidextrous sound and spirit of outreach, the answers ranged from Parliament to the Allman Brothers. There’s no doubt this once hip-hop cover band sits in legendary company today.
Strong Arm Steady: The Post-Gangsta Era
Bringing back the West Coast Sound with two records in one year
Emerging from a time when West Coast rap went into deep hibernation, Strong Arm Steady has worked over the past seven years to help California not only reclaim its rightful title as the hip-hop capital of the world, but also to redefine its signature sound. Krondon, Phil Da Agony, and Mitchy Slick, all witnesses to the rise and fall of Death Row, seek to breathe new life into the West Coast rap movement, infusing their creativity, open-mindedness, and musical prowess into the medium and refusing to fall prey to the unfortunate, ubiquitous “gangsta” stereotypes that have come to characterize the scene. With two albums due out this year–the Madlib-produced In Search of Stoney Jackson and the decidedly more streamlined Arms & Hammers–Strong Arm Steady is set to remind music listeners that SoCal is just as musically vibrant as it was during the pre-Schwarzenegger days.
URB: What are the respective roles of each member of Strong Arm Steady?
KRONDON: There are so many people involved on-stage and behind the scenes. I see us as a collective of seven team members. Me and Phil [Da Agony] are the faces of the group and of the movement. Creatively, Phil brings the will to be the best lyricists we could be. He sets the bar for the quality of our rhymes and the tone for the depth of lyricism. He writes with so many layers; that’s what he brings to the group. We’re not surface writers in any way, and part of that is due to the standards that Phil holds us to. [Mitchy] Slick is the most worldly of the group, and he brings the world into perspective. He’s sort of the mascot, fitting into the perception that most of the world has of rappers. Not to sound facetious, but Slick’s our decoy, what people see as a stereotypical rapper, that draws people closer so that they could see how we are. For instance, Young Jeezy might be someone’s favorite rapper, and that person won’t bring himself to listen to something that doesn’t bear that type of image. Slick brings that accessibility, image-wise, not lyrically. He’s going to manipulate our imagery to attract the laymen. As for my role in Strong Arm Steady, every body needs a head and a heart to operate. I function as both, along with Phil.
URB: Describe working with Madlib on In Search of Stoney Jackson. What separates him from the other producers that you’ve worked with?
KRONDON: Working with Madlib was one of the best experiences I’ve ever had. We’ve done big records with Xzibit, and I’ve worked with just about everybody before, from Pete Rock to Outkast to Dr. Dre. And this was, hands down, the most comfortable, most learning experience. There was nothing involved but the music–it wasn’t about the label, the money, or ego. I can’t give all the credit to Madlib though, since J-Rocc was the one that made sure we were able to be creative. On this particular project, our role was just to rap.
When you enter this industry, you have an idea of how things should look or feel like, and inevitably, you realize that things aren’t never how you expect them to be. You’re always running into disappointments. But working with Madlib is everything you’d imagine it to be and then some. This guy is like the Dr. Dre of independent rap music. He’s the best at his craft and his genre. There was an everyday need to meet the bar he set with all the amazing things he’s put out.
This record took about three or four months to record. Madlib came in and brought 300 beats, exclusively for us. On this project, our role was just to rap. We took time everyday during those four months to sit down and just listen to the beats; it was such a joy witnessing his creativity throughout these sessions. There were so many that we still haven’t heard all of them. This was also the first time we let the music dictate what we talk about on the entirety of the record. It was like working with a soul producer, a jazz producer, and a hip-hop producer, all at the same time. It was like working with Herbie Hancock, Smokey Robinson, and Dr. Dre, but coming from a Stones Throw background. I felt that throughout the making of this record, the group was able to grow together creatively. I’m not a fan of making sequels, but with this project, I ask myself, “How can I not?”
URB: Who is Stoney Jackson, and why are you looking for him?
KRONDON: Look, we’re all stoners in the group, Madlib and J-Rocc included. The album is out on Stones Throw, so that’s an obvious reference. And if you know Madlib, he’s not shy to let people know that his name is Otis Jackson. So his nickname is Stoney Jackson. It sounds like a cliché, but it’s the truth. In actuality though, Stoney Jackson was a low-level icon in the ‘80s. He was like the Billy Dee Williams of the ‘80s. He made the jheri curl popular. Google the phrase “jheri curl,” and his name and face will come up. He was in the “Thriller” video and was one of the main guys in Fame. He was the man off some corny but fly shit. He was Miami Vice before Miami Vice. He was the coolest nigga of the ‘80s, and the cover of the album is a psychedelic picture of him. Also, among Strong Arm, we’ve got our own language and slang. One of our phrases is “Stone Cold Jackson” or “Stoney Jackson.” When a brother was some cool, suave, smoother player dude, that was his moniker.
Goodbye Def Jux
El-P Puts His Label On Hiatus, Focus On Def Jux “Brand”
Def Jux founder and artistic director El-P has announced that he will putting his classic indie hip-hop label (voted the #2 label of the decade by you) on hiatus, following the release of the late Camu Tao’s King of Hearts LP. El-P explains that this break will allow him to focus on being a producer and raper full-time in a statement on the Def Jux website. He also expect to continue Def Jux as a brand of some sort (sounds like a media company we know) just not releasing music in the traditional way.
In 2000 starting a traditional record label made a lot of sense. But now, in 2010, less so and I find myself yearning for something else to put my energy into. I also see newer, smarter, more interesting things on the horizon for the way art and commerce intersect, and as an artist and an entrepreneur, I’m eager to see them unfold. The evolution of this industry is, in my opinion, exciting, inevitable and it would be nice to see the DEFINITIVE JUX brand be a part of it. In other words, maybe we can turn this hoopty in to a hovercraft.
URB Magazine Reports – The Roots, Strong Arm Steady, Def Jux
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