The Roots

Day 2 was hectic. After an all-day rehearsal, The Roots hosted their Philly listening party, a small event that turned into, well.. a huge bash! Drinks, food, and Rising Down blasting from the sound system all enhanced the mood of what felt like hundreds of people smushed into a jam-packed house party. Read Candace L.’s blog on the whole affair after the jump, and then make sure to peep Sol-Exposure’s portraits from the day.

March 25, 2008
Day 2 in Philly

While waiting for the workspace to get set up, the studio was rocking its own playlist. The videographer was playing an all-girl rap group, something like a younger version of FannyPack. The hook was just them shouting out their names, “I’m Lee-Lee, I’m Ree-Ree, I’m Tee-Tee” - so cute. Could it be the reclamation of female rap lies in the hands of a bunch of nine and ten year olds? It’s about time. At the close of the song, it was another self-shout-out, “My name is Lee-Lee and I’m representing me!” Right on.

Four o’clock rolls around and the barber shop is in session as the guys hound the label rep for his wack food order.

“How he gonna order the food and ain’t ask nobody what they want?” Rich, The Roots’ manager, complained.

The bounteous catering he ordered was a veggie platter, hot meatballs and teriyaki wings…for a bunch of vegetarians. Anticipating awfulness, Dice got on the phone and ordered a crapload of subs and sides from Patterson’s, a local veggie spot. I don’t mind a good hunk of meat in my life, but as a vegetarian sympathizer, I dined on probably the best vegetarian cheesesteak I’d ever tasted. But I shouldn’t have been surprised; it is Philly after all.

When the band rehearsed “Get Busy” too long, Rich insisted they needed vocals to help push things along and with Black Thought not yet at the studio, sent in Dice Raw to lend his verse. Not even five minutes later, a coy Dice Raw returned to the studio, tail between his legs.

“Is Rich on the drums?” Dice said.

“He kicked you out?” Rich asked.

“You set me up, Rich. I told him you wanted me to come in and he said, ‘Is Rich on the drums?’”

Everyone in the studio, including Dice, cracked up at his abrupt dismissal. To everyone’s confusion, the band then embarked on what felt like a long rehearsal of “Express Yourself.”

Around six, the rehearsal session was drawing to a close and preparations for the listening party began. The engineers broke down the more fragile parts of the workspace for fans to enjoy the listening inside without wreaking havoc on equipment. During the break, ?uestlove took time out to work on a dope new track for Wale. There’s more go-go presence on this one, too, but so far, Wale’s use of it isn’t stale yet, so it worked. Wale may be the Tyler Perry of hip-hop for the moment (doing the same thing repeatedly and still getting people to like it).

At this point in the night is when you get a real feel for the mania that is The Roots and Okayplayer. Not that it was disorganized, but at the same time Dan is showing off and outlining tweaks to the new and improved website (Really, it’s a sight to behold. Get it ‘sight/site?’), the crew is bringing in the paraphernalia for the listening, fans are starting to trickle in and stand around the space and Ginny gets a call finding out that no one at Def Jam secured the band’s NYC hotels - the hotels they anticipated being in less than 24 hours from now. Suddenly, the attention going exclusively to Roots listening party stuff must be divided to Roots out-of-state travel stuff and you’ve got the same small core of people trying to do it all. The crappy situation was met with relative calmness, though, giving the impression they’ve survived bigger jams than this inconvenience. Ginny hopped on the phone to do Def Jam’s job calling at least 15 hotels and getting nowhere. The solution: catch the train and drive back and forth between the two cities for the next three days.

The listening was in full swing with three main sections being occupied - the small waiting area outside of the studio, the booth/performance area that the band just hours ago occupied and the inner sanctuary of the studio that held band members and friends. Eventually, the Okayplayer team joined the fray, a literal get in where you fit in endeavor, as over 100 people crammed into an area fit for fifteen and a table.

Some of The Roots faithful dared to dance or at least nod their heads in a robotic fashion with the space they could find in the workspace. Just as a little room cleared, the DJ got quiet. A rough baritone pierced through the crowds’ murmurs and welcomed them to the Roots’ tenth opus. Black Thought’s short introduction even included a whispered acknowledgement of their beloved label and then the ominous thump of “Rising Down” crept in. People quieted down a bit to absorb the first track, then volume returned to conversational, ‘where’s the Long Island Iced Tea’ tones as before. Passersby bobbed their heads and commented on the hardness of the three opening tracks alone.

Though the sea of bodies, and the inevitable heat rising from them, took some maneuvering, you couldn’t help but acknowledge that The Roots are probably one of the few acts who throw a listening party and actually attend. The event afforded fans, friends and Philly press the opportunity to greet the band and to do the kind of networking that can only happen when that many people and alcohol are present at the same time in the same quantities: the bootleg kind. People complaining about the lack of open doors for the little guy to break into the industry, exchanging emails and grabbing band members for some random love, even jokingly pitching the creator of 215 Magazine about a photo shoot in their bathing suits. Oh-kay.

You would think the end of the listening would clear people out, but as I exited the studio, I was met by more waves of people. And why not? Black Thought, ?uestlove, Owen Biddle, Khari Ferrari, Dice Raw, Yahmean and plenty of others were still floating around. Why leave when you can tell the band to their faces how you felt about the album you just heard? Everyone was hanging out discussing the music, the artwork, etc. and that’s what The Roots promote more than a lot of hip-hop artists today. Even if you don’t like it, you’re drinking, your associating, you’re cogitating, good times all around.

Later, as the Okayplayer team packed up for the drive back to NYC, we wondered about The Roots ‘scene’ – who is it? What is it? Do scenes really exist for this kind of music anymore? The fan turn out was great, but across racial and gender lines, there were mad hipsters. Not a bad thing, just a surprising thing. If that is in fact The Roots new demo, how on Earth do you get everyone else back? Oblivious to this convo, ?uestlove wandered through the outpost.

“I was lost at my own party,” ?uestlove said.

We filled him in on our similar sentiments.

“I guess “Birthday Girl” helped after all,” he joked as he returned to work in his lab.

For more from Candace L. see The Reviews
http://www.okayplayer.com/reviews