This is my favorite album of 2010 so far. It smoothly flows with jazziness and cool, intelligent lyrics and has a variety of great songs. There is not really a bad song on the album. In hip hop today, it's rare to find an artist that can make smooth and sometimes catchy songs that also go beyond the superficial with serious themes. There are rappers like NAS, who embrace the serious, but don't really master the smoothness or the catchiness. Then there's the great majority that cling to the superficial. But, here we have The Roots, who take on it all. In "Dear God 2.0," they take the haunted vocals from the Monsters of Folk song and add depth with Black Thought's frustration with the modern world. "Radio Daze," one of the catchiest songs on the album, contemplates the changing life of the "satellite age." One of my favorites, the title song, laments over the ideological contradictions with success on the streets where "the first thing they teach ya is not to give a fuck." This album captures the problems of the 21st century from the streets up and still is a pleasure to listen to throughout.
If you like the album-- purchase on Itunes, on their site, or in stores.
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