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THE BRITISH INVASION PRELUDE | “Stand Up” by Cynthia Erivo
SPECIAL BONUS TRACK!
No need to mind the gap between Juneteenth and the British Invasion because we’re gonna bridge it right proper with the multi-talented, award-winning British actress, singer, songwriter, style icon Cynthia Erivo.
As the Academy Award nominated star of 2019’s Harriet, Cynthia not only performed but also wrote the movie’s closing credits song. Between her moving vocals, a stunning visual, and the song’s composition, “Stand Up” soon became an anthem for us all.
Reviews for the film were generally positive, though nothing to write home about, but everyone agreed that Cynthia brought every bit of her power, presence and dedication to depicting Harriet Tubman as a fully-fleshed human being, with moral convictions, deep faith, physical beauty and strength, and intelligence that exceeded her role as leader of the Underground Railroad.
Cynthia’s musical talents, which were only featured on this song, were simply bonus points. It’s a huge departure in her career. Cynthia’s first leading lady film role came JUST THE YEAR BEFORE as she played talented but torn soul singer Darlene Sweet in neo-noir thriller Bad Times at the El Royale. But she was a little bit of a ringer, if I’m being honest. Cynthia was already quite accustomed to the spotlight having won Emmys and Tonys as Celie in Broadway’s The Color Purple, and performed in many more stage and TV shows throughout the UK and US. She’s even portrayed another African-American matriarch as Aretha Franklin in National Geographic productions. Her skill transcends media, and she’s become more than just a Black actress or singer: she’s one of the most decorated (and in-demand) Black talents in modern history.
Which opens a whole separate can of worms… whether British talents should be so heavily recruited to play iconic African-American roles. Brits David Oyelowo (MLK Jr.), Chiwetel Ejiofor (Solomon Northup), Daniel Kaluuya (Fred Hampton), and of course, Cynthia (in multiple roles), have all come under fire for taking part in fundamentally American storytelling.
It’s not as simple as geography. It’s a question of whether American fascination with British culture has been superimposed over Blackness to create a false respectability hierarchy among Black actors (and Black people at large), that ultimately results in Black British actors being more highly reviewed, desired, and of course, hired to play historic African-Americans than the people most deeply engrained in the culture. And the truth is… there is no right answer.
But Cynthia did offer her own perspective on the question to Oprah Magazine: “They are a part of American Black history. They’re also a part of my history because I liked them and I knew them in the U.K., where we don’t discuss very many women of color at all. They’re not in the history books, they don’t exist there,” she said. “Those are the women I know, the women I look to. When I was growing up and I was learning to sing, you cannot name on one hand, five women of color who have been given the opportunity to do as much as the musical women from the U.S. At all. All of my idols who happen to be Black females are probably American.” We won’t nitpick the language, because her overall point is taken: African-American women are heroes to women all around the world.
And there’s no doubting her conviction in the way Cynthia delivers “Stand Up” visually and vocally. I honestly find no need to break much down here because the sounds and the storytelling are rather simple in both as well. But let me point a couple of things to you. The hauntingly beautiful refrain she closes this song with—”I go to prepare a place for you”—is much more than a lovely lyric. First and foremost, it’s taken from John 14:3 where Jesus tells his disciples “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” The verse’s relevance to the brave Conductor’s role in the Underground Railroad is obvious, but you should also know that these were Harriet Tubman’s dying words.
I’ve featured Cynthia’s 2020 LIVE Oscars performance in today’s post because I wanted you to experience the unbelievable range and power of her voice without production assistance, but also because the choir that backs her in the song actually appears here in full robes styled to closely resemble sackcloth, and that combined symbolism might genuinely put you over the edge. But if you do watch the Official Music Video—which I’ve also embedded because you SHOULD—pay attention to her attire throughout. As Cynthia sings of the struggles she’ll have to overcome, she’s in a simple slipdress. But during the triumphant chorus, she appears in a gorgeous designer gown. These aren’t just clever costuming. It’s a deliberate moment of refusing to see Harriet Tubman as a poor, sad, ugly slave who did great things, and instead depicting her as the shining savior of thousands, if not millions, when we consider the generations who weren’t born as slaves thanks to her bravery.
British or American, we should ALL want to be her. There is no question that Cynthia Erivo earned the privilege.
(Ed. Note: Every visual released for “Stand Up” got the high-end treatment, and if I had my way, you’d watch all of them, but you probably won’t, so please, feel free to browse your options. The 2020 Oscars live performance above is my recommendation for overall musical and visual presentation, but the Official Music Video is a work of art, and the Official Lyric Video splices Cynthia’s studio footage with scenes from the film and embedded captions, so choose the option that’s most suitable for you! You won’ be disappointed.)
SOUND IN COLOR 2022
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THE BRITISH INVASION | INTRO
Welcome to SOUND IN COLOR’s British Invasion!
SOUND IN COLOR is typically African-American-centered, but in its first year I embedded a hyperlocal mix (The ATX Mixtape, throw it back), and thoroughly enjoyed it, so here we go again!
Since our friends across the pond experienced the Atlantic Slave Trade (and the fallout from “reconstruction”) in very similar ways as those of us in the States did, their culture is closely aligned to ours (as you’ll see) and their perspectives are something I feel more qualified to speak on than I do others in the African global diaspora.
So here’s how it’ll work:
This week, I’ll post 2 songs each day as usual (except today because you’re getting a free BONUS TRACK!), with a Brit on SIDE A, and an American on SIDE B. Otherwise, everything’s pretty much the same!
Alright then, mate? Cool, cool.
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SIDE B | “Freedom” by Jon Batiste
“Burgundy.”
Say it out loud.
How you say IT actually says a lot about YOU, and how Jon Batiste’s “Freedom” will hit you.
If your emphasis is on the last syllable, like the color burgundy, you’ll be absolutely delighted by his presentation of the lush landscape and people of New Orleans’ Treme and Marigny.
If it’s on the middle syllable—”bur-GUN-dy”—like the street, then welcome home.
In just four minutes, bandleader for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Juilliard master in jazz studies, Pixar composer, five-time Grammy winner, and of course, native son Jon Batiste escorts us down the Crescent City’s oldest Black neighborhoods like a red carpet-turned-Soul-Train-line and it. is. GLORIOUS.
I was introduced to that second, locals-only pronunciation before I knew there was a difference. My grandfather, Leon Bertrand, pronounced both words like Burgundy Street, and had a quirk of announcing to no one in particular (at least that I can recall, since we all knew) that he was from Bunkie, Louisiana. Both sides of my family have deep roots in Texas and Louisiana, so naturally, Juneteenth—in recognition of the day enslaved people in Texas were finally notified that for two years they had been free—means a great deal to me. I’m certain those people sang, and that their voices, loose from the fear of being punished, silenced or worse, truly embodied the sound of freedom. The way he and his chorus sing that word here makes me feel like this legacy means something to Jon Batiste too.
Jon is known for his joyous and effervescent personality, and you’ll see it in spades in “Freedom.” Honestly, every aspect of the song and video feels like someone looked at ordinary things and said, “YES, BUT IN FREEDOM.” The wardrobe, the vehicles, the choreography, the locations and the cast are what you’d imagine we all might be without our self-esteem issues and the burdens of other people’s opinions. How Jon & his crew manage to achieve this, but still bring New Orleans to the screen authentically is what catapults “Freedom” from a cheery anthem to a cultural masterpiece. “Beyond any financial gain or level of scaling, music is sacred stuff, man. And I feel almost called to bring it to people in these hard times. If I don’t, who will?,” he asked the Los Angeles Times.
Some of New Orleans’ sights, scenes and characters—like the Saints Fleur-de-Lis drum buckets and the gold-painted statue buskers—will be immediately recognizable, others are the kind of deep dives that let you know this is really art for the folks back home. The historic figures of the Allen Toussaint mural on Claiborne, the proud purple and gold St. Augustine High School Marching Band, the Treme Second Line Brass Band, Kermit Ruffins’ Treme Mother-in-Law Lounge, and the New Orleans Masking Indians in all their suited glory (including the fabulous Queen Tahj), each get starring roles in “Freedom” that an outsider might overlook as terrific location scouting and fantastic costuming. Jon is pulling back the curtain on Black New Orleans just for you, his treat.
I can’t wrap this without a quick touch on the sounds here, and where to even begin? Jon spends most of “Freedom” in a soulful falsetto punctuated by funk-jazz horns and a gospel-reminiscent call-and-response of “Freeeeeeeee-ee-dom!” It makes his sound all the more rich and unexpected when he drops into his lower register for a dreamy interlude, and then bounces back up into a blues keyboard- and tambourine-driven Wobble. Between the music and the visual—completely New Orleans cast and staffed, by the way—this is Jon’s unmistakable statement to the world: there is nothing he’s incapable of with his city behind him and their unchained freedom.
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SIDE A | “Unforgettable” by Natalie & Nat King Cole
Time and technology make an awkward pair.
When our closest possessions are obsolete in weeks, and gratification of nearly every human need can occur within seconds, words like “timeless” and “treasured” don’t have the same luster. When you lose someone close to you, technology and time only skew further out of whack. There’s the time before you lost that person, and the time after. The ways you communicated with them, and the ways you never will. The Best Buy gift cards that were spent, and the Netflix gift cards collecting dust on a shelf. Natalie Cole achieved every daughter’s dream in twisting time and technology to her will so she could share one last song with her dad.
She’d just turned 15 when her father, the legendary Nat King Cole, died due to complications from lung cancer at only 45 years old. When she was six, Natalie sang on his album, The Magic of Christmas, and then swore she’d never accompany him again. When her own career first launched, she refused to cover his songs, insisting that she’d make her own way in the music industry or wouldn’t go at all.
And she was wildly successful, earning Grammys for her 1975 debut, multi-platinum record sales, and the adoration of fans and critics alike. But the steeply mounting pressures of the industry and her past soon drove Natalie to addiction and by 1983, she’d been admitted to a rehab. Though Natalie recovered, stayed clean, and got her career back on track, her comeback albums never reached the overwhelming success of her early debuts. She still did well by every stretch of the imagination… just not Grammy-winning well. Until she tapped her before to create a brand new after.
In 1991, “through the magic of digital technology,” Billboard Magazine wrote, Natalie covered her father’s music and sang with him for the first time in her adult life on “Unforgettable.” I’d only ever heard her father in scratchy vinyl recordings from my own dad’s collection. The only time I saw Nat King Cole performing was in commercials peddling his greatest hits or in vintage holiday specials on Nick at Nite. (There’s probably at least one of you reading this who has absolutely no context for anything in that previous sentence, and I’m sorry.)
So when Natalie sang a perfectly sound engineered & mastered duet with her dad, and then actually appeared alongside him in a music video featuring the Cole family’s own private footage of their patriarch, it was momentous in American music, technological and cultural history. For the first time, not only could we hear a person from beyond the grave, we saw them bring an entirely new performance to life with their own child. There had been nothing like it before, and I struggle to think of any song recorded under the same circumstances since. It’s become one of those moments in time no one can adequately describe. You had to have lived it.
“The Heart Part 5.”
File under “Things-That-Might-Not-Exist-Without-the-Coles-Thank-You-Very-Much”Thankfully, I can show it to you, because not only did Natalie achieve this incredible feat on film, but her editors and producers compiled it beautifully in animations, in timing, and you can tell that a great deal of care went into seemingly small details that make a big difference in the finished product, like the transitions between Natalie’s parts and her Dad’s. I can’t tell you how it felt to see this happening in real time, especially as a daughter who loved sharing music with her own dad, but you probably have at least the slightest bit of modern day context. Consider this me going on record in my loudest voice to say that without Natalie and Nat King Cole’s “Unforgettable,” technology like dead musician holograms and even deep fakes (existing images or videos so skillfully replaced with another person’s face that they appear real—see Kendrick Lamar’s “The Heart Part 5”) wouldn’t be the same concepts that they are today.
The 1990 “Total Recall” Trailer: Director’s Cut. “Unforgettable” exists in a collective of early digital creations that inspired us to question the possibilities, and whether we could shape our past and present into a more desirable future. In 1990, the year before “Unforgettable” was released, virtual reality sci-fantasy “Total Recall” was the #1 movie in America. The Flying Car Future and Transporter Magic of TV weren’t quite realities, but they were starting to seem like possibilities… as though WE HAD THE TECHNOLOGY.
We didn’t. We still don’t. But that’s the real beauty of “Unforgettable.” Strip away the technology, and what’s left is simply a father and daughter sharing a touching, heartfelt song. Of all the modern marvels we’ve built and technological advances we’ve seen, nothing comes close to that kind of simple, timeless, and truly unforgettable magic.
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PARDON THE INTERMISSION
Hello, music lovers! Please forgive my unexpected intermission! Your girl’s been putting in an awful lot of hustle lately (“Spotify, play Leikeli47’s ‘Money’“), and along with hustle must come rest.
Since I can’t quit my day job and there’s only so many hours in one, SOUND IN COLOR took a brief pause, but we’ll be back tomorrow with some very special jams in celebration of Juneteenth and Father’s Day! See you then! -
SIDE B | “Call Me a Fool” by Valerie June
“I’ve always been kind of a magical fairy woman who never really felt at home on Earth… does that make sense to anybody?”
Valerie June’s audience at her Grand Ole Opry debut clearly did NOT get her temperament, but her talent?
Positively undeniable.
Join Valerie June in “Magnolia Mediation” In fact, everything about Valerie June is a total delight, from the flowers constantly adorning her locks to her syrupy Southern accent. Her bubbly personality and perpetual positivity have earned her a loyal following on Instagram where she practices live meditations and rituals for healing, cleansing and stillness.
Valerie June carried that practice into the studio when recording her 2021 album too. “In the making of The Moon and Stars: Prescriptions for Dreamers, she added an element of ritual to every recording session,” her Opry write-up says, “including adorning the studio floor with mandalas made from fresh-picked flowers (a rite inspired by 19th-century author Clara Lucas Balfour’s assertion that flowers are undoubtedly “the stars of the earth”).” If that’s too earthy for you, bail out now, because there’s more. The Moon and Stars’s subtitle, Prescriptions for Dreamers, isn’t just a figurative name, but Valerie June’s “carefully curated collection of elixirs, contemplation questions, and daily practices assembled to help the listener along on their own dreamer’s journey” included with the album.
The video for “Call Me a Fool” opens with one of several meditative moments (or “little bitty spells” as VJ calls them) found on Moon and Stars, “African Proverb,” read by Stax Records’ legendary “Queen of Memphis Soul” Carla Thomas, who provides backing vocals as well. Of course it takes a legend to match Valerie June’s totally spell-binding sound. I tried to think of who I could begin to compare her with, but honestly, the only person Valerie June sounds like is herself.
Read Valerie June’s thoughts on being an African-American country music artist reclaiming space at the Grand Ole Opry and other historically inaccessible country institutions. When she opens her mouth, her soulful Southernness can’t help but fly out, but it’s immediately followed by her deep Appalachian, and Delta Blues vocal stylings. Her accent is amplified by a “half-yodel” trilling that’s entirely different from her frequently pitch-shifting notes, a technique called a blue note. (Notice those moments where she’s just on the brink of going flat, but never does. THAT is a blue note.) Valerie June navigates this lush vocal landscape while she plays banjo, ukelele, and guitar to accompany, forming the unique sound she calls “organic moonshine roots music.”
Valerie June’s the only person in the video and she’s more than enough. “Call Me a Fool” brings an absolute kaleidoscope of sound and visuals to the table that I guarantee will leave you searching for more.
And thankfully, her effort here did not go unrecognized. Though it didn’t win, “Call Me a Fool” was nominated for the Grammys’ Best American Roots Song. It was her first nomination, received on her THIRD label-released album. Now that she’s made contact with us earthlings, I’ve got a feeling we’ll be hearing so much more from the wonderfully stellar Valerie June.
(Ed. Note: I cannot bring myself to end this without sharing more Valerie June with you. Her cover of “Fade Into You” by Mazzy Star is one of the best I’ve EVER heard. It’s a song I grew up with deep affection for and VJ’s version moved me. “Why The Bright Stars Glow” is another of VJ’s lovely songs featuring a legend, Mother Mavis Staples.)
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SIDE A | “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay” by Otis Redding
How Otis Redding’s “Dock of the Bay” came to be is a story so dramatic, it almost reads like fiction.
And still, it’s what came afterward that changed everything.
After an August 1967 show at San Francisco’s famous Fillmore, Otis Redding sat on a houseboat in Sausalito, looking over a scene much different than those in the Deep South where he was raised and recorded music. He scrabbled up an old napkin and began writing: “I watch the ships come in and I watch them roll away again.” That’s where one of the most well-known songs in modern American music got its start, and almost never saw the light of day.
Over the months that Otis continued writing “Dock of the Bay,” he underwent a surgery to remove throat polyps. As he recovered, he truly feared he might never sing again. Or at least not the way he had on hits like “Love Man,” “A Change Is Gonna Come,” and “Hard to Handle” that relied on the signature open-throated growling vibrato that his fans had come to expect. He confided in his wife that he wanted to explore something different, and on December 7, 1967, Otis finished laying his first round of “Dock of the Bay” at Memphis’ Stax Records.
The execs hated it.
Otis was their biggest star by far, and the masculine sex appeal in his catalog toed a delicate balance that sold records across gender lines. “Dock of The Bay” didn’t have much that would appeal to either as far as the execs were concerned, and one who happened to be in the studio at the time was actually quoted saying, “I don’t know if we can ever release this song.”
Three days later, on Sunday, December 10, 1967, 26-year-old Otis Redding lost his life in a plane crash. With him were five members of the Bar-Kays, Stax’s hit-making house band. Their trumpet player Ben Cauley was the crash’s soul survivor. In a single day, music lovers worldwide and everyone at Stax Records was absolutely devastated.
By Monday, Steve Cropper’s phone was ringing. He’d co-written the track with Otis and played guitar on it as well. “They said, ‘Get that thing finished and get it to us.’ So, I went to work on it,” he said. “And probably the music is the only thing that kept me going.” Steve finished the track, adding the seagull and crashing wave effects—the same sounds that inspired its creation—as Otis wished.
Now… I’m breaking my own rules a bit with today’s feature because the video is actually nothing special. A montage of live concerts, still photos of Otis, and stock ocean footage, it’s not exactly the eye candy SOUND IN COLOR typically delivers.
But that’s part of the story here too.
Naturally, no footage of Otis singing “Dock of the Bay” exists. The track laid at Stax is the song’s ONLY finished recording. And that sole recording became the Western world’s first ever #1 posthumous hit song. “Dock of the Bay” broke through R&B charts, into mainstream charts, then UK charts to make history with over 4 million copies sold worldwide. The song went on to claim Grammys for Best R&B Song and Best Male R&B Vocal Performance. It even led to more of Otis’s studio sessions being released to the public.
What a bittersweet end to a such a moving story, but what a gift we were left from this marvelous talent. BMI documented “Dock of the Bay” as the sixth most recorded song of the 20th Century (tbd on the 21st, since this classic is absolutely enduring), and a handful of other singers have also charted with Otis’s bayside song, most notably, Michael Bolton. It’s a song that keeps on giving, and though the visual’s aren’t what you’re accustomed to, knowing how it came to be, I hope you’ll be touched to see Otis in his prime while he softly croons his eternal swan song.
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SIDE B | “Southside Fade” by reggie [EXPLICIT]
![SIDE B | “Southside Fade” by reggie [EXPLICIT]](https://i0.wp.com/soundincolorjune.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/10B-REGGIE.jpg?resize=768%2C960&ssl=1)
Not since Lil’ Keke’s “Southside” has the Houston neighborhood gotten a love letter that went national.
Native son reggie (aka Reginald Helms Jr.) poured his heart into putting the Southside back on the musical map with his debut single.
And he doesn’t even live there anymore.
But for better or worse, reggie wouldn’t have been the L.A.-based artist he is today without having grown up on the streets of Houston. Literally.
When reggie’s teenage independence began to clash with his family’s deeply religious practices (read: desire to be at church anytime the doors were unlocked), his parents put him out and he was forced to make his own way.
“I had to quickly find a way to get money and that was very easy to do in Houston,” reggie said. (Though reggie is never explicit with the details, we can all guess his new line of “work.”)
Rather than letting himself fall into the trap life, reggie’s bounceback from rock bottom “taught [him that he] could literally do ANYTHING and acquire ANYTHING [he] wanted.” And when he made it to L.A. to finally produce the music he always wanted, he made “Southside Fade”—one of his songs written in hard times—his preeminent track.
“Southside Fade” is definitely an ode to Houston’s ups but also its downs,” he said. “It’s all ironic to me which is why I say ‘my city so big it feel like you on top of the world if you on it.’ To me, it also seemed like the more up you were in Houston the more prone you were to NEVER leave. I’ve seen plenty of people not go worldwide because they were in love with being citywide.” But now that he’s on his way worldwide, reggie’s free to totally indulge in his total infatuation with Houston.
“Southside Fade” is shot like a home movie, and even sounds like a walk down memory lane. I suppose you’d call reggie a rapper, but his vibe radiates old-school soul singer. As he takes us on this visual tour and lyrical shoutout to Houston, he almost croons through each scene, and drops if-you-know-you-know lines like “25 lighters right there same place” that pay tribute to Houston rap greats DJ DMD, Lil Keke, and Fat Pat. Along the way, you’ll see Southside landmarks like the Funplex Entertainment Center, some of reggie’s favorite local rappers, and of course, Houston’s famous car culture. But some of the scenes are seemingly ordinary people and places—like the projects and the local Whataburger—whose quiet beauty is preserved alongside this ode to their city.
Of all the things that come to mind when most of us think of Houston OR the Southside, “chill vibes” is usually not among them.
Catch a little “Southside Fade” and you might reconsider.
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SIDE A | “Let It Flow” by Peyton [EXPLICIT]
![SIDE A | “Let It Flow” by Peyton [EXPLICIT]](https://i0.wp.com/soundincolorjune.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/10A-PEYTON.jpg?resize=768%2C960&ssl=1)
Peyton’s “Let It Flow” is a simple song about that tried-and-true therapeutic device: going to your happy place.
And by 10 seconds into its video, she’s all but spelled out exactly where hers is: TEXAS.
Liberty, to be exact, the birthplace of her mother.
Between the setting of the video and Peyton’s absolutely angelic vocals, what’s usually pretty trite subject matter gets a breath of fresh air. If you know me personally, it probably goes without saying that I love Black folks on horseback. But have you ever seen one sing on horseback, let alone with this much swag? No, no you have not. But my favorite moment in the video comes when we see Peyton leading an older woman mounted on a horse. It’s touching (and then really funny) even if you don’t know who the woman in the saddle is.
But you know I’m gonna enlighten you. That woman is Peyton’s grandmother in what begins as a really sweet visual of respect for your ancestors, and ends with a perfectly timed lyrical punch line that’s also a nod to Southern grandmas who love Jesus but cuss a little. Peyton’s other grandmother is Houston’s Theola Booker, Grammy-nominated songwriter, composer and arranger for Reverend James Cleveland, and jazz and gospel singer. (She also taught Beyoncé piano at Houston’s Parker Elementary.) Peyton herself is also a classically trained singer and violinist. The song and video for “Let It Flow” and Peyton’s career thus far is the musical culmination of generations. “Music has always been a solace for me, it’s the only thing that I wanted to do, the only thing that I knew how to do,” she says.
PSA: cover by Lance Flowers, music by Peyton. Peyton’s combined that idea of music as a figurative happy place and the Houston-area as her literal happy place in the details of most everything she’s released so far. The cover of PSA, her 2021 full-length debut, features art by the Third Ward’s own Lance Flowers, and while I’m usually 50/50 on rap features in songs where the lead voice is so delicate, Houston rapper Brice Blanco‘s conversational flow is like a puzzle piece fitting right in between the sonic elements Peyton’s already established by the time he slips in.
But even if you aren’t from Houston, don’t skip out on the vibe in “Let It Flow.” A synth bass beat that’ll rattle your speakers contrasts with Peyton’s veil-thin soprano better than it seems like it should, and her ADORABLE little dance sequence next to a broken down vintage car in an empty field is the perfect metaphor for her sound throughout PSA. The background is a little grimy, the subject matter is raw, but her vocals at the forefront are an absolute delight. “I want my listeners to understand the layers of my sound,” she says. “There are so many topics of honesty that are subtly fearless. I want my listeners to feel fearless and cool when they listen or sing along.”
And that’s not just lip service. After she’s poured her heart out on PSA, she closes the album with her gorgeous cover of “Pure Imagination” from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. It doesn’t get much more fearless, cool, and “happy place” than that.
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SIDE B | “The Seed (2.0)” by The Roots [EXPLICIT]
![SIDE B | “The Seed (2.0)” by The Roots [EXPLICIT]](https://i0.wp.com/soundincolorjune.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/9B-ROOTS.jpg?resize=768%2C960&ssl=1)
The Roots don’t just make music.
They’re the creators of a living, breathing body of art.
Individually, Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson and Tariq “Black Thought” Trotter are master musicians.
The trailer for Questlove’s “Summer of Soul” Questlove is a legendary drummer and the heartbeat of modern American music across all genres, having either backed or produced for artists like Erykah Badu, John Mayer, N.E.R.D., Fiona Apple, and Hank Williams Jr. Oh, and he’s written three books, curated First Lady Michelle Obama’s Becoming soundtrack, and directed a Sundance winning film. (He’s also one of the best celebrities to follow on social media, if you’re into that sort of thing.)
Black Thought’s resume reads similarly, except that even though he’s only released 3 solo albums of his own, he’s known as one of the most talented, articulate, and prolific rappers of all time. He’s appeared alongside the giants of hip-hop like Dilated Peoples, Common, Swizz Beats, and Del the Funky Homosapien, but also progressive rock acts like Linkin Park and the lead singers of My Morning Jacket and TV on the Radio.
The Roots on Yo Gabba Gabba! But when the two artists’ powers combine as The Roots, they ARE the musical multiverse. There isn’t a single aspect of modern day entertainment to which they haven’t contributed. As a collective, their roster has included 23 other musicians like the talented Malik B., Nikki Yeoh, Scott Storch, Ian Hendrickson-Smith and Dave Guy of the Dap Kings, and many more. They’ve released 11 albums, toured with Dave Matthews Band and Jay-Z, established their own music festival in Philadelphia, served as philanthropists back home and for global charities, annually host a pre-Grammy party/concert famous for its impromptu performances, contributed to dozens of movie soundtracks, headlined sporting event pre-game and halftime shows, and even appeared on kids’ show, Yo Gabba Gabba.
The Roots backing Ed Sheeran in a cover of Fetty Wap’s “Trap Queen” on Jimmy Fallon But perhaps their most well-known appearance is their current gig as the house band for the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon where they’re so much more than background music. Their performances with Adele, Justin Timberlake, Mariah Carey, Metallica and many more musical superstars have gone viral over and over again. “The Seed (2.0)” is a similar collaboration.
So named because it’s the “second” version of featured singer Cody ChesnuTT’s “The Seed,” The Roots’ deep instrumentation—particularly, Questlove’s driving drum performance—and Black Thought’s precision rhymes help tell a rich and sordid story of cheating… musically, that is. Inspired by Muddy Waters’ “The Blues Had a Baby and They Named It Rock and Roll,” the song is a metaphorically-structured story of stepping out on hip-hop to create a brand new little baby (neo-soul or rock-and-roll, depending on whether Black Thought or Cody ChesnuTT have the mic). It’s Cody’s song originally, but as usual, The Roots totally make it their own, as well they should. It’s just as much a family history of all the seeds they’ve planted for future generations in every corner of the musical world.
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