The Roots - Things Fall Apart - 1999 - MCA
The transition from Illadelph to Things Fall Apart is almost dizzying. Dialogue from the film Mo' Better Blues sets the stage: "the people don't come because you grandiose motherfuckers don't play shit that they like. If you played the shit that they like, then the people would come. Simple as that." It's an interesting thought here though, as Things Fall Apart is a far slicker album production-wise than anything the roots had released prior. Instrumentation is fleshed out even further. And much of the street-level sounding material from Illadelph was left behind. In a sense this is a record that shares a lot more in common with the jazz leanings of Organix and Do You Want More, though the loose improvisational feel has also been abandoned and instead aims for something far more precise and glossy. Perhaps it was a genuine aim to get a wider audience to come? If so, then it worked. "You Got Me" was easily the biggest hit the band had up until that point. But the good news is that this sort of widening the scope isn't synonymous with selling out. The Roots as a band have always been interested in pushing themselves outward. So while their earlier jazz-lean morphed further into harder-core hip hop from album to album, it then transformed into a neo-soul sound that introduced (and reintroduced) a whole new scene. Check out the roster of folks involved - DJ Jazzy Jeff, Jay Dee, Mos Def, Common, Erykah Badu - and you have a good idea of what this is gonna sound like. But you also kind of don't. Sure there's more guitar here than in previous Roots albums. Sure lots of the tempos stay on the slower side. But it's a melting pot of sounds... "The Spark" finally showcases Questlove's old school breakbeats as the front-and-center star of track, yet later on "You Got Me," he ends the epic by letting it dissolve and then erupt into legit drum-n-bass; Black Thought and Mos Def get their call-and-response on ("Double Trouble") harkening back to the 80's and then later on Beanie Sigel stops by. But perhaps the finest moment of this album is when the band are able to convince Common to make a sequel to his classic "I Used To Love H.E.R." with "Act Too (The Love Of My Life)." Nestled into the middle of the album is serves as a manifesto. A new line drawn in the sand.
Snoop Doggy Dogg - Doggystyle - 1993 - Death Row Records
Snoop's debut is an undeniable classic. Though it serves as a sort of companion to Dre's The Chronic it succeeds just as well - and perhaps slightly better seeing as how Dre always seems far more comfortable behind the boards than in front of the mic. Snoop on the other hand was a showman from the get-go, and it's hard not to hang off every word here. Not only is the record full of classic singles - "Who Am I (What's My Name)?," "Gin & Juice," "Murder Was The Case," "Doggy Dogg World" - it hangs together incredible even when bouncing from style to style. It also helps that Death Row at the time was an impressively large crew that was bursting with energy and ideas. With that in mind it's not so surprising that the first verse on Snoop's solo debut would be from Lady Of Rage rather than himself. Or that he'd do a straight of cover of Slick Rick's "Lodi Dodi." Or that such a chill track would then lead in to the one-two punch of "Murder Was The Case" and "Serial Killer." Really there's a lot of take note of here when considering just how creative and confident Snoop was coming out of the gate. But ultimately all that needs to be said is that it's a bonafide classic that epitomizes the sound of the 90's West Coast "G-Funk" sound. This and The Chronic are absolutely mandatory listening.