“When I introduce you, I’m gonna say, “This is a friend of mine.” That means you’re a connected guy. Now if I said instead, “this is a friend of ours” that would mean you a made guy. A Capiche?”
As Donnie Brasco might attest, it takes some serious confidence to vouch for artists in the age of the mp3.
It’s easy to tweet away your love for an ephemeral three-minute song. It’s slightly harder to endorse an album, but anyone can do a background check on forty-five minutes of music. But it’s another thing entirely to endorse an artist. You’re saying that the song that they might release in two year’s time when they’re going through their White Album phase is going to rock. You’re saying that their tweets are always going to be funny, or at least make sense, or at least be funny when sung by Josh Groban. You’re sticking your neck out.
But I’m quite confident in saying in suggesting that The Roots and Common are friends of ours.
Thirteen albums in, The Roots are still giving lessons on what craftsmanship, intellect, and ambition can mean in hip-hop. Here’s one over several great tracks off of their most recent album undun, a concept album that is sort of like an episode of The Wire, told musically and in reverse.
I Remember, The Roots
This year also marked a new release from Bill O’Reilly’s favorite rapper/poet, Common. You’d think if O’Reilly had bothered to have an intern listen to a song like this, he would have chosen a target he could have actually have tackled.
The Believer (feat. John Legend), Common
