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Album Details

• Artist: The Roots
• Album: Phrenology
• Label: MCA
• Year of Release: 2002
• Reviewed by: dscanland on 2003-04-01

The almighty Roots have decided to grace us with another one of their brilliant slabs of hip-hop heaven. This time around they are going out to a few guest artists in order to open up. Get this for some featured artists: Nelly Furtado (seems like she is turning into a hip-hop regular guest), Ursula Rucker, Talib Kweli, and that’s just a few of them. I don’t even know where to start this review. Usually I highlight a track or two but with pretty much any Roots album, it’s impossible to just point out one or two tracks. Phrenology is hard hitting and smooth at the same time. It begins with the in-yo-face styles of “Rock You�, followed by the Bad Brains influenced track “!!!!!!!� to see that these guys have their foot in everything. It’s over in 24 seconds. “Sacrifice� and “Rolling with Heat� are both superb old school tracks that show The Roots in their finest form. My favorite track on the album is “Thought @ Work� where Thought spins some amazing rhymes. If you are like me and don’t really care for mainstream hip-hop, you need to get this album. It restores your faith in the genre alongside of Dilated Peoples and Jurassic 5. Phrenology was well worth the wait. For a limited time you get a complimentary DVD with some old videos on it. The Roots are forging ahead with their vision of a better hip hop world.

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