Happy 25th Anniversary to The Roots’ third studio album Illadelph Halflife, originally released September 24, 1996.
Illadelph Halflife was an essential step in the evolution of The Roots. Before, they were viewed as a respectable hip-hop jazz band that wore its Native Tongues influences on their sleeves. With their third album, they started to be recognized as something much more. There wasn’t a drastic shift in ethos, but rather a necessary tweak that set a really good group on the path to greatness.
The Roots had earned themselves a lot of love with Do You Want More?!!!??! (1995), their second album and first released on a major label. Overall, it was a lighter affair, seemingly spawned from disciples of the Native Tongues family.
The Roots crew was made up of two emcees, Tariq “Black Thought” Trotter and Malik “B” Bassit, along with the live band, led by Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson and featuring the talents of bassist Leonard “Hub” Hubbard and keyboardist James “Kamal” Gray. Scott Storch, who had been responsible for much of the keyboard work on Do You Want More, was in the process of stepping away from the band to pursue other endeavors.
Illadelph Halflife is The Roots’ lengthiest endeavor, clocking in at nearly 80 minutes. And that’s with 20 tracks of solid music, with no dead space to hide bonus tracks. But Illadelph isn’t as sprawling as its runtime suggests. It’s a focused project that’s unified in tone, and results in one of the best albums of 1996. Even in what’s become a very deep discography, Illadelph remains one of the stronger albums that the group has recorded, residing happily in their top five.
The album represented a shift in musical direction for The Roots. As Questlove wrote in his acclaimed 2013 memoir Mo' Meta Blues: The World According to Questlove, “ We didn’t want to be as soft as we were on that earlier record, but we didn’t want to surrender our thinking man’s perch either. We split the difference by making the music harder, and by making songs that sounded like they were made from samples, though in fact we were sampling ourselves.”
As a result, the Grand Negaz production crew (made up of members of the band) put together a musical backdrop that’s more traditionally hip-hop, but still maintains the group’s jazz influences. Questlove has often credited Kelo, their engineer, for the shift in Illadelph’s sound, as he helped Quest’s drums sound “bigger.” Also assisting was legendary mixer Bob Power. The Roots had started working with Power, best known for his work with A Tribe Called Quest, on Do You Want More. He does even better work here, doing an excellent job at immaculately mixing down the album’s tracks. What resulted is likely their most “hip-hop” album.
On the rapping end, The Roots still retain their sharp, lyrical approach to songs. Black Thought and Malik B keep their stylings rough and complex. The pair arguably deliver their most “street” oriented content on this project, while still displaying impressive feats of verbal wizardry. I don’t know if I can say that Illadelph features Black Thought’s best overall performance as a member of The Roots, but it’s pretty close to the top.
Meanwhile, Malik B is quietly dominant on the mic, even if he was pulling away from the group’s live performances. He’d stopped touring with the group, and when I saw the crew open up for The Pharcyde in Philadelphia in late 1995/early 1996, Malik performed two songs from the yet-to-be-released Illadelph, then left the stage and never returned. Though he didn’t care to partake in the live endeavors, he flourished in the studio, His chemistry with Black Thought is at its strongest on Illadelph. As M-Ilitant and “the Bad Lieutenant from Snyder Avenue” respectively, Malik and Thought made a formidable combination throughout the album.
The pair bounce off of each other on “Respond/React,” a high energy sprint of a song, but also excel when calmly delivering lyrical heat. “Section,” one of the best songs on Illadelph, has the pair teaming-up on a murky track. Black Thought kicks the type of verse that would become a hallmark of his career moving forward: delivering cool and calm ferocity while seemingly barely raising his pulse rate. After stating that he “send[s] emcees where the paramedics are,” Thought declares that he’s “from the lab where the bomb’s distributed / So never try to duplicate the skills executed.” Malik then raps a grimly potent verse of his own, rapping, “Brag and boast in my anecdotes that choke / Invade your whole terrain, you feel the pain provoke.”
Overall, Black Thought remains the lyrical focal point on Illadelph, and rises to the occasion when he gets the spotlight. “Concerto of the Desperado,” the album’s second single, is one of the group’s towering achievements. The band definitely plays things to the hilt, with Hub playing the cello on the track and Amel Larrieux (formerly of the soul duo Groove Theory) providing operating soprano vocals. Musically, it aims for epic and stops a few feet short of overwrought.
Meanwhile, Thought operates at peak level lyrically, as the song’s first verse of the track is one of the best of his career. “Even if it mean you gotta hang over the banister,” he raps. “I pull a microphone on any pistol brandisher / And take advantage of ya crew because you’re amateur / Styles gunning down your sound-man and manager.”
Though Malik B only gets one solo track on Illadelph, he certainly makes the most of it on “No Great Pretender.” As he demonstrates later in the album, Malik’s frequent strength as an emcee comes from when he delivers gritty tales of corner stick-ups and struggling for survival. However, he uses “No Great Pretender” to give his thoughts on what it takes to be a dope emcee. “Your vocal cord is fraudulent, and not the true porcelain,” he raps. “I bring the fire, earth, and the source of wind / The force of sin will endorse the pen / We all search for sanity, but I think that it was lost again.”
Because Illadelph was released during the mid-1990s, a good amount of the content concerns mocking fake emcees who always act hard. With the state of commercial hip-hop during this period being conducive to studio gangstas, true school artists like The Roots often chose to confront them on record. “Clones,” the album’s first single, is a belligerent tornado of animosity. It’s one of the rare posse cuts where all four emcees are locked in, from Malik and Black Thought, to Roots crew member Dice Raw, to newcomer M.A.R.S. Co-Op. For my money, Thought still kicks the most memorable verse, rapping, “Superstar n****s is 10% real / 90% invented for a fuckin' record deal / Coming with something veterans can't feel / I hit you like a steel anvil because you grafted off the next man’s skill.”
The smooth and jazzy “What They Do” is musically more evocative of The Roots’ Do You Want More sound. The hook, provided by Raphael Saadiq, and the intricate, Wes Montgomery-esque guitar-work, executed by Spanky, have all the trappings of a cool-out track, perhaps in the mode of “Lazy Afternoon.” Instead, Black Thought contributes another one of the most placidly aggressive performances ever recorded, laying into commercial emcees who compromise their values in favor of commercial pursuits. “The principles of true hip-hop have been forsaken, he raps. “It's all contractual and about money-making.” Later, he disgustedly observes, “It’s funny what I see some rap n****s do to make it / A few’ll blow up, or go as far as they can take it.”
The video associated with the song became a source of controversy, as it parodied videos where rappers basked in opulence. Reportedly, The Notorious B.I.G. took offense to the visuals, believing that they were mocking the “One More Chance” video, and was baffled as to why one of his favorite groups was dissing him. In his memoir, Questlove wrote that he penned an apology to Biggie that he hoped would get printed in The Source, but that the Brooklyn emcee was killed just as he completed it. The video is apparently the inspiration for the “Madd Rapper” skit on Biggie’s Life After Death (1997), and Questlove revealed that he had a tense sit-down with Puff Daddy and his entourage backstage at a Mos Def concert at the Wetlands in NYC.
One of the strongest passages on Illadelph comes during a series of songs that depict the urban decay rampant in the city of Philadelphia, and the violence that often goes along with it. The run starts with the appropriately hectic “Panic!!!!!” which features Black Thought recalling the intimate details of the aftermath of a late-night shooting. Malik B and Black Thought get further down into the grit on “It Just Don’t Stop,” describing the endless cycles of violence that they each grew up around.
The haunting “Episodes,” finishes this run, bolstered by a verse by Dice Raw and a melancholy chorus sung by Jazzyfatnastees. All three emcees draw from their personal experience while penning their verses. Malik B is particularly vivid, giving a view of Philly circa ’84, painting a picture of an environment where you constantly had to be on alert. “N****s quick to flip your pockets if you lip-service,” he warns. “When you see 15 n****s deep with skullys, get nervous.”
By the time that The Roots recorded Illadelph, they were already linking up with their like-minded musician peers, both those they shared the local scene with, and with artists that shared their musical values. Philly native Bahamadia flows effortlessly on the watery “Push Up Ya Lighter,” as keyboards shimmer and chirp. The song serves as an epilogue of sorts to the aforementioned run of tracks that spotlight the city’s urban decay.
Later in the album, Black Thought tag teams with a pair of artists who’d become friends and frequent collaborators. He’s joined by Common on “UNIverse At War,” an exercise in unbridled lyrical and musical aggression. On “Ital,” he frequently trades verses with a spry Q-Tip. The two lambast fake rappers who concoct outlandish stories to advance their career, while lauding artists who put genuine emotion into their material. While Q-Tip raps, “I use my music, implement it with jewels and sport tools / To inspire all these too-cool fools who say ‘screw school,’” Black Thought adds, “Lyrically illicit, up steps the explicit most wicked 7-digit mic wizard / My tongue lash out and strike with it, ya slightly might miss it.”
With “The Hypnotic,” The Roots continued in their ability to record some of the flyest hip-hop love songs ever. Black Thought describes “Alana with mad persona,” the object of both his affection and obsession, reflecting on their time together and how they drifted apart. D’Angelo, the future neo-soul superstar, provides backing vocals and croons a bit on the song’s chorus. In terms of production and vibe, it serves as the template for the Soulquarians sound that members of the crew would help shape through the late ’90s and early ’00s.
“One Shine” showcases the Roots’ talents as a band. The mostly instrumental track is a shimmering undertaking, as the crew brings in a full horn section to create the type of track that they might play at an after-hours jazz spot. The composition features some sparse, muted vocals by vocalist and future GRAMMY winner Cassandra Wilson and a possibly uncredited sax performance from Joshua Redman. The liner notes list Joshua Roseman, a talented Boston-based trombonist.
Illadelph ends with “Adventures in Wonderland,” which also continues the tradition of The Roots ending their albums with spoken word pieces by Ursula Rucker. Of the three project-ending pieces that Rucker recorded, this one is the best, as well as the most arresting. Rucker assumes the perspective of a drug dealer (or possibly a prostitute; the double-entendres make it a little vague), resolute on making money through extra -legal means in order to provide a better life for her daughter. When things inevitably go bad, she portrays it as an inevitability, rather than a tragedy.
Illadelph Halflife earned The Roots respect for their versatility. It would not be their last “dark” album, but it’s likely their best in that category. The crew would continue to get more contemplative with their content and experimental with their approach, which would lead to more acclaim. But it was all built on the foundation of the hip-hop bona fides, which the crew more than earned with this project. In terms of rawness, The Roots rarely got better than this.
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