Happy 20th Anniversary to The Roots’ fifth studio album Phrenology, originally released November 26, 2002.
It would be easy to say that Phrenology is an expectations-defying follow-up to The Roots’ most commercially successful album. But given that the Philadelphia-based crew has made a career out of defying expectations, is it really that odd that they followed up their Platinum, GRAMMY Award-winning fourth album Things Fall Apart (1999) with an album that’s as eclectic as Phrenology? Released 20 years ago, it could be seen as a sharp left turn even for hip-hop’s preeminent band.
It is refreshing that during mainstream hip-hop’s dullest era of the early ’00s, The Roots continued to forge a unique sound. Named after the 1800s racist pseudo-science that attempted to determine levels of intelligence from the shape of a human’s skull, the band’s fifth album finds the right balance between the traditional and the experimental. The group, led by drummer Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson and lead emcee Tariq “Black Thought” Trotter spearheaded a long-player that likely left the people at MCA (the group’s record label) scratching their heads. However, their efforts resulted in one of the best albums of 2002 and a very strong entry in The Roots’ overall discography.
A good chunk of Phrenology had its genesis as a Black Thought solo project, Masterpiece Theater. Black Thought envisioned Masterpiece as being a departure from the type of music he recorded with The Roots, as it would feature no live instrumentation in exchange for production work from skilled beat-smiths like Pete Rock, J Dilla, DJ Krush, and Karriem Riggins, among others. Thought had even released a single, “Hardware,” to begin the promotion process. However, the album was eventually shelved, apparently because Black Thought learned that the album wouldn’t be counted towards the albums that The Roots “owed” MCA Records as part of their recording contract.
Black Thought and the crew then recalibrated, re-integrating some of the remnants of the Masterpiece Theater recording sessions into Phrenology. They also began recording new material more singular to The Roots as a group. You can generally distinguish between the two types of song by checking the “birth dates” in the album’s liner notes. As it stands, the Masterpiece Theater sessions occurred during late 2000 through mid-2001, while the recording of Phrenology proper seems to have started in late 2001 and lasted through mid-2002.
Considering that Phrenology is two halves and two separate albums soldered together, it’s not that easy to observe the seams. The crew does a good job of putting together a cohesive album that mixes more “traditional” material alongside some of their most left-of-center recordings at the time. On the mic, Black Thought mostly goes at it alone, as co-lead emcee Malik B had left the group, even though he continued to loom over the recording process (more on that later). As a whole, Phrenology spotlights Black Thought’s persistent lyrical mastery, as well as The Roots ability to push the envelope sonically and thematically.
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Phrenology starts with the DJ Scratch-produced “Rock You.” Even though the song was a product of the Masterpiece Theater sessions, it the right note to begin this particular genre-bending album. The track’s rock influences are clear and present, as the drums echo the pattern of Queen’s “We Will Rock You.” Black Thought gives his most aggressive performance right off the bat, rapping, “When you least expect it I’m gonna step out the darkroom / Pull out the hardware tools the particles will spark you.”
“Thought @ Work” was also originally intended for Masterpiece Theater, but it was torpedoed by sample clearance issues. Black Thought originally recorded a version that incorporates portions of The Beatles’ “Hey Bulldog,” which is always a non-starter. Opting instead to sample the Incredible Bongo Band’s “Apache,” Black Thought uses the track to pay tribute to the legendary Kool G Rap’s “Men At Work” and the early to mid-1980s old school pioneers. Much like the song that inspired it, Thought delivers two lengthy verses here. “Focus, flawless, New York to Europe,” he raps. “To lands where my feet ain’t even touch the soil yet / We’re the movement, the rap solution / It thumps so hard we got ’em worldwide, using them.”
“Quills” is another expression of Black Thought’s massive skill (and another would-be Masterpiece Theater recording), as he gives what is in totality his best performance on Phrenology. On the Karriem Riggins-produced track, Black Thought displays his full range of skills, asserting his status as “supreme linguist, a lyrical genius / Inject you with the broke down English.” From kicking clever lines to delivering syllabic-bending flows, Black Thought is firing on all cylinders. “Shit, I'm scientific but my reflex's gangsta,” he raps. “Pull outrageous arms from the floor of the basement / Then bust ’nuff talons if my people’s in danger / I’m Larry Davis, ducking helicopter, hovering government agents.”
Talib Kweli makes a pair of appearances on Phrenology, making up for him being removed from Things Fall Apart (he was removed from “Double Trouble” due to song length concerns). Instead, Kweli contributes verses to both verbal-weapon related tracks, rapping on both “Rolling With Heat” and “Rhymes And Ammo.” The latter originally appeared on the Soundbombing 3 (2002) compilation, but it fits in here as a bonus track.
Though “Rhymes” is a slightly better song, “Rolling With Heat” is still a strong entry. In Phrenology’s liner notes, Questlove writes that “Rolling…” was first conceived as a remix for a track by Roots contributor/beat-boxer Scratch (not to be confused with the aforementioned DJ Scratch), but the composition went through a few iterations before they recorded the version that appears on the album. Like his Black Star partner Mos Def/Yasiin Bey, Kweli has good chemistry with Black Thought, able to hold his own next to the Bad Lieutenant. “Creative artist, never play the targets of game hunters,” he raps. “You may want to test this product like ’caine smugglers.” The song also features the first appearance of Dice Raw singing the hook, which would become increasingly more common over the next two decades.
The heart of Phrenology comes from its middle portion, where The Roots really aim to expand their musical palette. Mileage on these tracks may vary, as the songs are among the most polarizing entries in the group’s catalogue. However, overall this portion of the album signifies what makes Phrenology so memorable.
Musically, the album’s first single “Break You Off” seems like it’s trying to recapture the magic created by “You Got Me,” which earned the group a GRAMMY. The group revisit the neo-soul sound here, updating it to some degree, while exploring the selfish and damaging nature of infidelity. Black Thought chronicles his liaisons with a woman in a committed relationship, knowing that he’s in the wrong, but so consumed by the intense sexual relationship that he’s unable to stop.
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The song features vocals from Musiq Soulchild, but it apparently took a long time to reach its final form, as Musiq was apparently the group’s first choice to croon the chorus, but they went through ten other singers before settling back with the smooth vocalist. Questlove provides a lengthy, yet still cryptic, description of the entire recording process for the song in the liner notes of Home Grown Vol. 2, the second part of The Roots “beginners guide” they released in the mid-’00s. Getting the song done entailed many starts and stops, and was frequently characterized by no-shows by the artists they were trying to collaborate with.
“The Seed 2.0.,” the album’s second single, is the group’s psychedelic rock-flavored endeavor: a remix or an update or a sequel to Cody ChesnuTT’s “The Seed,” an entry on the artist’s sprawling lo-fi double-cassette The Headphone Masterpiece (2002), released earlier that year. The story goes that Ish from Digable Planets loved the tape, passing it on to journalist dream Hampton. Hampton was equally impressed and played the double album for Questlove, who decided to remake “The Seed” in the Roots image.
The Roots join ChesnuTT to give the song an overall refurbishing, making it sound like it was recorded in a bigtime studio, rather than ChesnuTT’s bedroom, while maintaining the original song’s gritty aesthetic. ChesnuTT’s verses and hooks more or less stay the same, while Black Thought contributes two verses, hewing to the track’s abstract and psychedelic feel, but still giving off an air of cool as he speaks about carving out his legacy.
“Water” is the most unorthodox track on Phrenology and one of the more divisive songs in The Roots’ catalogue. It got its “start” as another Masterpiece Theater component, but here it becomes a three-movement, 10-minute-plus epic. It’s the type of ambitious song that Roots fans either love or hate.
“The First Movement” is relatively conventional, or about as conventional as a musical intervention could be expected to be. Through three verses, Black Thought speaks about Malik B, a.k.a. Slacks. Malik B was highly skilled, yet fiercely private, often eschewing touring or even performing live at all. He eventually left the fold after Things Fall Apart, possibly due to his use of pills and liquid codeine. Black Thought describes “losing” his friend and rhyme partner to drug abuse, sympathizing with his situation, but pleading with him to somehow find a way to get himself back on the straight and narrow. “You know we made of everything outlaws are made of,” he raps. “I’m far from a hater / And I don't say I love you, 'cause the way I feel is greater / And M-Ila, you a poet, son, you a born creator.”
Things really start to get weird during the “The Abyss” and “The Drowning” movements. The beat switches up completely, starting with persistent sounds of liquid and muffled voices shouting, before descending into barely controlled audio pandemonium. The Roots, joined by guitarist James “Blood” Ulmer, throttle the song with a blend of abstract jazz, prog rock, and electronic music, attempting to portray the mental chaos of a mind in the throes of addiction.
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The many unorthodox recordings tend to dominate any conversation about Phrenology, unfortunately leading to the album’s quieter moments getting ignored. The Roots keep things pretty low-key on “Sacrifice” and “Complexity,” featuring vocals by Nelly Furtado and Jill Scott respectively. Black Thought uses a soft-spoken demeanor throughout his three verses, trying to navigate the complicated relationship dynamics between himself and the object of his desire.
Like the group’s previous albums, the final song on Phrenology is a spoken word piece. However, it’s handled by acclaimed poet Amiri Baraka. “Something In The Way Of Things” is a sprawling seven-minute piece ostensibly about death. Musically, it leans heavily into Drum and Bass stylings, with endlessly shifting drum patterns and chirping and buzzing synths. The song might be a little much for some, but it’s hard to knock the now deceased Baraka’s gift for language.
Phrenology was eventually certified Gold, and as it stands now, it’s the only Roots album to do so in the past 20 years. They followed up this release with The Tipping Point (2004), a much more accessible album, with Black Thought positioned as a traditional frontman. It’s an album I quite enjoyed, but it wasn’t particularly commercially successful, and it’s in some ways more divisive among The Roots’ fanbase than Phrenology.
If anything, The Roots have become more eclectic in the decades that followed Phrenology’s release. In true Roots fashion, they’ve never repeated themselves, and always trusted their audience to accept their artistic direction. In that sense, Phrenology is as important to the group’s DNA as Things Fall Apart, as they accepted that being themselves can mean knocking their fans outside of their comfort zone.
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