Let me start by saying that I’m a fan of The Roots. With that said I honestly haven’t liked an album of theirs since Things Fall Apart, Game Theory had me come back, but then Rising Down had me leave again. With How I Got Over, The Roots are back with an amazing album. Something about this album sounds like some of their early work but more refined, while the guest appearances on this album are incredibly strong. The guests all come on a lyrical level thats’ equal to Black Thought, which makes the songs and the context of the songs a lot more fluid.
More of the lyrical content. One of my favorite songs “Dear God 2.0″, one of the verses goes:
Why is the world ugly when you made it in your image?
And why is livin’ life such a fight to the finish?
For this high percentage
When the sky’s the limit
A second is a minute, every hour’s infinite
Chorus from “How I Got Over”
Out on the streets
Where I grew up
First thing they teach us
Not to give a fuck
That type of thinking can’t get you nowhere
Someone has to care.
BOOOOM. Mind. Is. Blown. There’s a ton of great verses and lines littered through the album that ignite thought within yourself, which is how I felt with Do You Want More?!!!??!, Illadelph Halflife and Things Fall Apart. And now How I Got Over can be added to that list.
Hiphop records tend to over do it with the whole “Featuring” guest spots, but for this Roots record, it just simply works. All of the guess appearances make huge impacts and lyrically as I mentioned above, they all rise to Black Thoughts level, which isn’t exactly an easy thing to do.
Rating: 8.5/10
Label: Def Jam
Favourites: Walk Alone, Dear God 2.0, The Day, How I Got Over, Right On.
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