This is the cover for the forthcoming album by The Roots, How I Got Over, due out on June 22nd. It seems the people on the cover are running, a la 100 Miles And Running, but the concept behind this one is to understand How they Got Over. There’s always a purpose, a concept, a running theme. Get it, a “running theme”… anyway…
This is the cover for the forthcoming album by The Roots, How I Got Over, and it will be available on vinyl. Pre-orders are being taken through Insound.com, so head there and do your vinyl duty. As soon as I’m able to obtain a copy of the album, I will have a review.
EMEK has returned to do the artwork for Erykah Badu‘s return, Part 2 of the trilogy that she has promised. This new album is called New Amerykah Part Two: Return of the Ankh (MotownUniversal) and true to her nature, she has been hard at work on this album weeks before its deadline. She has been hyping up the fact that the new album would be released on 3/3/3, perhaps a slightly vinyl-centric way to say March 30, 2010 (because 2+0+1+0 = 3) or she’s revealing a bit of mathematics.
A few songs have already been heard through television appearances and gentle leaks of a song or two. As for the production and presentation of the album, we know Madlib is definitely involved. A track listing has been revealed, but little else. Gentle trickles again. I do know that Badu herself, through her Twitter account, did something most would have thought was once impossible: she wanted to release a song with a Paul McCartney sample and asked her close friends and associates to hook her up with the right people to speak to. One thing lead to another, and in about nine hours (perhaps the power of this 3+3+3 thing), the sample was approved. While I have not heard the Badu song in question, the sample that she seeked was Wings‘ “Arrow Through Me” from the 1979 album Back To The Egg. No word if it is an actual sample or an interpolation, but as soon as I know, I’ll let you know. While Beatles samples are (for now) off-limits, McCartney has always been open to experimentation in his own music for the last 45 years. In recent years he has opened his solo catalog to advertisers, so perhaps he’s opening the door for artists to legally sample his work. Emphasis is on “legally” since his songs have been “cleverly” borrowed a number of times over the years.
Back to the album cover. I look at it this way, concerning her trilogy: Part 1: winter album, cover shows mind with clutter. Darkness surrounds. Part 2: spring, flowers blooming, a reawakening. Vivid purples, as if the sun is about to rise. Part 3: 2012, she’ll release this in late August/early September. Sunrise, a la Roy Ayers‘ “Everybody Loves The Sunshine”, with “bees and things and flowers”? Her music is reflective of her “life”, and Badu has referred to the words “my life” in songs such as “My Life” and “Love Of My Life”, so a bit of continuity would not be unlike her at all.
Maybe it will wrap up this New Amerykah she speaks of, either that or she has already planned this out from the start. While the paranoia of 2012 lurks for some, many are looking to the year as a means of a reawakening, be it personal, spiritual, mental, social, political, everything. It’s not the end as hyped, it’s a metaphorical end to the old ways, and the need to not fear a new way.
It will also tie in with the 2012 elections, which raises the question on whether or not President Barack Obama will have another four years. Is the idea of a “new America” already in progress? Everyone wants quick and easy, maybe Obama is doing things kama sutra style: it may be at a methodical pace that seems twice as long, but the end result will be much more joyous. Is this the hope?
So, will this new album feature a Gravediggaz sample, honoring the dead and those who will forever dig, with the use of Prince Paul saying “1, 2 (1, 2) 1, 2 (1, 2)… you ready? (you ready?) from “Mommy What’s A Gravedigga?”
Significance? Some say the end of the world will be on December 21, 2012. That’s 12/21/12, that “one, two”, “one, two”, and Badu will be giving the world a mic check. Could she steer it in that direction? For all I know, New Amerykah Part 3 could be a folky album, Odetta style. Wouldn’t that freak people out?
Brother Ali will be backed by The Roots tonight on NBC’s Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, so stay up tonight or set up your recorders, it should be very good.
BTW – if there’s a slight chance that Fallon’s people are reading this, in reference to your Nintendo NES products on the website, may I present to you a custom built NES guitar.
Producer Nicolay has been getting a lot of attention for his work in the last few years, and now you get a chance to see him put together his works from start to finish in a new blog series on his website.
You’ll get a chance to find out how he does it by going Inside The Producer’s Studio where he talks about equipment, the process towards starting a song, developing/embellishing a track, and what will be considered final mixes.
Nicolay plans to reveal as much as possible, with a few exceptions:
1) No sample snitching
2) He’ll only endorse products that he uses, it’s not just a free for all
Discover the magic from the inside out, and bookmark this series.
Outside of my column, I am also a contributor to the Reviews section at Okayplayer.com, and this week I have two reviews that I’d like for you to read. They are reviews of:
Take a look, and if the reviews move you, buy the CD by clicking each individual CD icon above. I would also recommend browsing the Okayplayer Reviews section.
Outside of The Run-Off Groove, I’m a contributor to the Reviews section at Okayplayer.com. This week, I offer a review of Zang Tumb Tumb: The ZTT Box Set. You can find the review right here.
This Is Book's Music 