It’s been a little over a year since The Roots last full band release when they hit the market in 2010 with the critically acclaimed and Grammy nominated How I Got Over. Since then they’ve been very busy bees.  The new album from The Roots entitled undun is set to hit the market on December 6th. Long story short, if you have surgery scheduled for that day, reschedule it to go to the store, buy the CD and plan to spend many hours dissecting this true masterpiece of music.

undun boasts 14 tracks, but hard core purists longing for an album that lasts the length of an Illadelph Halflife will be frustrated, but by no means unhappy with new music from one of the greatest bands anywhere (not just in late night) with just under 40 minutes of music.  Five of the 14 tracks clock in under 2 minutes, but they are those short gems that Roots fans have come to appreciate. Not to mention that The Roots have spent years of their career now creating those short “sandwiches” as the house band for Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.

undun is the story of Redford Stephens and it’s a brief story of his life that has also been accompanied by video clips that have been created to help the story along. Let’s take it track by track, which has been done before during early listens on OkayPlayer. But now that we’re upon the final edits of the CD, it’s worth a re-review.

Listen to The Roots undun album here via NPR.
Read along with all of the lyrics here. 

1) Dun

This instrumental/noise track features the sounds of a crying baby with an overdub of a flatline tone which immediately brings you into the story of a child born into a motherless world.   It’s then brought in with a nice chord progression hearkening back to early Roots albums.

2) Sleep

The first track has Redford discovering his mortality right off the bat. The spooky chord progressions draped with a haunting chorus performed by Aaron Livingston “I’ve lost a lot of sleep to dreams / And I do not miss them yet / I wouldn’t wish them on the worst of enemies / Let them burn, go from here / Like when autumn leaves.” This song is a tad hard to explain, but it’s mood filled heavy feel is a perfect introduction to the journey of Redford.

3) Make My (available now on Amazon)

The first track released from the album is Make My and your first hint that this album will continue the recipe that was so successful with their recent albums of poignant rhymes encapsulated between choruses sung by unexpected vocalists that brag tricky melodies that would make most songwriters jealous.  The track finishes with a nice instrumental groove that is worthy of a loop of its own with a fat strolling bass groove. We begin to realize that Redford is an insomniac of sorts as his battles with sleep continue primarily as a result of his life and stress. “Addicted to the green if I don’t ball I get the shakes / I’d give it all for a peace of mind for heaven sakes.”

4) One Time

This song could almost be considered the tip of the hill with the upbeat smash beat from Questlove. This song features Phonte and Dice Raw adding their voices to the drama of the streets explaining their prowess of the game they have to play to survive. It adds a hard street stomp that you could sway to and having Phonte, Dice Raw and Black Thought sharing rhymes on the track means lyrical mastery from front to back.

5) Kool On

This song brings Greg Porn and Truck North to the mike with Black Thought bragging again on their superiority of the game that they’ve been forced to play.  Black Thought is truly pulling his poetic side dropping lyrics like “Not in the lime light or needed for the crime right / No boasts, just bodied, chalked close to the line tight” creating stunning definitive visuals to the listener. All is draped with nice tight guitar riffs and a flowing chorus of the Bob Dylan-esque “Stars are made to shine”

6) The OtherSide

The OtherSide track is a retrospect of Redford’s actions as he realizes where the path is leading to. This song brings the under-appreciated Bilal Oliver to the mix singing a swooning chorus of “We’re all on a journey / Down the hall of memories / Don’t worry about what you ain’t got / leave with a little bit of dignity“.  This song was originally called The Jump on the original recordings, but grew to be Redford’s song of reflection. The album slowly becomes more West Coast feeling that is even more prevalent on the next song..

7) Stomp

This song brings Greg Porn back along with the instantly recognizable Just Blaze. The song boasts very West Coast sounding piano stabs in the vein of Dr. Dre’s album The Chronic 2011 (Still D.R.E. in particular).  In this part of Redford’s journey, he’s exited out of the retrospect and gone back into the “I do this because” mode and has now added a militant stance that will be his demise.

Lighthouse

Dice Raw and Black Thought take over the controls now as the paranoia creeps back in for Redford.  There’s a feeling of helplessness in the lyrics as if even Redford cried for help, there wouldn’t be anyone there to even hear it or care. Hence the chorus lyrics, “And no one’s in the lighthouse / You’re face down in the ocean / And no one’s in the lighthouse / And it seems like you just screamed / It’s no one there to hear the sound / And it may feel like no one’s there / That cares if you drown / Face down in the ocean.” Even though the song is desperate in content, the song is strangely upbeat with nice fuzz-wah keyboards painting the melody over the background just enough to keep things out of focus.

9) I Remember

We’re back in reflection for Redford as he looks at his life and reflects back on people he’s hurt and choices he’s made. The song is a mid-paced song with a beautiful stutter beat chorus. You’re taken on a journey back home from the streets and the thought process that ensues courtesy of Black Thought.

10) Tip The Scale

Dice Raw and Black Thought close out the lyrical content of the album as they rip this song up with great lyrics such as Dice Raw’s closing “Only two ways out, Digging tunnels or digging graves out” which foreshadows Redford’s demise and supported by the accompanying video. The song speaks more to the unfairness of the world which is poetic in light of the Occupy protests. “Some live life just living well / I live life tryna tip the scale my way“.

11) Redford (For Yia-Yia and Pappou)
12) Possibility (2nd Movement)
13) Will To Power (3rd Movement)
14) Finality (4th Movement)

These last 4 tracks go by quickly, but they use the best of that time with a beautiful string section accompaniment. The pieces are loosely based on Sulfjan Stevens instrumental work on his Michigan album. The first song entitled Redford (track 11) was even performed by Sulfjan Stevens on piano, which yet further showcases Questlove’s never ending journey to find the most intriguing musical artists out there. Every album for the past 5 albums have featured just-breaking underground artists and The Roots do a great job at finding those pieces of the puzzle that add even more avant garde to the mix.

As mentioned, the album will be available on December 6th at pretty much all music distributors and of course Amazon which already has a home for it (sans any audio clips). However, if you’d like to hear the album in its entirety, NPR has released a full album preview here.  We also have compiled all of the videos, photos and lyrics for the album on our site here that serves as the perfect partner for the album review.

All in all, we’re giving this album a 5 out of 5 stars.  Many people will scoff at the 5 star rating due to the length of the album, but you have to remember that considering that they work non-stop as Jimmy Fallon‘s house band, DJ weekly events, create multiple albums with other artists such as John Legend (the Grammy award winning Wake Up!), Duffy, Betty Wright, their fans should be very satisfied with this release.  Reschedule that appendectomy or heart surgery and get to the store to pick up this unbelievable new work of art that is one of their most cohesive works to date since the likes of Phrenology.

We give The Roots undun 5 out of 5 afros.

Listen to The Roots undun album here via NPR.
Read along with all of the lyrics here. 

Prince has always been known to be the romantic and many a man has made it beyond 2nd base thanks to the almighty purple one. And even though Prince is far less sexual nowadays due to his religious pinnings, he still gets people going.  During the latest Toronto concert this past Friday at the Air Canada Centre, a man proposed to his girlfriend on the stage while Prince was performing The Bird.  Not the most romantic of songs, but she said yes and the couple danced the remainder of the set away which continued with Jungle Love, Play That Funky Music (with Ohio Players mixed in), and ending with “Vegas in E”

Additionally, before the show, Prince did an interview with a Canadian radio show Chum 104.5 and spoke a little about the re-release of Extra Loveable, the after parties planned for some of the Canadian shows, his love for Minneapolis and his battle with epilepsy and vertigo. We thought that was worth mentioning. So here’s the proposal along with an amazing performance and below that is the radio interview. Enjoy.

While we felt as if the 2011 Soul Train Awards show really lacked any type of vibe or continuity this year, it was still filled with some great performances. We were given the treat of The Original 7ven performing along with energy pumped performances from Mindless Behavior, Miguel, a tribute to Heavy D, and many more.

If you missed any of the performances, you’ll have to dig around the web or visit Youtube or watch the encore on Tuesday November 29th, because in yet another promotional failure, the Soul Train website didn’t post any performances and only included interview clips. Luckily, we have most of the videos here and are tracking down the rest. Apologies ahead of time that Gillette was apparently the only sponsor of these videos. Here are your videos and below that are the winners.;

(BET‘s servers are kind of slow, so wait a moment for these videos to initially load)

2011 Soul Train Awards Winners

Best New Artist – Miguel
Centric Award – Raphael Saddiq
Best Male R&B/Soul Artist – Cee-Lo Green
Best Female R&B/Soul Artist – Jill Scott
Best Gospel Performance – Mary Mary, “Walking”
Album of the Year – Chris Brown, F.A.M.E.
Best Soul Site – NecoleBitchie.com
The Ashford and Simpson Songwriter’s Award/Record of the Year -  “Far Away” – Marsha Ambrosius
2011 Soul Train Legends – Gladys Knight and the Pips, Earth Wind and Fire
Best Caribbean Performance – Rihanna, “Man Down”
Best Hip-Hop Song of the Year – Nicki Minaj, Kanye West ft. Rihanna, “Nicki Minaj featuring Drake, “Moment For Life”
Contemporary Jazz –Dave Koz, “Dave Koz, Hello Tomorrow”
Traditional Jazz – Cassandra Wilson, “Cassandra Wilson, Silver Pony”
Best Dance Performance – Beyonce, “Run The World”
Song of the Year – Kelly Rowland featuring Lil Wayne, “Motivation”

For years, Prince fans have gone nuts that the song Extra Loveable has never seen the light of day. Well, apparently that has changed as Prince has re-recorded the classic song and pushed it out on iTunes Canada which is the only pace people can purchase the new cleaner version.  The new version features Andy Allo.

For Prince purists, here is the classic original song from way back when followed by the new version clip. You can purchase the new version on iTunes Canada.

And here’s the new version;

Prince purists are already going nuts online saying this is nowhere near the funkiness of the original. The song has been in circulation since the 80′s, so it’s no surprise that people are attached to the original. But the fact that he’s bringing out the unreleased funky tunes of the 80′s may be what Prince fans have been asking for for decades. meanwhile, some people who aren’t Prince fanatics are loving the funky direction. But we’re more interested in when we can buy it in the states.

Just for the sake of continuity, here are the dates for Prince’s 2011 tour of Canada coming up starting this Friday.

Photo from DrFunkenberry.com

November 2011

25 — Toronto, Ontario — Air Canada Centre
26 — Toronto, Ontario — Air Canada Centre
30 — Halifax, Nova Scotia — Metro Center

December 2011

2 — Montreal, Quebec — Bell Centre
3 — Ottawa, Ontario — Scotiabank Place
5 — London, Ontario — John Labatt Centre
8 — Winnipeg, Manitoba — MTS Center
13 — Edmonton, Alberta — Rexall Place
14 — Calgary – Scotiabank Saddledome
16 — Vancouver, British Columbia — Rogers Arena
17 — Victoria, British Columbia — Save on Center
19 — Tacoma, WA — Tacoma Dome

Morris Day and Prince - Photo obtained from ickmusic.com

The Prince versus The Time experiment went swimmingly.  When The Time’s new album Condensate hit the store shelves, the verdict was out and for the most part, everyone loved the new album. Then the discussions began about why Prince hasn’t put out something similar and online arguments ensued. The spark of which was from the fact that Prince refused to let The Time use the band name essentially forcing them to change the name to The Original 7ven.  People went nuts and the debate was on.

So to get people’s true feelings out there, we took many opinions and statements from various music websites and a large portion from discussions on prince.org from the past few years and crafted the Prince vs. The Time post.  The post was designed to see where people really stood on the debate of Prince versus The Time and we worked it.  We used statements from fans saying that Prince is acting childish,  that Prince can’t do it like he used to, that Prince isn’t funky anymore, and we wrapped it up in support of The Original 7ven’s new album Condensate to draw those comparisons yet again.

And it’s nothing new that wasn’t already set up for everyone onscreen in the form of Purple Rain and then Graffiti Bridge. We even added in bits from the The Original 7ven’s account on their DVD about being yanked from the opening act because Prince was threatened by them. The results were astounding.  Here are some statements we heard in support of Prince and then followed by the support for The Time;

• The Time wouldn’t even exist if it wasn’t for Prince.
• If The Time really felt like they were being held back, why haven’t they shaken the look that Prince set up for them?
• They even named themselves The Original 7ven utilizing the number 7 which is Prince-ish in itself
• The Time continues to play the old Prince songs even on their latest tour and only play one song from their new album. They simply can’t outperform Prince.
• Prince has a library of music of 100′s and 100′s of songs expanding over 30 years. The Time hasn’t even collectively reached their first 100 yet.
• The Time is an extension of Prince. Always has been and always will be.

• If the Condensate album were Prince‘s album, I would be screaming that “Prince is back“
• Prince can’t do this level of funk anymore and doesn’t know how to write a Top 40 song (that he performs)
• All Prince fans want this type of album from Prince, but he just can’t do it.
• The Time are simply much better performers as a band than Prince is on stage.
• Prince has always been threatened by The Time.

Is Jesse giving Prince the finger?

The Roots drummer Questlove aka ?uestlove aka Questo aka Ahmir Thompson has just added another title to his resume – Caterer. With the little bit of free time that he has when he’s not drumming for The Roots, being the band leader for Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, producing various albums, guest drumming on albums, DJ’ing various parties, he decided he wants to be your waiter.

Quest Loves Food is the name of his new venture that has a branch in Philadelphia and now in New York. He kicked off the New York launch with a star studded event that brought out Zoe Kravitz, Ryan Philippe, Olivia Munn, Solange Knowles, The Daily Show‘s Wyatt Cenac, porn star Sasha Grey and celebrity chef Marcus Samuelsson.

It was also designed to help launch the new Bon Appetit magazine party space, BA Kitchen. Questlove DJ’ed the event while his catering company brought out various delectable delights including “Origami-Wrapped Fried Chicken Wings” which were reported by the Huffington Post as being amazing.  The other types of food that they’ll be serving isapparently a mystery as they establish themselves.

Photo by Collin Keefe at http://goo.gl/5APah

This years American Music Awards (AMA) was really less than stellar.  We’ve said before that radio play nowadays is increasingly less substance ever year and this year was no exception. Despite decent performances from Hot Chelle Rae, Maroon 5, The Band Perry and Will.i.am & J-Lo’s glow in the dark show, most all other performances fell just short of “yawn-able” including Justin Bieber’s amateurish looking performance that came off as if he was singing to people at a retirement home party.  Either way, here are your winners. If you even care;

— Adult Contemporary Artist: Adele
— Alternative Rock Artist: Foo Fighters
— Contemporary Inspirational Artist: Casting Crowns
— Country Female Artist: Taylor Swift
— Country Male Artist: Blake Shelton
— Country Band, Duo or Group: Lady Antebellum
— Country Album: Taylor Swift, “Speak Now”
— Latin Music Artist: Jennifer Lopez
— Pop/Rock Female Artist: Adele
— Pop/Rock Male Artist: Bruno Mars
— Pop/Rock Band, Duo or Group: Maroon 5
— Pop/Rock Album: Adele, “21”
— Rap/Hip-Hop Artist: Nicki Minaj
— Rap/Hip-Hop Album: Nicki Minaj, “Pink Friday”
— Soul/R&B Female Artist: Beyonce
— Soul/R&B Male Artist: Usher
— Soul/R&B Album: Rihanna, “Loud”
— Artist of the Year: Taylor Swift
— New Artist of the Year: Hot Chelle Rae

Back in 1982 when The Time came into fruition, I was only 14.  Everything I heard about the beef between Prince and The Time was all hearsay until recently when members of The Time discussed some of the antics in detail on a DVD documentary that’s included with their new album Condensate. There has been much talk about how Prince was gravely concerned about his own creation and that he had actually put together a supergroup that could even surpass his fame and that he did all in his power to keep them at bay – even to this day.

The start of The Time began when Prince made a fateful decision to use a song called Party Up that was written by Morris Day.  He propositioned Morris and offered to either pay him for the song or help him put a band together.  Morris opted for the band, which ended up being an incredibly wise decision and resulted in what the world now knew as The Time and now knows as The Original 7ven.  When Prince put The Time together, he crafted a conglomerate of amazing musicians all in one place that could potentially be his undoing.

Now there are many sites dedicated to the history of how things then began to happen and the roots of where the band started, but this post is dedicated to something that raised its ugly head once again and that has led the band to rename themselves as The Original 7ven.  A problem that many thought would go away after all of the years of Prince’s dominance of the music charts or as some would put it, a comfortable lead.  But decades later and the ridiculousness continues and that has many scratching their heads.

The Time put together a new album 20 years after their last release of Pandemonium called Condensate (available now on Amazon) and Prince used his ”powers that be” to stop the band from using the name of The Time, which forced them to change the name to The Original 7ven. A strong-armed tactic by Prince to keep his “creations” as his own. Especially since Prince wouldn’t be involved in the creation of anything on this record. The Time wanted to do their own thing without Prince’s involvement and Prince acted accordingly in the equivalent of what looks downright childish. In the DVD documentary of the Condensate album, Morris Day in particular has to do everything short of biting his lip to hold back his displeasure. Even though they indicate they understand that “it’s business”, the displeasure is downright palpable in the film. At one point you can even see Morris Day fighting off the urge to go nuclear on the matter, but cooler heads prevail.

But this isn’t the first time that Prince has tried to keep The Time at bay. During Prince’s Controversy tour back in the 80′s, Prince had The Time as opening act. The reviews for The Time were beyond stellar to the point where newspapers and publications were directing more attention to The Time than the purple headliner.  A fact that was not lost by Prince as he then promptly pulled The Time from the opening slot on some of the bigger venues such as the Los Angeles and Miami shows.  Adding insult to injury, during the 1999/Triple Threat tour, Prince had The Time playing as Vanity 6′s back-up band behind a curtain and paying them a very minimal increase even though they were required to essentially play 2 shows each night.

Photo obtained from user OldFriends4Sale from prince.org here: http://prince.org/msg/7/358840?pr

Now here we are three decades later and the battle rages on. But it appears that even though Prince has kept The Time from using the band name, the music is ultimately the deciding factor. The Original 7ven has created a full blown funk album masterpiece in true Minneapolis style that is garnering amazing reviews (including our own) which is a feat that Prince can’t seem to duplicate.

Even many Prince fans agree that the Purple One simply doesn’t have it in him to create a coherent album anymore, as the last 2 decades have been mired with hits and misses.  The release of The Original 7ven’s Condensate album accentuates his shortcomings even further and his refusal to let them use their own band name highlights the issue even more.

While hardcore Prince fans (like ourselves) long for an album that recreates the grooves that we signed on for back in the 80′s, the release of Condensate is a mallet to the skull of Prince’s ego.  The Time did it on their own terms and they did it big. The critics could easily be silenced if Prince could prove that he has the ability to compete.  Taking the band name won’t be enough to stop The Time, because if you don’t take away their music, you’ve let them keep their weapons and have done nothing to disarm them.

Photo obtained from user OldFriends4Sale from prince.org here: http://prince.org/msg/7/358840?pr

If anything, this battle may put a fire under Prince to answer Condensate with his own Top 40 capable album, but for years he’s had the playing field to himself and he hasn’t managed to get it accomplished with exception of doing it through other artists like Usher, Alicia Keys and Nicki Minaj.

Additionally, Prince has done everything in his power to disarm any promotion that fans and the public release to help him including removal of all videos from Youtube and removal of all online photos. It’s in essence promotional suicide since there are no purchasable products that compete with the “offending material” that he’s been so quick to denounce.  Many fans see it plainly as a refusal to let himself be promoted.

The Original 7ven, however, have utilized every opportunity to break it off and take major strides to distance themselves. And some say that the only thing Prince is distancing himself from are his fans. Let’s face it. if this were a Purple Rain sequel, the ending would look much differently than the original ended.  The Original 7ven are promotional machines and they are truly winning the battle even though their identity has been stifled.

We will always be hardcore fans of both bands, but the jury is out. What is your verdict?

Photo obtained from OldFriends4Sale at http://prince.org/msg/7/364354

The Roots new album undun is set to release December 6th, but they’ve made sure that you get tons of tidbits along the way including photos, videos, lyrics, sneak peeks and much more. So to keep you from killing yourself and going place to place to get it all, we’ve collected their offerings and put it on one big page. Here you go!

To start, the album was originally slated to be just 10 tracks, but a photo released by Questlove showed the demo CD displaying 11 tracks. And now that they’ve allowed the album to be pre-ordered via iTunes, it’s now showing 14 tracks. No notice on what are segue tracks, instrumentals, etc, but here are the tracks as they have been made available on iTunes as of today;

1 – Dun
2 – Sleep
3 – Make My (feat. Big K.R.I.T. & Dice Raw)
4 – One Time (feat. Phonte & Dice Raw)
5 – Kool On (feat. Greg Porn & Truck North)
6 – The OtherSide (feat. Bilal Oliver & Greg Porn)
7 – Stomp (feat. Greg Porn)
8 – Lighthouse (feat. Dice Raw)
9 – I Remember
10 – Tip the Scale (feat. Dice Raw)
11 – Redford (For Yia-Yia & Pappou) – Sufjan Stevens
12 – Possibility (2nd Movement)
13 – Will to Power (3rd Movement)
14 – Finality (4th Movement)
Digital Booklet – Undun

They have additionally released Make My (feAturing Big K.R.I.T.) on SoundCloud and you can listen to that here;

They have also released videos for Make My, Tip The Scale and Stomp.  Since there’s a story being told with this album, here they are in order, even though there are songs in between these;

Make My

Stomp

Tip The Scales

Plus, here is a sneak peek at the photo shoot that took place to initially promote the video;

And lastly, they have been releasing lyrics from the album at the rate of a couple per day off and on and now they’ve stopped which either means that these are all of the songs that have lyrics and the rest are instrumental or they’re making us wait with baited breath. Regardless, here are the song lyrics that they’ve released put in the order that they appear on the album. And to break it up some, we’ve inserted some photos that were also released. Enjoy!

Track 1 – Dun (No lyrics provided)

Track 2 – Sleep

Verse 1 (Aaron Livingston)
Like when autumn leaves fall
Down from the trees
There goes, my honey bee
I’ve lost a lot of sleep to dreams
And I do not miss them yet
I wouldn’t wish them on than worst of enemies
Let them burn, go from here
Like when autumn leaves

Verse 2 (Black Thought)
To catch a thief
Who stole the soul I prayed to keep
Insomniac
Bad dreams/Got me losing
Sleep
I’m dead tired
My mind playing tricks
Deceit
A face in the glass /Unable to admit defeat
All that I am all that I was is history
The past unraveled adding insult to this injury
I’m fighting the battle for the soul of the century
Destiny is everything that I pretend to be
Look, and what I did came back to me eventually
The music played on and…
Told me I was meant to be awake
It’s unresolved
Like everything I had at stake
Illegal activity controls
My black symphony
Orchestrated like it happened
Incidentally
Oh… there I go
From a man to memory
Damn
I wonder if my fam will remember me

Verse 3 (Aaron Livingston)
I’ve lost a lot of sleep to dreams
And I do not miss them yet
I wouldn’t wish them on the worst of enemies
Let them burn, go from here
Like when autumn leaves

Track 3 – Make My (feat. Big K.R.I.T. & Dice Raw)

I did it all for the money Lord

It’s what it seems
But in the world of night terrors-it’s
Hard to dream
They hollering cash rules everything
Let’s call it cream
Cause when it rises to the top you get…
The finer things
Ocean fronts, rolling blunts
With model chick and saying grace over lobster and steak
Like please forgive us for riding Benzes with camera plates
Too busy looking backwards for jackers to pump my brakes
For help sign to symbolize the live that hunger takes
Addicted to the green if I don’t ball I get the shakes
I’d give it all for a peace of mind for heaven sakes
My heart so heavy that the ropes that hold my casket break
Cause everything that wasn’t for me I had to chase
I had to take

They told me that the ends would justify the means
they told me at the end, it would justify the dreams
That I’ve had since a child, maybe I’ll throw in the towel
And make my, make my, make my, make my
Departure from the world

Tryna control the fits of panic
Unwritten and unraveled
It’s the dead man’s pedantic
Whatever..
See it’s really just a matter of semantics
When everybody’s fresh out of collateral to damage and…
My splayin got me prayin like a mantis
I begin to vanish feel the pull of the blank canvas
I’m contemplating that special dedication
To whoever it concern…My letter of resignation
Fading back to black… my dark coronation
The heat of the day …the long robe of Muerte
That soul is in the atmosphere like airplay
If there’s a heaven I cant find the stairway

Chorus
Oohs

Track 4 – One Time (feat. Phonte & Dice Raw)

Verse 1 (Phonte)

Yo, the spirit in the sky scream homicide
But it was time to ride
Then some niggas funny talking and too much money talking
We make em economize
Real rap – no tails spinning, such is the life of a
Kam-I-Ka-Ze pilot
We wylin out of control until we all make the funny papers like Comic-Con
Feared in all streets so, if you ever see me out in y’all streets
Find another one to occupy
I never hope for the best
I wish a nigga would
Turn around and walk away
I wish a nigga could
Listen to my instincts and say fuck the rest
But once you’ve had the best better ain’t as good
Weak-heartedness cannot be involved
Stick to the script nigga fuck your improv
Like the samurai
The street’s Hammurabi Code
Play your part shut the fuck up and do as I was told

Chorus#1

I was always late for the bus
Just once can I be on time
Then I start to think what’s the rush
Who wants to be on time
Feeling unlucky and if I ever got lucky it was one time
In this crazy world

Verse 2 (Black Thought)

Not a thing I fear besides fear itself
This is clearly a lesson learned for someone else
Reach for the crown of thorns upon the shelf
Cross around my neck
I’ve been taught by stealth
Capture this moment in time… it’s a smash and grab
And where my party people y’all finna have a blast
You say goodbye… I say hello first and last
Hello-Hello… Now all of y’all elevate your glass
To an example of what time will do to you
When those nameless things just keep on eluding you
When shit is new to you and lies is true to you
Words of suspects-usual… coming though to you
Man, I guess if I was ever lucky it was one time
Then I went missing looking for the sublime
A nigga stayed low left the ladder unclimbed
Time after time, verse blank, the line unrhymed

Chorus #2

You ever wonder what’s the big fuss..
For everyone be on time
What’s the big deal, why do they feel
The need to have as marching on line
Feeling unlucky and if I’d ever got lucky it was one time
In this crazy world

Verse 3 (Dice Raw)

I wonder when you die do you hear harps and bagpipes
If you born on the other side of the crack pipe
Niggas learn math just to understand the crack price
Then drive in head first like the jack knife
Cause out here, yo you niggas can’t belly flop
If you wanna make the noise inside your belly stop
One time means being on the front line
Being on the front line means ducking one time
The pendulum swinging my way- couldn’t be more blind
Niggas talk to the cops? Not even one time
Cause we all going down just like the subprime
Or a cheap ass half gallon of Ballantine
But hopping over gates to escape is sublime
Then through the alley way and down to the sub line
Tales from the streets
A life of high crime
To make it to the bottom
Such a high climb

Chorus #1

Track 5 – Kool On (feat. Greg Porn & Truck North)

Ooh
Come get your kool on
Stars are made to shine (4xs)
Stars are made to shine

Verse 1 (Greg Porn)

I’m in the double G, three-piece tux
Screaming dressed to kill
Hope somebody call my bluff
It’s a full house… sipping on a royal flush
Two queens is on my cuffs
Good times is in the cards
Living on borrowed time
I’m paying the extra charge
To feel like something small is worth a hundred large
Swag is on retard, charm is on massage
Wit is on guard, I challenge you to a duel
Who needs a chain when every thoughts a jewel
God bless the weirdo when everyone’s a fool
Fuck a genie and three wishes
I just want a bottle, a place to write my novel
I am like heroin to those that hear a rhyme and think
How do you find this upper echelon this time
Let’s toast to better days a beautiful mind and a flow that never age

Chorus

Verse 2 (Black Thought)

Yo, I’m never sleeping like I’m on meth-amphtamines
Move like my enemy ten steps ahead of me
Say my reputation precedes me like a pedigree
Gentlemanly gangsta steez beyond the seventies
Holdin fast money without running out of patience
Move in silence without running up in places
Cake by the layers
Rich but never famous
Hustle anonymous still remain nameless
In hindsight gold come in bars like a klondike
The minute before the storm hit is what I’m calm like
Suited and booted for a shooting like it’s prom night
It’s suicide right pursuers tried like
To no avail and a heroes what they died like
I’ve got em waiting on the news like I’m Cronkite
Not in the lime light or needed for the crime right
No boasts, just bodied, chalked close to the line tight

Chorus

Verse 3 (Truck North)

Yeah outside where the killers and the dealers swarm
And inside they dressed up like it’s a telethon
Black tie affair but they holding heavy arms
Straight cash with a stash in the cummerbund
More Bacardi and the bouncers of the party hum
Riots erupting around and still we party on
Made the quantum leap to a king from a pawn
But it was destined the conclusion was foregone
Serenade of the former slave promenade
Cause them long days in the sun
Have now become shade
So we doing high speeds in a narrow lane
Say cheese
Free falling from the aeroplane
Another feather in the cap for all the years
That we spent in luxuries lap
Without looking back
Cause memories could sting like hornet
Damn it felt good to see people up on it

Track 6 – The OtherSide (feat. Bilal Oliver & Greg Porn)
Originally called “The Jump” 

Baby Come Back

Verse 1 (Black Thought)

Yo, we obviously need to tone it down a bit
Running round town spending time like it’s counterfeit
Everybody catching hay fever like sinuses
Step in my arena let me show y’all who the highness is
You might say I could be doing something positive
Humbled head down low and broke like promises
Soaking and broken in a joke like comics is
Not enough paper to be paying folks compliments
But when that paper got low so did my tolerance
And it ain’t no truth in a dare without the consequence
Listen if it not for these hood inventions
Id just be another kid from the block with no intentions
On the dock of that bay serving a life sentence
Even if I’m going to hell I’m gonna make an entrance
Yeah let em know I’m getting cheese like omletes is
But I’m the toast of the town like Thomas is

Chorus (Sung by Bilal Oliver)

We’re all on a journey
Down the hall of memories
Don’t worry bout what you ain’t got
Leave with a little bit of dignity
Never loved what I had
Always felt like I deserved more
But when I
Make it to the other side
Make it to the other side
That’s when we’ll settle up the score

Verse 2 (Black Thought)

Yo , we did this in remembrance of
Faces from the past
We no longer have an image of
Carrying cold blood hearts
That never been for love
Brothers keep going for theirs but never get enough
World travelers that seen it all
And did enough
Only to return to learn
The world wasn’t big enough
Damn, how long has it been?
I guess the jig is up
Now all I know is I’m about to wake this nigga up
Yeah that hindsight 20/20 now niggas dead on the money
Trying to take something from me
It’s a wrap like mummy
Undone I am becoming and…
When he’s tired of running
Through the layers of the onion
He’ll probably shed a tear
Cause they’ll be no more fast times
Just his weak mind scrolled out like a bad sign
He never had enough and got confused when they asked why
Life is only a moment in time and it passed by

Chorus
Verse 3 (P.O.R.N.)

I’m sitting on top of the world ready to jump off
Thinking of various ways to break law
Thinking that enough is enough but still I want more
Thinking of how I’m playing with fire tht burned my young boy
By any means necessary… don’t give a damn
So every night I’m on a flight that never lands
Be an asshole when the shit hits the fan
Or bet your life on a bluff and a bad hand
Can’t win/can’t lose
Get ‘em gassed leave em leaking fuel
Either way the market moves
Cash rules kings, queens, prince and princess
Every night I’m crossing a line that ain’t the finish
Every thought is dark as a glass of fucking Guinness
To far gone to come back to my senses
Now I’m on the edge of my bed making love to my meds
Every moments like a pistol to my head
When I’m getting mine

Track 7 – Stomp (feat. Greg Porn)

(him)
It’s about flesh and blood
It’s about heart beat that beats strong
It’s about passion
That is unyielding
And I want you men to know today
It’s your hour
It is your time
It is your moment
Go get it

Verse 1 (Black Thought)

Yeah speaking of pieces of a man
Staring at a future in the creases of my hand
It reads like a final letter I’m leaving for my fam but
It’s written in language they will never understand
A late repentant
Never deviating from a plan
I drive by headed for the valley of the damned
The Wheels spin, I’m looking for a sacrificial lamb
Then roll tactics like a soldier out in the Sudan
Listen…
Was this a matter of flesh and blood
Yes it was
Does it matter who win and lose
Yes it does
It ain’t about the most blessed love
When you return to the essence
What is it back to the essence of
Greatness I wasnt in the prescence of
Cause you was fake and never measured up
You just a nigga on his regular
But how far am I ahead of ya
It just as easily coulda been me instead of ya

(Just Blaze)

We gone fight till we can’t fight no more
Right right
You cant fight no more
You gone lie down and bleed a while
You gone get up
Fight some more
Want you say it with me
Repeat it after me when I say it
We gone fight

Verse 2 (Greg Porn)

Fuck getting fuck
Immaculate conception
Now what’s beef ain’t even a question
Calico kisses, cold blood and crime tape
Flirt with death every night it’s a blind date
One night stand paybacks a bitch
Shit have you skinny dipping in a pool of your piss
Blood sweat and tears broken teeth and spit
Put the barrel in your mouth
Blow the devil a kiss
Put the knife in ya back cut down to the red meat
Daddy should’ve let me be a stain on the bed sheets
I’m one shot short of a Molotov cocktail
Kick in the door like welcome to my world
I’m an evil genius when it comes to this dumb shit
Half of the time ima keep it one hundred
Don’t play chicken when I’m driving them crazy
Get hit in the wing thigh breast or drumstick
We like

Track 8 – Lighthouse (feat. Dice Raw)

Pre-chorus Rhyme (Dice Raw)
If you can‘t swizzim then ya bound to drizzown
Passing out life jackets bout to go didown
Get down with the captain or go down with the ship
Before the dark abyss I’m gon’ hit you wit dis (2xs)

Chorus (Dice Raw)
And no one’s in the lighthouse
You’re face down in the ocean
And no one’s in the lighthouse
And it seems like you just screamed
It’s no one there to hear the sound
And it may feel like there’s no one there
That cares if you drown
Face down in the ocean

Verse 1 (Dice Raw)

Smoking cheap weed sipping on cheap vodka
You pick your poison down Davey Jones’ locker
It’s rum we be wanting
By the tons my consumption
Take a look at my lungs and my liver
It’s disgusting
Take a look at the man in the mirror
We start fussing
Only one person gets hurt when throwing the punches
Me
And the man behind the glass just laughs
The waves come over my head and just crash
My hand start bleeding water starts receeding
A feeling comes into my heart I start believing that
I actually might survive through the evening
Survive on my own thoughts of suicide that’s competing
With thoughts of tryna stay alive which been weakened
By the feeling of putting on a smile while being beaten
The fear of drowning still diving in the deep end
The waters carried me so far you can’t reach ‘em
And it feels like there’s no one

Chorus
Verse 2 (Black Thought)

After the love is lost
Friendship dissolves
And even blood is lost
Where did it begin
The way we did each other wrong
Troubled water neither one of us could swim across
I stopped holding my breath
Now I am better off
There without a trace
And you in my head
All the halted motion of a rebel without a pause
What it do is done till you dead and gone
The grim reaper telling me to swim deeper
Where the people go to lo and behold the soul keeper
I’m not even breaking out in a sweat
Or cold fever but
I’m never paying up on my debt or tolls either
I’ll leave the memories here I won’t need them
If I stop thinking and lie, now that’s freedom
Your body’s part of the Maritime museum
Face down in the past is where I’m being

Chorus
Reprise

Track 9 – I Remember

Verse 1 (Black Thought)
I drew a 2 of hearts from a deck of cards
A stock trick from my empty repertoire
Another hopeless story never read at all
I’m better off looking for the end
Where the credits are
It’s a pain living life against the grain
I’m looking back and y’all look the same
Troy, Mark, and little what’s his name
Memory is rerunning it all
It’s the flight of my fall and it’s right on the wall

Chorus

I remember
Can you remember?
How it was
I do
Remember, do you? (2xs)

Verse 2 (Black Thought)
I used to ride the train to the same two stops
And look at the graffiti on the rooftops
Like the same song playing on the jukebox
Joint called “Faded Polaroids In A Shoebox”
Regardless to what the cadence is
It can’t be forgotten like old acquaintances
I realize how depressing of a place it is
And when I notice my reflection whose face it is

Chorus

Musical break

Chorus

It’s only human to express the way you really feel
But that same humanity is my Achilles’ heel
A leopard can’t change his spots and never will
So I’m forever ill
Now I can never chill
What’s keeping me from breaking out like Benadryl
When my baptism of fire resulted in a kill
Sometimes it’s as cut and dry as a business deal
You gotta cause the blood of a close friend to spill
But you remember still

Track 10 - Tip the Scale (feat. Dice Raw)

Chorus (Dice Raw)

I’m a side of suicide
Heads or Tails
Some think life is living hell
Some live life just living well
I live life tryna tip the scale
My Way, my way
My Way, my way
Verse 1 (Black Thought)
Yo, I’m always early
I never take off cause I got a job
Rob Peter to pay Paul
Now I realize it’s the winner that takes all
Do what I gotta do cause I can’t take loss
Picture me living life as if I’m some animal
That consumes it’s own dreams like I’m a cannibal
I won’t accept failure unless it’s mechanical
But still the alcohol mixed with the botanical
I guess I be referred to the owners manual full of loaners
Full of all the homeless throwaways and the stoners
Soldiers of the streets with 8th grade diplomas
And the world awaiting their shoulders as a bonus
Look, let he without sin live without sin
Until then, I’ll be doing dirty jobs like swamp men
Counting the faces of those that might have been
It’s like living that life but I won’t live that life again

Chorus
Verse 2 (Dice Raw)

Lotta niggas go to prison
How many come out Malcolm X
I know I’m not ….shit
Can’t even talk about the rest
Famous last words
You under arrest
Will I get popped tonight
It’s anybody’s guess
I guess a nigga need to stay cunning
I guess when the cops coming need to start running
I wont make the same mistakes
From my last run in
You either done doing crime now or you done in
I got a brother on the run and one in
Wrote me a letter he said when you comin
Shit man I thought the goal’s to stay out
Back against the wall
Then shoot your way out
Getting money’s a style that never plays out
Till you in a box
And your stash money’s paid out
The scales of justice
Ain’t equally weighed out
Only two ways out
Digging tunnels or digging graves out

Chorus

Track 11 – Redford (For Yia-Yia & Pappou) – Sufjan Stevens -  (No lyrics provided)
Track 12 – Possibility (2nd Movement) -  (No lyrics provided)
Track 13 – Will to Power (3rd Movement) -  (No lyrics provided)
Track 14 – Finality (4th Movement) -  (No lyrics provided)

So that should be enough to get any Roots fan excited. Time to pre-order that CD about now. And again, all of this info was obtained from OkayPlayer, so that would be where to tune in to get more up-to-date info.