Last night Black Star performed on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon but I fell asleep. Thank goodness for the Internet otherwise I would’ve forever missed their performance of “Little Brother” and, more importantly, Questlove sharing the song’s intriguing backstory on the show’s site. Read the rest of this entry »

The artwork for The Roots’ thirteenth studio album undun depicts a child completely inverted, mid-air, after springing up from a frayed, dirty and potentially dangerous, mattress. In that fleeting moment he’s flying. For a fraction of a second he rises above his surroundings. Read the rest of this entry »

“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 dive in head first like a jack knife Read the rest of this entry »

Even though there were a few diehards showing discipline to refrain from listening to last night’s “One Time” leak, the ever-ready folks over at NPR plops down with the “like we always do about this time” face and comes through with the big enchilada for us to gobble up in its entirety before the December 6 street date. Read the rest of this entry »

I refuse to listen to anything undun more than once, if that much. When December 6 comes, I want to experience it as a whole instead of sampling tracks in piecemeal. Read the rest of this entry »

In an interview with KLIF radio in Dallas on Friday, Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann shared that she still wasn’t pleased with NBC’s response to the “Lying Ass Bitch” controversy. The GOP candidate did receive a written apology from a higher-up at NBC – the senior vice president for special programs to be exact – but apparently the atonement wasn’t sufficient in Bachmann’s eyes. Read the rest of this entry »

EW:

Appearing on Fox News Channel’s America’s Newsroom this morning, Bachmann addressed the Late Night controversy: “I wasn’t aware of it at all. I didn’t find out until later yesterday, and at that point, I was traveling and making my way to the presidential debate,” she said. “I am hoping to be able to speak to Jimmy Fallon today. I don’t have anything against Jimmy Fallon. I love him, he’s a kick. It was a great opportunity to be on the show. I’d love to go back again. But I think the point is, if that had been Michelle Obama who had come out on the stage, and if that song had been played for Michelle Obama, I have no doubt that NBC would have apologized to her and likely they could have fired the drummer, at least suspended him. None of that happened from NBC. And this is clearly a form of bias on the part of the Hollywood entertainment elite, but it’s also, I think, sexism as well. This wouldn’t be tolerated if this was Michelle Obama; it shouldn’t be tolerated if it’s a conservative woman either.”

Yahoo:

The Minnesota congresswoman received a personal letter from NBC’s vice president for late night programming, Doug Vaughan, a day after she appeared on the show. As Bachmann walked onstage, the show’s band had played a snippet of a 1985 Fishbone song entitled “Lyin’ Ass B—-.” Read the rest of this entry »

It’s Tuesday, so it’s time for some new material courtesy of The Legendary Roots Crew. We already know that undun is a concept album that will be narrative in nature, but knowing the Roots, I wouldn’t put it past them to tell some kind of concrete story in their videos as well. Read the rest of this entry »

Yahoo:

“Jimmy Fallon’s house band the Roots didn’t have a warm welcome for Republican presidential contender Michele Bachmann when she appeared on the NBC show early Tuesday. As Bachmann strode on to the stage at Fallon’s “Late Night,” the show’s band played a snippet of a 1985 Fishbone song called “Lyin’ Ass Bitch.” Read the rest of this entry »

As Lonnie works the circuit in preparation for his upcoming album, The Dreamer, The Believer, well-rounded Philly musician Derrick Hodge has recruited Erykah’s ex for this jazzy, inspirational title track from his upcoming album Live Today. Read the rest of this entry »

Would you rather have a Lexus or justice? A dream or some substance? A Beamer, a necklace watch or freedom? The Roots’ video snippet run for undun continues with “Stomp,” an answer of sorts to poverty for a surefire, get-rich-quick ghetto scheme. Although the risks of crapping out in this dicey game are much too high for anyone with a lick of sense. Read the rest of this entry »

If you’re an absolute LRC head and are fiending to get undun to their next release, don’t fret too much. For the future Tuesdays leading up to the December 6th date of The Roots new album, they’re not only giving you a new video each week but an essential preview of the music contained on the LP. Read the rest of this entry »

At this point, my anticipation for Live From The Underground has me willing to sacrifice a goat to the Soundscan gods. K.R.I.T. continues to keep his name in the air with the release of videos for two of his more talked about features, “Make My” with The Roots and T.I.’s flagship comeback record “I’m Flexin’.” Read the rest of this entry »

The Roots’ 13th studio LP undun will be their first project that isn’t thematic in nature, but rather their initial venture into concept albums. At ten tracks, the album is a bit shorter that what we’re used to, and according to Questlove it’s “a movie without visuals,” complete with the plotlines of a concrete narrative. Read the rest of this entry »

Last night was Justin Timberlake-time again on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon. The singer-turned-actor had a new film (In Time) to promote and – as he and Fallon have done previously with parts one and two – Timberlake went above just sitting on the couch, choosing instead to rap it up with the show’s host for “The History Of Rap 3.” Read the rest of this entry »