Review: The Roots – …And Then You Shoot Your Cousin

Disclaimer: If you’re not interested in a lesson in elaborate soundscapes or composition arrangement aesthetics as it relates to sound theory art form, then this is NOT your album. So, what does that even mean? …And Then You Shoot Your Cousin, eleventh studio album by The Roots, is dense with sound. It’s sort of like an exercise in experimental thematic film scoring. A dark fantasy at times. A suspense horror at times. An intense drama. It harnesses uncomfortable dissonance. Nevertheless, The Roots as a band have definitely broadened further into the cross-genre field of music making. How would one musically classify this body of work, I wonder? Billed as a conceptual album featuring several characters in the arc of a tragic story, similar to that of the Redford Stevens character of Undun (The Roots’ last conceptual studio album), ATYSYC should be considered satire according to Black Thought, lead MC of the band. ‘But in that satire’, he says, ‘it’s an analysis of some of the stereotypes perpetuated in not only the hip-hop community, but in the community’. Without this qualifying statement, however, much of the analysis may be lost on the listener during the first few times sitting through the album (whose cover art dons a Romare Bearden collage entitled ‘Pittsburgh Memory, 1964’).

But, if you dig slightly deeper into the musical treasure trove that ATYSYC seems to encompass, you will learn who the legendary Roots crew looks up to as masters worthy of emulation. A rarely heard Nina Simone original welcomes listeners into the album by the High Priestess of Soul. A few tracks later is an interlude by Mary Lou Williams entitled ‘The Devil’, an arrangement that the First Lady of Jazz and composer wrote for her hallmark 1964 album. And mid album is the piercing soundscape by French experimental composer Michel Chion (for which you will be forced to lower the volume). These three giants among the musical canon create a foundation for which The Roots build this entire album.

That being said, it is a bit more complex to talk about their original work. When you consider that Black Thought and Questlove as the core of The Roots have been making music together for over twenty-five years, you kind of get how they take the band into the studio in 2014 and come back with a project so drastically different than albums of yesteryear. The conceptual aspect creates such an unfamiliar territory that you are busy trying to grasp the music and hardly get around to focusing on lyrical content. That is until you’ve listened a few times.  A dark thematic song called ‘Never’ featuring Patty Cash is reminiscent of the trip hop genre of the late 90s. Think Portishead or Tricky. ‘Understand’, with longtime Roots guest MC Dice Raw, is a bit easier to get into with its organ vibe than ‘Black Rock’ with its aggressive guitar and piano. ‘The Coming’, featuring Mercedes Martinez, creates yet another audio scene from the hypothetical film you wish would accompany ATYSYC. The satirical characters of the album are more vividly drawn on ‘When The People Cheer’, ‘The Dark’, and ‘The Unraveling’ though these songs are also not as compelling as others. ‘Tomorrow’ is a major upbeat featuring Raheem DeVaughn who slightly channels Prince’s vocal quality in a Purple Rain phrasing sort of way before the song morphs into one last chamber of exploratory sound.

I imagine it took enormous effort to create this vast body of composition and arrangement called …And Then You Shoot Your Cousin. Clearly pressing the limits of musicality takes precedence as each song is a character within itself. But, with so many years in the game, I applaud The Roots for pushing the limits of expectations as a Hip Hop band and stepping out into left field.

 
Written by Mai Perkins

Originally from Los Angeles, Mai Perkins is currently living a decade long bona fide love affair with NYC and the music that keeps its spirit moving. Many of her adventures around the globe are documented on her blog: Mai On The Move! www.MaiOnTheMove.com

 
Author’s rating for …And Then You Shoot Your Cousin

Pop Magazine’s official rating for …And Then You Shoot Your Cousin

Rating key
MASTERPIECE a must-have
SUPERB for heavy rotation
EXCELLENT a great achievement
VERY GOOD a respectable result
GOOD worth checking out
FAIR an average outcome
WEAK not convincing stuff
BAD an underwhelming effort
VERY BAD quite a waste
FAIL a total failure