The Roots - Illadelph Halflife (1996)
My breakfast today happened around 3 PM, and it consisted of a bottle of Mountain Dew and a bag of Chester's bacon cheddar fries. I really let myself go, didn't I? It ain't easy being cheesy AND depressed. Anyhow, people are freaking out about the eclipse tomorrow, adding songs such as "Eclipse" from "Dark Side of the Moon" and Bonnie Tyler's classic "Total Eclipse of the Heart" to their playlists, to listen to during the eclipse, maybe because it fits, or maybe just because it's funny and will help form a memory in their minds of where they were and what they were doing during the eclipse of 2017. As the darkness kisses the earth's land, I can't help but think back to ABC's Frank Reynolds saying "May the shadow of the moon fall on a world at peace" when reporting on the solar eclipse of 1979. 38 years later, I'm not too sure if the world I'm living in is -that- different compared to way back when. Sure, we progressed immensely in technology, medical breakthroughs, etc, and we're all the better for it, but a world at peace? Nah, not now, not anytime soon.
This album came out 17 years after the solar eclipse of 1979, making this album closer to that eclipse than it is to this one, which is really weird to think about, but in a way, perhaps just because of me learning about that solar eclipse recently, I feel like this album represents the halfway mark of then and now, and it's odd to me because I feel like there's a suffocating darkness around this album, it just feels damn sad to me at some points, which is surprising coming from the band that made "Datskat" on the previous album. This album, musically, keeps one foot in the jazz-rap stylings of previous albums, while outstretching one leg as far as it can into another territory. The beats on here are smooth as fuck, sounding less like a band and more like an actual producer making them some beats, but you still get glimpses of their raw musicianship, and it's great because I'll be vibing to a beat and then think "this isn't a dude at the boards, this is an actual band" and it'll make me appreciate it even more, especially when a slick blues guitar lick kicks in. The lyrics and rapping are great, with Black Thought and Malik B coming across as much more entertaining and engaging MCs, and really, the entire album is just pretty damn great, even if it does run a bit long at almost 79 minutes. I honestly don't have much to say about this album, I feel like the music on it should speak for itself, and if you haven't heard this, you're fucking up. This is a great album that could only come from a bunch of guys getting together, jamming, and trying to reinvent themselves as to not stay stuck in the jazz-rap box their entire career.
Here's to a better and brighter world the next time the darkness touches down on us.
8/10
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