Undun
''Undun'' is the tenth studio album by American hip hop band The Roots. It was released on December 6, 2011, by Def Jam Recordings. The album was recorded in sessions at several studios in Philadelphia and New York City. Production was handled primarily by Questlove, the band's record producer and drummer. They were joined by guest contributors, including vocalist Bilal and rappers Big K.R.I.T., Dice Raw, and Phonte. Musically, ''Undun'' incorporates influences from neo soul and indie music. Thematically, it is an existential concept album about the short, tragic life of fictional character Redford Stevens, set in urban poverty and told through a reverse-chronological narrative. The album performed modestly on music charts and sold 112,000 copies in the United States. It was a greater success with critics, being widely praised for its existential subject matter, production quality, and the band's musicianship. ''Undun'' was included on several critics' year-end lists of best a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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The Roots
The Roots are an American hip hop band formed in 1987 by Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter and Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The Roots serve as the house band on NBC's ''The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon'', having served in the same role on ''Late Night with Jimmy Fallon'' from 2009 to 2014. The Roots are known for a jazzy and eclectic approach to hip hop featuring live musical instruments and the group's work has consistently been met with critical acclaim. ThoughtCo ranked the band #7 on its list of the 25 Best Hip-Hop Groups of All-Time, calling them "Hip-hop's first legitimate band." In addition to the band's music, several members of the Roots are involved in side projects, including record production, acting, and regularly serving as guests on other musicians' albums and live shows. Band history 1987–1993: Early years The Roots originated in Philadelphia with Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson and Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter w ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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The Grand Wizzards
The Roots are an American hip hop band formed in 1987 by Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter and Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The Roots serve as the house band on NBC's ''The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon'', having served in the same role on '' Late Night with Jimmy Fallon'' from 2009 to 2014. The Roots are known for a jazzy and eclectic approach to hip hop featuring live musical instruments and the group's work has consistently been met with critical acclaim. ThoughtCo ranked the band #7 on its list of the 25 Best Hip-Hop Groups of All-Time, calling them "Hip-hop's first legitimate band." In addition to the band's music, several members of the Roots are involved in side projects, including record production, acting, and regularly serving as guests on other musicians' albums and live shows. Band history 1987–1993: Early years The Roots originated in Philadelphia with Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson and Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Kamal Gray
The Roots are an American hip hop band formed in 1987 by Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter and Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The Roots serve as the house band on NBC's ''The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon'', having served in the same role on '' Late Night with Jimmy Fallon'' from 2009 to 2014. The Roots are known for a jazzy and eclectic approach to hip hop featuring live musical instruments and the group's work has consistently been met with critical acclaim. ThoughtCo ranked the band #7 on its list of the 25 Best Hip-Hop Groups of All-Time, calling them "Hip-hop's first legitimate band." In addition to the band's music, several members of the Roots are involved in side projects, including record production, acting, and regularly serving as guests on other musicians' albums and live shows. Band history 1987–1993: Early years The Roots originated in Philadelphia with Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson and Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Black Thought
Tariq Luqmaan Trotter (born October 3, 1973), better known as Black Thought, is an American rapper, actor and the lead MC of the Philadelphia-based hip hop group the Roots, which he co-founded with drummer Questlove (Ahmir Thompson). Regarded as "one of the most skilled, incisive, and prolific rappers of his time",Black Thought – Biography AllMusic. Accessed on August 28, 2020.Interview of Jamal Greene, brother of Talib Kweli Conversation with Tyler. Accessed on June 2nd 2022. he is widely lauded for his live performance skills, continuous [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Bilal (American Singer)
Bilal Sayeed Oliver (born August 23, 1979) is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. He is an independent artist, noted for his wide vocal range, work across multiple genres, and intense live performances. Starting out at a major label, Bilal debuted with his popular R&B single "Soul Sista" in 2000, but turned to playing jazz venues and recording more progressive soul music in subsequent years. He has commercially released four albums to critical success, while his unreleased but widely leaked second album '' Love for Sale'' also found wide acclaim among critics and listeners. He was a member of the Soulquarians, an experimental black music collective active from the late 1990s to early 2000s. He has been well received, both nationally and internationally, with an extensive list of collaborations including Kendrick Lamar, Common, Erykah Badu, Jay-Z, Beyoncé, Guru, Kimbra, J Dilla, Robert Glasper, and The Roots. In August 2020, during the COVID-19 lockdown, Bi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Dice Raw
Karl Jenkins, better known as Dice Raw, is an American hip hop artist, from Philadelphia. He is associated with The Roots, and the now defunct musical group Nouveau Riche. He hooked up with the band while still in high school after Kelo, a member of the group's production team, spotted him in a local talent show. The group quickly took the young rapper under their collective wings and decided to bring his talent along slowly. He made his debut in "The Lesson, Pt. 1." Soon after, he made a name for himself with cameos on "Episodes" and "Adrenaline", where his hard-hitting style complemented the heady rhymes of Roots leader Black Thought. Dice Raw has made several guest appearances on several mixtapes. He made an appearance in fellow band member and beatboxer Scratch's first solo album ''Embodiment of Instrumentation''. In 2000, Dice Raw released his solo debut album, ''Reclaiming the Dead'' on MCA Records. Jenkins recorded vocals for the entrance theme of WWE wrestler Kung Fu Na ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Sean C
Deleno Matthews, known professionally as Sean C (originally Sean Cane), is an American producer, DJ and "artists and repertoire" (A&R) specialist. Sean is a member of production duo Sean C & LV (Grind Music) which is affiliated with Sean Combs' Hitmen producers. As a DJ, Sean C co-founded the New York DJ crew The X-Men (renamed The X-Ecutioners) Sean worked as an A&R for Steve Rifkind's Loud Records and SRC Records imprints. He is credited as A&R and executive producer for Mobb Deep, Dead Prez, Big Pun, Terror Squad, Remy Ma and The X-Ecutioners. Sean C has produced songs for Jay-Z, Big Pun, Diddy, Jadakiss and Fabolous among others. He was nominated for best rap album Grammy awards for Jay Z's '' American Gangster'' and for Big Pun's debut ''Capital Punishment Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-gove ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Levar Coppin
Levar Coppin, also known as "LV", is an American DJ, producer, and songwriter, best known for his involvement in production outfit Sean C & LV, which was linked to Fat Joe's New York City-based hip-hop collective Terror Squad, and is presently linked to Bad Boy Records' The Hitmen (production team). Coppin is also known for his production and songwriting contributions to Jay-Z's 2007 album '' American Gangster'' and various Ghostface Killah projects, as well as his writing contributions to Beyoncé's 2022 album ''Renaissance''. Songwriting and production credits Credits are courtesy of Discogs, Tidal, Apple Music, and AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa .... Awards and nominations References {{Bad boy African-American record producers African-Am ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Wise Up Ghost
''Wise Up Ghost'' is a collaborative studio album by British singer/songwriter Elvis Costello and American hip hop group The Roots. The album was released on 17 September 2013, by Blue Note Records. The album's first single "Walk Us Uptown" was released on 23 July 2013. Growing out of Costello's appearances on '' Late Night With Jimmy Fallon'', where the Roots are the house band, ''Wise Up Ghost'' was well received by professional critics. Background In January 2013, it was announced that The Roots and Elvis Costello were working on an album. On 29 May 2013, it was announced that the album would be titled ''Wise Up Ghost'' and would be released on 17 September 2013. In July 2013, in an interview with entertainment.ie, Roots drummer Questlove spoke about how the album started, saying: "Elvis first came on the Jimmy Fallon show in 2009. I knew he was a fan of the '' Voodoo'' album I did with D'Angelo, so we asked if he would be open to the idea of “remixing” his stuff. ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Phonte
Phonte Lyshod Coleman, known mononymously as Phonte (born December 28, 1978), is an American rapper, singer, and producer. He is currently of the North Carolina hip-hop trio/duo Little Brother (revived in 2019 without producer 9th Wonder) and one-half of the duo The Foreign Exchange. He has also recorded R&B-flavored output as a singer (often under the pseudonym Percy Miracles), and with Nicolay on The Foreign Exchange. His rhymes tend to be no-frill perspectives on working-class life. Career Little Brother Phonte first met the other members of Little Brother, rapper Big Pooh and producer 9th Wonder, in 1998 while attending North Carolina Central University, as an English major. The three shared common musical interests and decided to form a group. "Speed", the group's first song recorded together, led to them signing a deal with the independent ABB Records, and recording their debut album, '' The Listening''. The album's success led to the group signing a non-exclusive deal ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Indie Rock
Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the music they produced and was initially used interchangeably with alternative rock or "Pop rock, guitar pop rock". One of the primary scenes of the movement was Dunedin, where Dunedin sound, a cultural scene based around a convergence of noise pop and jangle became popular among the city's University of Otago, large student population. Independent labels such as Flying Nun Records, Flying Nun began to promote the scene across New Zealand, inspiring key college rock bands in the United States such as Pavement (band), Pavement, Pixies (band), Pixies and R.E.M. Other notable scenes grew in Madchester, Manchester and Hamburger Schule, Hamburg, with many others thriving thereafter. In the 1980s, the use of the term "independent music, indie" (or " ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Rovi Corporation
TiVo Corporation, formerly known as the Rovi Corporation and Macrovision Solutions Corporation, was an American technology company. Headquartered in San Jose, California, the company is primarily involved in licensing its intellectual property within the consumer electronics industry, including digital rights management, electronic program guide software, and metadata. The company holds over 6,000 pending and registered patents. The company also provides analytics and recommendation platforms for the video industry. In 2016, Rovi acquired digital video recorder maker TiVo Inc., and renamed itself TiVo Corporation. On May 30, 2019, TiVo announced the appointment of Dave Shull as the company's new president and CEO. On December 19, 2019, TiVo merged with Xperi; the combined firm operates as ''Xperi''. History Macrovision Corporation was established in 1983. The 1984 film '' The Cotton Club'' was the first video to be encoded with Macrovision technology when it was released in 1 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |