"The Seed (2.0)" is the second single by

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 F ...

from their fifth album ''

Phrenology Phrenology () is a pseudoscience which involves the measurement of bumps on the skull to predict mental traits.Wihe, J. V. (2002). "Science and Pseudoscience: A Primer in Critical Thinking." In ''Encyclopedia of Pseudoscience'', pp. 195–203. C ...

'' (2002). The track, which features

Cody Chesnutt Cody Chesnutt (stylized as Cody ChesnuTT; born October 21, 1968) is an American R&B and neo soul musician from Atlanta, Georgia. Biography Chesnutt's music blends elements of rock, funk, soul, hip hop, and blues. After relocating to Los Ang ...

on the guitar and vocals, is an "uptempo retooling" of his song "The Seed" from the album ''

The Headphone Masterpiece ''The Headphone Masterpiece'' is the debut album by American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Cody Chesnutt, released in 2002. It was recorded in his home bedroom with a 4-track recorder and Chesnutt playing guitar, bass, keyboard, and ...

''. The song's music video was nominated for the

MTV2 Award MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

at the

2003 MTV Video Music Awards The 2003 MTV Video Music Awards aired live on August 28, 2003, honoring the best music videos from June 1, 2002, to June 9, 2003. The show was hosted by Chris Rock at the Radio City Music Hall in New York City. The ceremony is best remembered for ...

. Jeff Vrabel of ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' described the track as "a genre-bending mix of rock guitars and

Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. Th ...

-styled keyboards and drums".

Music and reception

"The Seed (2.0)" is a hybrid mix of "distorted rock, hip-hop and

psychedelic soul Psychedelic soul (originally called black rock or conflated with psychedelic funk) is a music genre that emerged in the late 1960s and saw Black soul musicians embrace elements of psychedelic rock, including its production techniques, instrumenta ...

". Brett Berliner of ''

Stylus Magazine ''Stylus Magazine'' was an American online music and film magazine, launched in 2002 and co-founded by Todd L. Burns. It featured long-form music journalism, four daily music reviews, movie reviews, podcasts, an MP3 blog, and a text blog. Addi ...

'' called the track "a rock song, featuring a little bit of funk and just a very little bit of hip-hop."Berliner, Brett (September 1, 2003).
The Roots
. ''Stylus Magazine''. Accessed November 13, 2008. The song was favorably received by music critics.

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and ...

called it the album's "centerpiece", "2002's freshest roots rock track and jammingest avant rap track". ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to th ...

''s Sam Chennault described the song as an "orgiastic garage funk number" and called it the album's "most immediately satisfying track". In 2009, ''Pitchfork'' listed it at number 330 in "The Top 500 Tracks of the 2000s". ''Stylus Magazine''s Brett Berliner declared it the album's "best track" with its "catchy hook that stays with listeners for days". In ''

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...

''s 2002 top fifteen "Songs of the Year", Stephen Thompson listed the single at number nine. Jake Coyle of the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. newspa ...

called it "one of the best rock songs of the decade".Coyle, Jake (February 20, 2009). "
The Roots Take Over "Late Night"
. NBC. Accessed May 27, 2009. It was ranked as the 43rd best song of the decade by ''Rolling Stone''.

Charts

Cover versions

* American rock band

Person L Person L is an American rock band fronted by Kenny Vasoli, of the pop punk band The Starting Line. Vasoli is the band's lead singer and guitarist and formed Person L in winter 2006 as an outlet to explore other musical styles. The group also cons ...

covered the song for the

Fearless Records Fearless Records is an American independent record label that was founded in 1994. Fearless is based in Culver City, California, and is best known for its early pop punk moments captured in the ''Fearless Flush Sampler'' and ''Punk Bites'' releas ...

compilation ''

Punk Goes Crunk ''Punk Goes Crunk'' is the seventh compilation album in the '' Punk Goes...'' series released by Fearless Records. The album is composed of popular hip hop songs performed by various post-hardcore, metalcore and pop punk bands. This is the firs ...

'' in 2008. * Italian

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...

singer-songwriter

Zucchero Fornaciari Adelmo Fornaciari (; born 25 September 1955), more commonly known by his stage name Zucchero Fornaciari or simply Zucchero (), is an Italian singer, musician and songwriter. His stage name is the Italian word for "sugar", as his elementary teach ...

imitated the style and arrangement of the song, without directly covering it, on "Un kilo", a song from his 2006 album ''

Fly Flies are insects of the Order (biology), order Diptera, the name being derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek δι- ''di-'' "two", and πτερόν ''pteron'' "wing". Insects of this order use only a single pair of wings to fly, the hindwing ...

''. As "Un kilo" is not a full cover, it was credited only to Fornaciari. * American jazz singer

Kurt Elling Kurt Elling (born November 2, 1967) is an American jazz singer and songwriter. Born in Chicago, Illinois, and raised in Rockford, Illinois, Rockford, Elling became interested in music through his father, who was Kapellmeister at a Lutheran chur ...

covered it on his 2021 album ''Superblue'', featuring guitarist

Charlie Hunter Charlie Hunter (born May 23, 1967) is an American guitarist, composer, and bandleader. First coming to prominence in the early 1990s, Hunter plays custom-made seven- and eight-string guitars on which he simultaneously plays bass lines, chords, a ...

References

External links

"The Seed (2.0)" music video
at

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Seed 2003 singles The Roots songs 2001 songs MCA Records singles