The legendary Roots crew is gearing up for the May 20 release of its eleventh album And Then You Shot Your Cousin. Black Thought has said the new album will be a conceptual album like Undun. This album, however, will feature a few characters and will be a satire of stereotypes found in hip-hop and other communities.
The first single, “When The People Cheer”, plays off of the satire stereotypes Black Thought mentions. The light piano production with soulful drumming from ?uestlove allows the lyrics to be the main focus.
Greg Porn, who’s featured on The Roots’ last three albums, smoothly flows over the first verse. Black Thought then comes in with his signature rhythm introducing a “sex-addicted introvert” character.
Though it probably won’t succeed commercially and doesn’t quite bring anything new from what’s expected of The Roots, “When The People Cheer” does provide some insight on what to expect from the group’s upcoming concept album.
Matthew Anness
Comments are closed.