Hip Hop Essence

With the new Roots album hitting stores two days ago I’ve finally decided to update again. Let’s cut to the chase: Black Thought and company are back with some great beats and even better rhymes.

The lyricism is politically loaded once again and Black Thought cuts to the core.

This track, Dear God 2.0, sorta comes in two flavors. The first verse is universal; a view on the world:

If everything is made in China, are we Chinese?
And why do haters separate us like we Siamese?

Followed by:

More beef than broccoli
Corporate monopoly
Weak World economy
Stock market topplin’
Mad marijuana, Oxycontin, and Klonopin
Everybody out of it

The 2nd verse gets a bit more personal and inside Black Thought’s head; almost a conversation directly with God. It’s got lines like:

Yeah… It’s still me, one of your biggest fans
I get off work
Right back to work again
I probably need to go ahead and have my head exam
Look at how they got me on the Def Jam payment plan

and then it gets even more personal:

Lord, forgive me for my shortcomings
For going on tour and ignoring the court summons
All I’m trying to do is live life to the fullest
They sent my daddy to you in a barrage of bullets

Why is the world ugly when you made it in your image?
And why is livin’ life such a fight to the finish?

I wish they offered this album directly from their own website, they are one of the only acts I’d like to pay for these days. No matter how you get your music this album is a must have.

I’ll leave you with the official video for the title song “How I Got Over”. It starts with some great signing from Black Thought himself, and features that rapid fire delivery he brings out sometimes. Even when he raps quick he doesn’t throw away his lines. I was going to only include a small quote from a verse, but it’s so good I’ve got to type this one all out for ya:

When you on the corners it’s too much drama
Living with the police right behind ya
It’s always more than a slight reminder
We living in a war zone like Rwanda
Before I go back to the heavenly father
Pray for me if it ain’t too much bother
Whatever don’t break me or make me stronger
I feel like I can’t take too much longer
It’s too much lying
And too much frying
I’m all cried out cause I grew up crying
They all got a sales pitch, I ain’t buying
They trying to convince me that I ain’t trying
We uninspired
We unadmired
And tired and sick of being sick and tired
Of living in the hood where the shots are fired
We dying to live, so to live we dyin’.
You just like I am