The Roots on CNN

The Roots recently got some TV face time (in addition to their regular gig as the house band on "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon") on CNN.

In this short clip, ?uestlove's justifying why The Roots are not a sellout band. Some people equate mainstream success (i.e. their regular gig as the house band on "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon) as selling out.



And here's the link to a longer piece from CNN : "?uestlove: The Roots 'Redine the Art of the House Band'".

By the way, The Roots latest project, "How I Got Over" is scheduled to drop sometime in October.

And why I'm talking about The Roots and feenin for a chance to see them perform. Enjoy these tracks from The Couch Sessions w/The Roots, Common and Amerie in Atlanta on September 19, 2009.

So go ahead hip hoppers, have some integrity, but don't sellout. kfox.

Fly Gypsy's "The Vodka & Rum Mixtape"

Fly Gypsy is being billed as "the hip-hop duo comprised of Russian-born producer/one-man-band Alexei Jendayi and Jamaican-born emcee Kowboy Kom." That's a whatever in my book. Good music is good music regardless of your ethnicity, right?

The question becomes 'what are you doing differently than the other trazillion hip hop groups out there?' Fly Gypsy brings some of that old school vibe to game. So it's not so much that they're doing something new and fabulous, but it is quite refreshing to hear some good smooth beats, a nice riff and intellectual lyrics. Do that to get my attention ... word.

That's what Fly Gypsy does on "Imagination". They've got the undertone of The Temptation's "Just My Imagination" w/a Nas cameo and a Tupac throwback. They also manage to showoff their skills too.

They've got another track w/the proverbial big baby Kanye. "Reasons" pulls in Earth, Wind & Fire's "Reasons". Once I get by the fact that I am not liking Kanye right now and that he does much of the same that he always does on songs (I do feel I am being more critical of Kanye because, well, because he just needs to pipe down right now), I am sort of digging this track. Just hopin that they get out of the shadow of using the old school tracks as their base. I can get down w/that approach, but bring on some versatility too.

Get "The Vodka and Rum Mixtape" or check out some of Fly Gypsy's other tracks and get happy on some good music hip hoppers. kfox.