The Roots may well be Philadelphia's premiere hip-hop outfit. The Roots still defy convention by fusing soul, jazz, and funk, even 20 years and eight albums into the game. Still riding high on the critical acclaim for 2006's Game Theory, the Roots brought their fierce live show to Penn's Irvine Auditorium this Tuesday. Recently, Street sat down with the Roots' frontman Black Thought and sometime-rapper Dice Raw.
Street: What's your favorite part about Philadelphia?
Dice Raw: The food. I love Philadelphia food.
Black Thought: My favorite thing about Philadelphia right now is that culturally it's on the incline.
Street: Do you think that there's anything special about the Philadelphia hip hop scene that distinguishes it from hip-hop elsewhere?
DR: Oh yeah. Some things positive as well as negative. The positive, Philly always has their own style but the flip side to that is that everybody shares that style in Philadelphia.
BT: Philly has always been the underdog in that . New York would overshadow artists from Philly. It wasn't until the mid to late '90s, early 2000s that there was a really major onslaught. That onslaught of the Beanie Segal's and Cassidy's and then the people that they inspired who also came out of Philly really put us on the map. Before that it was the Roots, it was Eve in the '90s, of course there was Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince, and Three Times Dope. But it wasn't like we had as many emcees from Philly as there ever were in New York. So we were the underdogs.
Street: What aspects of the city do you think contribute to the Roots?
DR: The Soul history contributes to the Roots. Everything left the center [in] Philadelphia: poetry, live performances, back to basics, to. you know, everything in Philadelphia involves the Roots. The Roots are Philadelphia. Philadelphia is the Roots. 100%.
BT: Every part of the city contributes to my music and how I define myself. I'm a Philadelphian: mind, body and soul.
Street: Do you think that the audience in Philadelphia is different than audiences elsewhere?
DR: Oh yeah, Philadelphia's the hardest audience and basically I think the hardest place to perform, in the world, is Philadelphia. Maybe that's because I'm from Philly but I think a lot of artists say that.
BT: Yeah, Philadelphia is one of the toughest audiences on earth. But the difference is it's sweeter. Other places you can kind of go and feel your way through a performance and be playful and not take it as seriously as you would have to take it if you were in Philly, even if you're from Philly.
Street: Do you think that hip-hop is actually dead - or at least certain aspects of it?
DR: No. Dead as far as what? Dead as far as "nobody"-dead or disco is dead? Or dead like you don't see people on cardboard in front of your house spinnin' on their head anymore? Hip-hop isn't dead at all. If anything, the music is more alive than it has ever been. And it just will continue to grow. It just is mutating into things that people who were here in the beginning just might not approve of. Which is always the case. When hip-hop first came out, people who were into bebop and funk were like, 'Yo, this is some bullshit.'"
Street: What's next for The Roots?
BT: Of course, another couple albums. We're doin' an album every year and a half or every year. We're writing scripts and screen plays and acting and producing and just expect more of the same - you know, the same hustle that we've been on since 1987 and since 1993 to now.
