THE ROOTS & PHONY PPL 12/26
HOUSE OF BLUES BOSTON [Boston, Massachusetts]
Event info
| Date: | December 26, 2019 |
|---|---|
| Time: | 7:00 pm |
| Location: | HOUSE OF BLUES BOSTON |
| Address: | 15 Lansdowne Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02215 Boston, Massachusetts |
| Phone: | 1-888-693-2583 |
| Website: | http://www.houseofblues.com/boston/ |
Details
THE ROOTS LIVE 12/26
along with PHONY PPL
HOUSE OF BLUES BOSTON
15 Lansdowne Street, Boston, Massachusetts 02215
http://www.houseofblues.com/boston/
1-888-693-2583
Information@CrossroadsPresents.com
Boston, MA (October 15, 2019) – One of the most prolific rap groups, the Roots were also among the most progressive acts in contemporary music, from their 1993 debut through their conceptual 2010s releases will return to the House of Blues Boston on December 26.
Despite the seemingly archaic practice of functioning as a rap band with several instrumentalists — from 2007 onward, their lineup even featured a sousaphonist — they were ceaselessly creative, whether with their own material, or through their varied assortment of collaborations. They went platinum and gold with successive studio releases and won a handful of Grammy awards. After they gained a nightly nationwide audience through a close partnership with television host Jimmy Fallon, they continued to challenge listeners with works free of genre restrictions.
The Roots’ first major-label album, Do You Want More?!!!??!, was released in January 1995. Forsaking usual hip-hop protocol, the album was produced without any samples or previously recorded material. It peaked just outside the Top 100 of the Billboard 200 and made more tracks in alternative circles, partly due to the Roots playing the second stage at Lollapalooza that summer. The band also journeyed to the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland. Two of the guests on the album who had toured around with the band, human beatbox Rahzel the Godfather of Noyze — previously a performer with Grandmaster Flash and LL Cool J — and Scott Storch (later replaced by Kamal Gray), became permanent members of the group.
The long-awaited Phrenology was released in November 2002. In 2004, the band remedied the situation by creating the Okayplayer company. Named after their website, Okayplayer included a record label and a production/promotion company. The same year, the band held a series of jam sessions to give their next album a looser feel. The results were edited down to ten tracks and released as The Tipping Point, supported by Geffen, in July of 2004. A 2004 concert from Manhattan’s Webster Hall with special guests like Mobb Deep, Young Gunz, and Jean Grae was released in February 2005 as The Roots Present in both CD and DVD formats. Two volumes of the rarities-collecting Home Grown! The Beginner’s Guide to Understanding the Roots appeared at the end of the year.
A subsequent deal with Def Jam fostered a series of riveting, often grim sets, beginning with Game Theory (August 2006) and Rising Down (April 2008). In 2009, the group expanded its reach as the exceptionally versatile house band on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. The new gig didn’t slow their recording schedule; in 2010 alone, they released the sharp How I Got Over (June), as well as Wake Up! (September), where they backed John Legend on covers of socially relevant soul classics like Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes’ “Wake Up Everybody” and Donny Hathaway’s “Little Ghetto Boy.” It earned Grammy awards for Best R&B Album and Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance. As they remained with Fallon, the Roots worked with Miami soul legend Betty Wright on November 2011’s Betty Wright: The Movie, and followed it the next month with their 13th studio album, Undun, an ambitious concept album whose main character dies in the first track and then follows his life backward.
Work on the group’s next studio album was postponed as an unexpected duet album with Elvis Costello took priority for the group in 2013. Originally planned as a reinterpretation of Costello’s songbook, the album Wise Up Ghost turned into a full-fledged collaboration and was greeted by positive reviews upon its September 2013 release on Blue Note. Within six months, the band joined Jimmy Fallon in his new late-night slot, the high-profile Tonight Show program. Another concept album, the brief but deep …And Then You Shoot Your Cousin, was released in May 2014.
