Even More Over Than Before

The Roots are most famous for infusing the innovation of Jazz into their imaginative vision of R&B. As a band they have created a sound that is distinctly their own. With the release of How I Got Over, it’s a good time to jump on board.

Each track on How I Got Over has something important to say and draws you in like an open door that leads into a dark room. You have no idea what you’re going to find, but your curiosity gets the better of you. So you enter and have the most intense musical experience of your life – yes, your whole life. A wave of harmonic enlightenment will engulf you from the first melodic tones of “A Peace of Light” featuring Amber Coffman, Angel Deradoorian & Haley Dekle of Dirty Projectors.

It only gets better from there. As you listen to the track “Dear God 2.0” featuring Monsters of Folk you realize how someone can take their fist and drive it straight to your essence. Melodic harmonies and masterful musicianship combine to make this all-too-short track reverberate through you. The lyrics can’t be left out of this experience either as the words pose deeply penetrating questions to God and does not apologize for asking them.

Collaborations on this album make you believe that music does not have to be a solo effort. This group enhances the contributions of the artists on the album, but make no mistake The Roots can flow on their own as well. This dichotomy gives them the ability to empathize and sympathize with you without proselytizing any one message. “Now or Never” is a prime example of this. Something needs to change and the protagonist has made a decision, but doesn’t quite know how to proceed. He’s “tried to pray to God, but [he’s] tired of lying to him” is one of the most revealing lines that at some point we all feel.

The Roots also know how to jam. The funkified, soulful album title track is what the Black Eyed Peas are still striving for. With a fast-pace melody reminiscent of a Curtis Mayfield track “How I Got Over” could easily have been a corny PSA background tune, instead it’s something that you can dance to when you want and when you’re in a thoughtful mood sit back and listen to.

It can easily be said that the entire album has the type of music that no matter what mood you’re in you can be able to play it and love each song. Essentially if you don’t like The Roots’ latest release How I Got Over, then you have no soul.