The Roots - Home Grown! Vols. 1 & 2

A couple of weeks ago, I went out and purchased, with my superior financial resources, these new Roots holiday cash-in CDs. Since they're not new albums, and since I'm sure nobody cares, I won't be reviewing them. But here are a few things that occurred to me as I sat and listened to them.

• It's too bad Malik B is a crackhead now, or whatever
• "What They Do," hilarious video excepted, is still teh ghey
• Their older, pre-major label stuff is cheap-sounding and underproduced by comparison
• Do You Want More? is probably their best album
• "Silent Treatment" is the only slow jam of theirs I really care for
• Hence, they really should've cut that shit out a long time ago
• The version of "You Got Me" with Jill Scott doesn't sound especially different, but she's still a huge fat lady
• "Clones" is probably their best song
• Common should come out with a concept album where he does nothing but discuss his weird racial and sexual politics
• The sound check version of "Break You Off" is kinda cool; certainly cooler than the teh ghey album version
• "The Seed/Melting Pot/Web" (Live) is fantastic. What ever happened to Cody ChestNUTS anyway?

As far as the actual CDs themselves (these new ones, I mean), I didn't find that they made for very good listening, which is odd considering they're called The Beginners Guide to Understanding The Roots.

These definitely aren't the discs I'd recommend to a 15 year-old white girl someone just getting into The Roots. I mean, where the fuck is the real version of "Proceed?" That's like a Gin Blossoms compilation without "Hey Jealousy" - no class.