The Morning After: The Roots and John Legend, “Hard Times” on Good Morning America
Check in with us daily to see Suite903 artists take over TV. Today we’re watching The Roots perform “Hard Times” and “Wake Up” on Good Morning America.
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Video: Estelle f. Nas and John Legend, “Fall In Love”
If you can keep yourself from freaking out over the double rainbows in the opening scenes of the video then you should also keep that steel strength when you see Estelle’s shoe game in this one. There are two versions of the song and appropriately she made two videos. They’re not much different but it depends on whether you’re into some melodic harmonies with John Legend or you want to hear Nas give it a bit more edge. We won’t disclose which we prefer but if we have to choose we pick Grey’s Anatomy’s Jesse Williams! Estelle can you hook it up?
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Video: The Roots f. John Legend, “The Fire”
If the cover art for “The Fire” was any indicator of what the video would be about, then we should have seen it coming. Rik Cordero puts the song in the context of an infantry with its fair share of problems—their prisoners. The finale is a bloody massacre, no M.I.A.
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John Legend & The Roots f. Common and Melanie Fiona, “Wake Up Everybody” MP3
John Legend may not exactly be Teddy Pendergrass but his raspy voice makes for great vocals on this cover. Both JL and Melanie Fiona stick to Teddy Pendergrass’ quiet and and soulful calm on the melody. As always, The Roots provide the perfect background music. It’s pretty sick how good these guys are at bring soul and funk to anything they do. Of course this original was a product of Gamble and Huff’s Philadelphia International label—something we’re sure the Philly natives know tons about. Overall what we love is how mellow they remake a protest song, while still delivering the original recording’s rational call to action. Teddy along with Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes never gets crazy and radical until the very end when he starts yelling for everyone to “WAKE UP.” John and Melanie follow the same route which makes for a superb cover of the dearly departed crooner.
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Video: Rick Ross f. John Legend, “Sweet Life”
Are you mad that Rick Rozay is running around with mad exotic animals? Are you mad he’s bawsin internationally and owning this summer so hard there’s no room left? Don’t be a hater guys, nobody likes that. Let’s just bask in the glory of his almost daily videos, hearing his voice every where we go and how ferocious he approaches his softer side. We mean think about it: most of his recent videos are JUST for the Albert Anastasia mixtape so imagine what will happen on July 20th when Teflon Don drops. Its gonna be madness. You might as well get down or lay down.
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Contest: Win “Our Generation” by John Legend and The Roots on Vinyl
The ultra retrograde tip Levi’s is on with The Roots and John Legend has spawned a piece of their musical magic with free vinyl. If you’ve been paying attention to the weekly releases on the Levi’s Pioneer Sessions site, they’re writing new chapters in historical recordings, this one being Ernie Hines’ motivational groove, “Our Generation.” Just think, if you’ve already given up on searching for rare pressings of Hines’ Stax Records oldie, you can leave a comment below and have a chance to end your tired fingers from digging in the crates.
Stream: John Legend f. The Roots, “Our Generation” MP3
Ah, good old Stax Records never fails at influencing ladmark moments in music. Back when Dave Chappelle did the unthinkable throwing a block party with appearances by folks like John Legend, The Roots and Kanye West, it was because he saw Wattstax, a documentary about the legendary record label from the ’60s. The influence of Stax plays out again in this week’s Levi’s Pioneer Session, where John Legend recreates “Our Generation” by Ernie Hines with The Roots giving musical direction. After the jump, Levi’s explains the source of “Our Generation.”
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The Roots f. John Legend, “The Fire” MP3
The best part of The Roots promo campaign for How I Got Over is the cover art accompanying each mp3 leak. It’s been a long time since The Roots put so much energy into making indivdual covers for albums since Things Fall Apart. Remember how jarring the images were? They were making statement pieces to match the bold title for their Grammy-award winning album. They truly have lit the fire under their next release with Black Thought effortlessly rapping circles around
?uestlove’s rhythm section. Catch Thought’s flame after the jump.
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Video: Angelique Kidjo f. Bono and John Legend, “Move On Up” (Starring the FELA! Dancers)
Right now it’s all eyes on South Africa. Waiting for this weekend’s games to kick off is killing us, add the performances at the opening ceremony to that, and it’s damn near torture. Thanks to the amazing live feed (plus multiple camera angles for viewers to switch on and off) we can see it all right from our cubicles, like Angelique Kidjo’s cover of Curtis Mayfield’s “Move On Up” which just wrapped. Her new video below features the dancers from FELA! on Broadway moving to the parade of percussion fit for celebratory times like these.
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The Roots f. John Legend, “Doin’ It Again” MP3
A few weeks ago we heard the new Roots album and suffice it to say we are very excited for it. This gem adds more grit to the wailing piano heavy original. It’s awesome what a bit of ?uestlove’s drums can add to a song. We imagine it’s better that this time “doin’ it again” refers to grindin out another album rather than cheating on your girlfriend, but what do we know? The song is fact—The Roots are about to blow our minds once again with their unique sound and always amazing music. The concepts explored on this new release remind us of exactly why we thought they were so fuckin’ dope in the first place. How I Got Over is due out June 22nd. Hit the jump for their latest release from the album.
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