FiyaStarter.com - Fiya on the Brownstone with Malik Sinsear

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“My team ALWAYS plays better
at home. We don't travel well.”
-The Good Doctor
...with a sex reference

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Brooklynite spitting flames on the current state of his first love, Hip-Hop from his stoop in Bedstuy. He may be from NY, but his love for the culture is first and foremost, so don't expect your typical east-coast bias, on this block. Malik is simply here to kick knowledge and wisdom for your understanding.

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Fiyaballs

Album Review

The Roots - Game Theory
Thank God, It's Not Phrenology
by: Malik Sinsear, for Entertainment

Ever been to Washington, D.C.? Well, if you have, I’m sure you’ve heard of the natives’ resident form of recreation, Go-Go music. Historically in D.C. the Go-Go bands have had their weekly performances recorded and sold on the streets. These recordings are called P.A. tapes and while entertaining to the inhabitants, to the average person ignorant to the culture, the quality of the recordings and the lack of organization of the sets are nothing they would consider worthy to be marketed by a major record company or packaged to sit on the shelf at the local Suncoast Video.

Thanks for sticking around past the intro; hopefully the payoff will be worth it, but first, one more item of business:

Let me say that I am a Roots fan. Always have been. I can remember hearing Silent Treatment for the first time back in ’94, then running out to that current Suncoast, which used to be a Sam Goody before they just fell the fuck off, and copping Do You Want More?! A Five Fiyaball album, well worth the band’s studio time. Now, the past couple Roots albums? P.A. tapes, fucked up even by Go-Go standards.

Hope that worked out for you.

Game Theory, the latest release from The Roots, tries to recapture some of that magic last found on The Roots Come Alive, which was spotty on The Tipping Point and completely void on the disaster that started this whole downward spiral, Phrenology. After a worthless dedication to J-Dilla, that is later redeemed, False Media with it’s off beat-on beat tempo and obvious underlying message immediately shows that boys from Philly are not going to put out any cookie cutter shit, even if it might land their asses on Landspeed or Koch, next year. The title track, Game Theory, perfectly uses Black Thought’s rapid fire flow and reintroduces the world to the fifth Beatle of the group, Malik B.

Don’t Feel Right, featuring what sounds like the Queen of the overbite, post Monifa, Jaguar Wright feels good enough until her forced chorus just fucks it all up. This record is definitely a step up from their last, but you can’t help but find something barely missing its mark on many of the tracks. A misplaced chorus (Here I Come), a boring track (Atonement) or an abrupt ending to a promising song (Livin’ In A New World).

The band does hit their mark a few times though. Baby displays one of Thought’s illest flows to date and Long Time featuring the guy who now calls himself Peedi Peedi because he don’t like crack anymore just feels like a hit if there is to be one on this CD. The drums are on, the chorus blends with the strings flawlessly and Peedi delivers his best verse since the first State Property album.

The Roots still haven’t put together the thorough studio project we all know they have in them since their debut, but it’s going in the right direction and as long as they don’t throw another Phrenology my way, I’ll be continue to give them more chances to step their game up.