John Legend and The Roots - Wake Up

John Legend &
The Roots
–Wake Up!

John Legend and Questlove, drummer for The Roots (the mighty mighty Roots crew, if you didn’t know) were very involved in the 2008 election, which of course, was won by Barack Obama. So they started throwing around an idea about an album of politically-charged songs,and the result is “Wake Up!”, a collaborative effort of covers from the 1960s and 1970s, when people (musicians, really) actually stood for something.

The Roots effortlessly slide into Eugene McDaniels’ “Compared To What”, with bass player Owen Biddle dropping one of the funkiest basslines you’ll ever hope to hear, while Legend croons his way through McDaniels’ Vietnam War protest, and an urgent sax breaks up the song near the end. It also sets off the feel of a glorified jam, and if you’ve ever seen a Roots live show, you know that isn’t a bad thing. The Roots have, easily, the best live show in hip-hop, and the best parts about it are their jams. Wu-Tang Clan fans will recognize Baby Huey’s “Hard Times” as the sample used in Ghostface Killah’s “Buck 50”, but the Roots manage to take some of the grit out of it, although Black Thought drops a typically-ill verse (“And I’m hopin’ to feel something that’s real/but there’s no hope when you are but a spoke in the wheel”). They do the same thing to Donny Hathaway’s “Lil’ Ghetto Boy” (which was sampled by Dr. Dre on “The Chronic”), and again, Black Thought drops some jewels (“Moms started to chase that base like Willie Mays”). The versatility of The Roots is on full display on this album, but Legend surprisingly holds up with vocal arrangements and harmonies that will stay stuck in your heads
for days.

The outstanding song on an album that are filled with them is the remake of Bill Withers’ “I Can’t Write Left-Handed”, which is the tale of a man coming home from Vietnam and wants to write a letter to his mother (I won’t ruin the story of the title, just listen to the lyrics), and it’s a sprawling song that spans almost 12 minutes. The high point comes with a guitar solo from the Roots’ Capt. Kirk, which then causes Legend to go from Withers to a little bit of Jimi Hendrix,which I honestly didn’t think he had in him.

The low points of “Wake Up” are Prince Lincoln’s “Humanity (Love The Way It Should Be)”, although you’ll dig it if you’re a reggae fan. The cover of Ernie Hines’ “My Generation” should have been longer (although shoutout to ‘90s veteran CL Smooth, who comes by to drop a gem on ‘em). But all in all, “Wake Up!” is an exceptional album that makes you move and think, all at the same time. I know, I know, it may be a strange concept, but Legend’s smooth voice carries right along with the brilliant instrumentation of The Roots. You need “Wake Up!” in
your life.

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To Purchase The Album
www.JOHNLEGEND.com
www.twitter/johnlegend
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Album Reviewed
By
Neil Jordan