Songoftheday 8/23/20 - Lost generation fast paced nation, world population confront they frustration...

 

 

"What They Do" - The Roots

from the album Illadelph Halflife (1996)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #34 (two weeks)

Weeks in the Top-40: 5

 

Today's song of the day comes from the groundbreaking hip-hop group the Roots, who came together in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the late 1980s. Led by Questlove (Ahmir Thompson) and Black Thought (Tariq Trotter), the group was notable for fully incorporating a live band to rap music, which had been tried in the jazz/hip-hop movement of the Digable Planets and Guru/Gang Starr, but with even a less reliance on samples. Moving to Europe where they released their first indie record Organix, the Roots accumulated buzz and fans to the point where they were signed by Geffen Records. It was there that the band recorded their second album Do You Want More? in 1995, which was preceded by the single "Distortion To Static", which spent a week on Billboard magazine's R&B chart at #96. That was followed by "Proceed I", which rose to #79 at R&B, while "bubbling under" the pop Hot 100 chart at #123. Meanwhile, Do You Want More? reached the top-40 on the R&B albums sales chart at #22 and #104 on the all-genre Billboard 200. 

With a ton of exposure from those singles and spots on alternative music tours, the group returned with their third disc Illadelph Halflife in 1996. The lead single from the set, "Clones", which poked fun at the different stereotypes in rap music and hip hop at the time. The song climbed to #62 on the R&B chart, while just missing Billboard's official Hot 100 pop chart, "bubbling under" at #101. But it was the second release from the album, "What They Do", that truly became the Roots' breakthrough single. Written by the Questlove and Black Thought with bandmates Kamal Gray, Leonard Hubbard, and Rahzel Brown, along with Tony Toni Tone's Raphael Saadiq, who sings on the record, the jazzy hip-hop along with Saadiq's smooth as chocolate vocals gave the band an "in" on urban and mainstream radio...

"What They Do" became the Roots' first top-40 pop hit in March of 1997. The song also became their first top-40 R&B hit, peaking at #21, while scoring their first (and only) Rap Singles top ten hit at #5. Internationally, the single went to #49 in the UK. The Illadelph Halflife album became their first to reach the top-40 on the Billboard 200 at #21. 

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Here's the band performing "What They Do" live in 1996...

And live in concert a year later...

Up tomorrow: Another act from the Keystone State get into some digestive chakras.