Songoftheday 9/20/21 - Somebody told me that this planet was small, we used to live in the same building on the same floor...
"You Got Me" - The Roots featuring Erykah Badu
from the album Things Fall Apart (1999)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #39 (two weeks)
Weeks in the Top-40: 2
Today's song comes from the hip-hop band the Roots, who had expanded the sonic horizons of the genre to put it in a live band format. The group, led by Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter and Ahmir Khalib "Questlove" Thompson, reached the pop top-40 in America in the spring of 1997 with "What They Do". At the end of the following year, the Roots returned with a preview of their next album Things Fall Apart, "Adrenaline". The "hype" track was a minor R&B hit at #73, but didn't get any notice on mainstream pop radio stations. The first true single from the record would pair the group with one of the big new voices in the genre in the late 90's. "You Got Me" was originally recorded by the band with co-writer Jill Scott, but with label pressure wanting a "name" on the record, Erykah Badu was substituted. Badu, who had won two Grammy Awards in 1998 for her debut album and top-40 pop hit "On & On". Later that year, she spent six weeks at #1 on Billboard magazine's R&B Airplay chart with her live cut "Tyrone". The corresponding concert album Live went to #4 on the Billboard 200 sales chart and sold over two million copies. That kind of success helped in the synergy or working with a band in the hip-hop milieu, and the song's stark sound benefited from Badu's jazzy delivery that sounds more and more like Billie Holiday. Female rapper Eve (Jeffers), who would eventually have her own success in this series, provided the record's second verse without being formally credited (she was signed to Dr. Dre's Aftermath label at the time). Produced by Scott Storch, who had originally been the band's keyboardist, the song unfolds like a short story about a relationship and fame and the distrust that can arise from it, with Badu coming through like a calming presence to offer assurances, even after Eve's verse tells the other side of the tale. The apocalyptic music video which features the band and Badu (but not Eve) has a big twist at the end...
"You Got Me" became the second top-40 pop hit for both the Roots and Badu in April of 1999. The song also climbed to #11 on Billboard magazine's R&B chart, the best placing of their career. Internationally, the single was a top-40 hit in Switzerland (#15), Germany (#25), France (#28), and the UK (#31). The Things Fall Apart album, released in February of that year, peaked at #4 on the Billboard 200 sales tally, and #2 on the R&B Albums list, going on to sell over a million copies. At the Grammy Awards in 2000, "You Got Me" won the award for Best Rap Duo/Group Performance. The Things Fall Apart set was also nominated for Best Rap Album, which went to Eminem for his Slim Shady LP.
The Roots' next single from the record, "The Next Movement", had Will Smith's former collaborator and fellow Philadelphian DJ Jazzy Jeff guesting. Despite the momentum from "You Got Me", the track only managed to "bubble under" the R&B Singles list at #103. Later that year, the Roots released a concert album The Roots Come Alive, and contributed a song to the soundtrack of the movie The Best Man, "What You Want" featuring Jaguar, which was a minor R&B hit at #82 and was a bonus studio cut on the live record.
The band returned in 2002 with their fifth effort Phrenology, their last with the MCA Records label. Lead single "Break You Off" featuring neo-soul singer Musiq Soulchild, nicked the pop Hot 100 at #99, and stalled down at #53 on the R&B Singles chart. Follow-up "The Seed (2.0)" featuring Cody Chesnutt, was a top ten hit in Denmark (#2) and Finland (#5), and made the top-40 in Switzerland (#22), the Netherlands (#31), and the UK (#33), but went unnoticed in the States. Nevertheless, Phrenology earned the Roots their second Best Rap Album nomination, which went to Outkast that year for their Speakerboxx/The Love Below double set.
Switching to Geffen, the Roots came back in 2004 with The Tipping Point, which matched the peak of Things Fall Apart at #4 on the Billboard 200. The record's epic opening track, "Star", was nominated for a Grammy for Best Urban Alternative Performance, losing to friend Jill Scott for her "Cross My Mind". A year later, "Don't Say Nuthin'", which went to #66 on Billboard's R&B Singles chart, was up for Best Rap Duo/Group Performance, which went home with the Black Eyed Peas for "Let's Get It Started".
After just the one album the band moved to Def Jam Records, where they re-emerged in 2006 with Game Theory, which hit the Billboard 200 chart at #9. The album was nominated for Best Rap Album, losing to Ludacris for his Release Therapy. A cut from the record, "Don't Feel Right" featuring singer Maimouna Youssef, also got a nomination for Best Rap Duo/Group Performance, which went to Chamillionaire and Krayzie Bone for their pop hit "Ridin'". The Roots recorded two more albums for Def Jam, with both Rising Down in 2008 and How I Got Over in 2010 making the Billboard 200 top ten at #6. The latter was nominated for a Best Rap Album Grammy Award, which went to Eminem (again) for his Recovery album.
Also in 2010, The Roots backed Jennifer Hudson on her cover of the Beatles' classic "Let It Be" for the Hope For Haiti charity project. The result was their most recent appearance on the American pop Hot 100 at #98 and British singles chart at #97. Later that year, the band released an collaborative covers album with R&B singer John Legend, Wake Up!, which rose to #8 on the Billboard 200. It was a Grammy magnet, nabbing two awards for Best R&B Album and Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance for "Hang On In There". Their version of "Wake Up Everybody", featuring Common and Melanie Fiona, went to #53 on the R&B chart and #13 on the older-skewing Adult R&B radio list, and was up for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration, which went home with Jay-Z and Alicia Keys for the undeniable "Empire State Of Mind". Also, album closer "Shine", which was used in the documentary Waiting For Superman, was nominated for Best R&B Duo/Group Vocal Performance, which Sade won for "Soldier Of Love". It also made the Adult R&B format chart at #16.
2011 saw the Roots releasing two albums within a month of each other, starting with their work with soul veteran Betty Wright on Betty Wright: The Movie. The not-a-soundtrack popped on to the Billboard 200 at #197, while track "Surrender" was nominated for a Best Traditional R&B Performance Grammy, which went to Cee-Lo Green and Melanie Fiona for "Fool For You". That was followed by the Roots' own Undun, which again got the group a Best Rap Album Grammy nomination, losing to Drake for his sophomore effort Take Care.
Since then, the Roots released another collaborative album, this time with British rock icon Elvis Costello, on Wise Up Ghost, in 2013. A year later, they returned with their most recent studio release, ...And Then You Shoot Your Cousin, which went to #11 on the Billboard 200 and #3 on the R&B Albums sales tally. But the reason most people know them now is for being the "house band" for The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, which began in 2009 (when Fallon was doing the Late Show). Their antics with the overhyped host shadow the impact the group had on hip-hop culture in our lifetime. The Roots won't be in the series again, but Erykah Ba-do.
(10/10)
(Click below to see the rest of the post)
Next up, the band and co-writer Jill Scott performing live on French TV in 1999...
In 2004, for Dave Chappelle's Block Party, both Scott and Badu came on stage...
And lastly, the Roots in an extended jam for their Live On Soundstage gig in 2008...
Up tomorrow: Country star doesn't want to be forgotten, respectfully.
Comments