The Roots – …& Then You Shoot Your Cousin

4.5/5

Philadelphia’s The Roots are arguably the most talented hip-hop group of the decade.

With their professional career starting in 1992, the band has just released their 11th studio full length album.

Following their 2011 release undun, the band is staying strong with their concept album creativity. ​…And Then You Shoot Your Cousin is a story of different types of people within the group’s community.

“It’s satire, but in that satire it’s an analysis of some of the stereotypes perpetuated in not only the hip-hop community, but in the community…We created some of these characters that we kind of see. We as artists, musicians, Philadelphians, New Yorkers, we as black men, we’re familiar with very many of these characters”.

Although the album is fairly short (approximately 35 minutes), the songs are layered and characterized as “dense” – ” So dense that maybe in one sitting you’ll listen to it and only listen to the piano and string arrangements. Then you’ll listen to it again and you’ll get into the actual words that are being said, and you’ll listen again and get into some of the other musicality”.

&TYSYC should be enjoyed as a complete album, and to separate the tracks would be like reading a story sporadically. Enjoy the full album here.

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